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December 1st. The day Gardenview is swept into full holiday swing for the first of hopefully many years to come; red, white, and green streamers were strung up on the walls, small presents wrapped in Christmas-themed wrapping paper were set up near the main desk, and most importantly, a large Christmas tree decorated with twinkling lights was sat directly in the middle of the lobby in all of its festive glory.
However, that wasn't what was so grand. Allegedly—or so Dandy cheerily claimed—there were going to be four new toons coming to Gardenview today. That alone was enough to elevate the excitement and particularly festive mood of all the Toons—all except Shrimpo—by tenfold.
Connie was snickering, floating alongside her familiar gachapon friend in the lobby as a devious smirk settled on her face. "I bet I can get away with pranking Shrimpo since he's so bothered by the arrival of new toons. He won't even see it coming."
Gigi slowly turned to look at Connie, mirroring her and cheekily smirking. "Getting him while he isn't thinking about it. You really are my best friend."
"Aren't I?" Connie teased before their conversation suddenly came to a halt. The two froze, comically jerking in place as they eyed the scene: all of the toons were in the lobby, radio silent as their attention was directed towards five figures before them.
Connie and Gigi shared a look before joining the rest of the toons. Stood in front of them all was the ever happy-go-lucky Dandy, and four unfamiliar faces.
Next to Dandy was a reindeer practically grinning from ear-to-ear and bouncing on their hooves, a half-bitten into cookie adorned in a red dress and meticulous icing makeup, a large sentient piece of coal with two brown bags on either side of it, and a tall, chubby red ornament wearing a green sweater and a smile so warm it could rival the harsh, cold winter.
"Hello, all! I'd like you to welcome our newest additions to Gardenview! This is Rudie, Coal, Ginger, and Bobette." Dandy said with a cheerful smile, gesturing to each individual as follows, each of them giving their own waves, greetings, or bark.
Cosmo smiled, being the first to move towards the four new toons to strike up what seemed to be natural conversation with his soon-to-be-revealed cousin, Ginger. Sprout was directly in tow, smiling as him and Ginger exchanged pleasantries.
Connie seemed to be staring ahead at the Christmas toons. However, she was only focused on one thing—the ornament who was revealed to be named Bobette talking to Dandy.
She was... pretty. The way she looked was pretty, her smile was pretty, and her sweater looked pretty on her. Everything about her was particularly appealing.
Although, Connie didn't seem to be the only one awestruck by the new toons. From her peripheral, she spotted Shrimpo subtly eyeing someone. Ginger.
She suddenly smirked, floating past the rest of the toons and hovering above Shrimpo as she looked down at him. "Someone's in looooove." She teased, only for Shrimpo to shout obscenities in response. His sudden rosy cheeks didn't go unnoticed, however.
Connie floated in the direction of what was better known as Brightney's peaceful sanctuary—the Gardenview library; she could've sworn she saw Bobette heading that way with Brightney. Submerging into the carpet, Connie moved with haste.
After some time, Connie skidded to a halt when she heard two hushed voices, lurking just below Bobette and Brightney, who were discussing putting up small Christmas decorations to make the library somewhat more festive.
"...Are you sure you don't want a wreath up on this wall? Not even a fake one?" Bobette inquired with a slight arch of her brow, looking down at Brightney from the ladder she stood on.
Brightney chuckled a bit, waving a hand and shaking her head in denial, "No, no. The scent of pine tends to linger, and fake wreaths tend to look a bit tacky."
With a smirk, Connie slowly rose from the ground as Bobette stepped down from the ladder. In a swift movement, she tapped Bobette on the shoulder before disappearing into the floor.
Bobette craned her neck to look behind her, only to see nobody there. With a confused look, she turned back to Brightney, who was reorganizing some books on a nearby shelf.
Then, Bobette felt another tap on her other shoulder, her brows furrowing as she turned around once more to look behind her. "...Brightney, didn't you say there was a— Ah!"
When she turned back around, Connie had emerged from the ground in a blink, scaring Bobette.
Connie had gotten closer to Bobette's face than she anticipated, an impish grin on her face as the two stared at each other.
Brightney sighed, already aware of just who the culprit of this was as she turned to see a frazzled, wide-eyed Bobette face-to-face with a cheeky Connie. "Connie, you really need to stop scaring people sometimes. Especially the new toons." She said worriedly.
Connie pouted childishly, sinking into the ground again. "...Fine. I originally had plans to scare Shrimpo anyway. Enjoy your... decorating, or whatever you're doing."
When she was certain Connie was gone, Brightney looked at Bobette, "Are you alright, Bobette? Connie can be really cheeky and try to scare other toons, but I promise it's all in good fun. She's... particularly mischievous." She muttered apologetically.
Bobette's head snapped up to Brightney, a small chuckle falling from her lips. "Perfectly fine! I just didn't expect it, that's all."
With an apologetic smile, Brightney resumed her brief reorganization of her books. Bobette, however, was hiding her flustered expression by attempting to assist in organizing books as well.
...Bobette also didn't expect the ghost toon in question to look so cute.