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Connie was up way past when she'd normally be asleep. It wasn't her being rebellious (although, alas, that's usually why she's up past her bedtime), but something else. She had her arms spread out over her bed, and was staring at the ceiling. Everything was still. Too still. She waited for something to change, something small, something real. Something felt like it was burning through her body, even though she was always running cold. Not in a getting sick kind of way, but like there was something missing, and it made her body burn.
She could acutely tell everything around her. How her sheets felt pressed up to her arms. How her tail was still, completely still. Usually, even though not noticeable, it had a slight wag to it. But at this moment, it was completely stagnant. She could see how her soft glow casted small bits of light, making already dark shadows even darker in the cervices of her room. How even the air felt still. Like she was frozen in time, within the very moment. Was she even awake right now? She didn't know, she could very easily have fallen asleep and woken up here in a dream, or she could have just as easily straight up been there, wide awake.
This stillness stirred something within Connie. Not a desire to get moving, but something else. Catching what she could see in her room, there was nothing. No one. Just her, only her. It was weird, as Connie would usually either have someone over, or be in someone else's room. She was used to someone else's presence. Maybe that's why things felt too still. She was alone, with no one else there with her. The answer did make sense, but it wasn't satisfactory to her brain. She knew, deep down, she was longing for something. Maybe someone. But the answer just being the presence of others didn't feel right. And, well, she didn't know why.
Maybe, if she was awake, she could close her eyes, drift into a slumber, and find an answer there. She softly closed her eyes, pulling one of her blankets up, and tried to sleep. Really, really did try. She figured if she got some sleep, then maybe, just maybe she'd find the satisfactory answer. But, then again, how was she supposed to sleep when something felt so deeply wrong? She could easily sneak into Gigi's room, sleep on one of her beanbags, and never elaborate. Hell, she had done that before. That's what she usually did, she rarely slept in her own room. Yet, even then, something begged for her to stay in her bed, alone. Like sneaking into Gigi's room wouldn't be enough anyways.
After a long while, she finally managed to fall into a restless slumber.
Connie usually didn't dream anything noteworthy. Not in a bad way, but her dreams were filled with what she'd do during the day. Or, in short, snooping and pranking, maybe a bit of crime. It had gotten to a point where Astro usually didn't even bother to check in on Connie's dreams. In fact, if it weren't for the fact he noticed that Connie hadn't been dreaming for a lot longer than usual, Astro wouldn't have even bothered to investigate. But tonight was different. Very, very different. Connie's dream didn't appear until much, much later than usual, even for when she was being rebellious.
And, for the contents of her dream? She was floating around, watching everyone do things like share hugs and other forms of physical affection. Some cuddled. Cosmo and Sprout even kissed. And Connie was just... watching. She was watching all of it go down. To an untrained eye, one would have assumed it was just another dream filled with snooping and pranking, just a bit less on the pranking. But it wasn't either of those things. Her expression, Astro could tell, it was more sour than usual. It was jealous. This dream, it was something Astro wanted to watch. Not in a bad way, but maybe it would be good to see what happened next.
If things went too far south, Astro could always just manipulate the dream a little bit.
Alas, it didn't change, at all. It was the same loop. Not the exact same, but it was the same fundamentals. Float around, watch everyone give each other physical affection, rinse and repeat. Nothing to speak of. Nothing to change. Just the same thing, over and over. Astro was only more confused. Usually, with a dream like this, something would happen. Something would change. Sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. But, neither of those were true. It was still. It was stagnant. It was like a small pool of water, untouched that he looked into. Connie's dream was unusual.
Connie's dream also didn't last for very long. Maybe something about it woke her up. Maybe, because of how late she got to bed, it was already time for her to wake up. Astro wasn't sure, but when he went over everyone else's dreams, most were still active. That bothered him. Connie barely slept, at all. And when she did, her dream was filled with toons giving each other physical affection. There were very few up at this point, so Astro could easily find her and ask her about it. Astro wasn't sure what to do.
"That... was terrible..."
It was the first thing Connie grumbled when she woke up, barely aware of her surroundings. She wasn't sure why she thought that dream was terrible, other than the fact it filled her with a burning jealousy. She'd usually find it absolutely amazing to see things like Sprout and Cosmo kiss. But, instead, she woke up just feeling worse than when she went to bed. Even more alone. Not only that, she felt exhausted, a combination of both how little she slept and what her dream entailed. But, one thing was for sure. Her and her girls had the day off, so no matter how tired she was, she was not going to skip this.
Even though she had no idea what time it was, Connie got up, casually flying through her door to go find something to do while waiting for Gigi and Flutter to wake up. The hallway lights were on, which was a good sign she wasn't up at some ungodly early time in the morning. Or maybe she was just up earlier than usual, because there would usually be at least a few doors open. Today? Only one, to one of the earliest risers in Gardenview. Absolutely wonderful. So not only did she not get to sleep until super late, she was also up way earlier than usual.
Eh, Sprout was probably awake. She could just go tease him about him kissing Cosmo in her dream. Yeah, that'll be fun. Besides, Cosmo usually isn't up for a while longer, now is the absolute perfect time to tease Sprout. Getting to the kitchen was super easy, anyways. Even her exhausted brain could get there with no problem. Everything felt quiet. Too quiet. Maybe it was because she was used to, at the very least, some form of noise from another floor. The presence of someone next to her. Really, anything that could make a form of noise.
Things stopped being quiet when she got to the kitchen. As she assumed, Sprout was there, chatting with Vee. They butt heads a lot, yes, but it was early and they were double-checking runs for today. Connie noticed and flew up to the two of them, waving. Vee waved back, and Sprout looked at her, knowing something was up.
"Why are you up so early?" Sprout asked.
Connie rolled her eyes, and gave a bit of a lie, "To tell you that you kissed Cosmo in my dream last night."
"CONNIE!" Sprout stood up, "Y- YOU CAN'T JUST-"
Sprout was cut off by Vee literally falling out of her seat in laughter, which Connie chuckled at, "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Shelly tackled Vee to the ground and cuddled her right then and there."
"Huh? Wha... What even was your dream last night?" Sprout asked, very confused.
"I dunno," Connie shrugged, "Everyone in my dream was doing crap like that. It was kinda funny."
Connie omitted the part about how she felt jealous, as Vee got up, "It sounds like you had fun invading on everyone's privacy."
"Eh, I guess you could say that," Connie chuckled, before muttering under her breath, "Kinda hard not to when everyone's doing it out in the open, but still..."
Sprout gave Connie a look, "That sure does sound like an interesting dream."
"And, if you don't mind of course, I would like to discuss it with you one on one," Astro said, spooking both the other main toons. Connie was, to no surprise, not startled.
"I don't see what there is to discuss about it," Connie replied, "Besides, I got a day planned with the girls."
Astro's brow furrowed, "I don't want to discuss this in front of overs, but I am concerned from what I saw."
"There's nothing to be concerned about," Connie rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna go wake up Gigi."
Once Connie left, Sprout spoke up, "Am I the only one who noticed she became a lot more avoidant once Astro came?"
Vee and Astro agreed with him, even though Astro wasn't even there beforehand. Something definitely was bugging Connie about the dream. Astro didn't chat more about what was in her dream, a fortunate respect of her privacy, but there was definitely something wrong. Astro, in particular, seemed extremely bothered by it. What could Connie want to hide about the dream? It sounded like it was a normal dream. Just Connie snooping on people's privacy, as usual.
As Connie flew down the hall, her mind wandered. It felt foggy, which, considering she practically didn't sleep at all last night, wasn't too strange. Still, part of her wanted to cradle into a bed and sleep for a while. But she knew, if she went back and tried to do that, she'd end up right where she started last night. Plus, she wanted to hang out with her girls! Surely they wouldn't mind an early start to the day. She just needed to wake them up first. Pull them out of their dreams and tell them she was getting an early start to her day and to get up and go. They'd probably by that lie.
Popping her head into Gigi's room, the sight Connie saw gave her conflicting feelings. It wasn't even an unusual sight. Gigi was fast asleep on her bed, laying on her side with her arms stacked on top of each other. The two bean bags she owned sat on either side of her bed. The pink one, of course, had Flutter fast asleep. The blue one was empty. Usually, Connie would be the one in that bean bag. On the one hand, she was excited to wake Gigi up to cause some chaos. Maybe she could wake up both of them and they could gossip. On the other hand, Connie wanted nothing more than to crawl into Gigi's arms.
Connie had no idea why she would want to crawl into Gigi's arms. They never were the type of friends to be super affectionate with one another (like that of Cosmo and Sprout), so why in the world would Connie want to crawl into Gigi's arms like that? Connie slowly crept towards Gigi, taking her in better. The closer she got, the more she just wanted to crawl into Gigi's arms and go to sleep. But what would Gigi think? Shaking the thoughts from her head, Connie put her hand on Gigi's shoulder, gently shaking her.
"Giiiigiiii..." Connie whispered, trying to stay quiet enough to not wake Flutter up.
Gigi groaned, rubbing her eyes and looking up at Connie, "It's too early..."
"Vee's not in her room," Connie whispered, knowing that would get Gigi awake, "Wanna steal some stuff from her?"
"Sure, I don't mind," Gigi sat up, stretching and getting out of bed.
Sure, it was very early, and Gigi probably didn't actually have the energy to do this, but come on! Connie needed something to do, and having a partner in crime to do it with was better than nothing. Plus, it could get her mind off last night. Maybe even wake her up a little. Connie needed this, and then some. A bit of adrenaline, surely that'll do her good. As they walked to Vee's room, in mostly silence, Connie noticed Gigi get a pep in her step the longer they went. Sure, Gigi just woke up, but it was good to see that someone had a bunch of energy.
Once they got to Vee's room, Gigi started digging around in one of the prize boxes, looking for something good. Meanwhile, Connie started checking out locked things, like drawers, and, for some reason, Vee's closet. Connie had no idea why someone would lock their closet, but it gave her something to do. Digging around, Connie found nothing of note, which did suck, but hey, she was starting to feel pretty excited. This would surely keep her up if they did this all day. A call from Gigi got Connie to stop looking around in the closet, looking at what Gigi had in her hands.
"This is good, now let's get out of here befo-" Gigi started speaking, before a certain robot clearing her throat caught the two troublemaker's attention.
Looking at Vee, she looked very unamused, "What are you two doing?"
"Nothing..." Gigi lied, holding the prize she had found behind her back, "I thought you were busy!"
The room was suffocatingly silent for a moment, before Vee sighed, "You do realize there are cameras all over my room?"
"Connie! You didn't tell me there were cameras in here!" Gigi yelled.
"I didn't know there were cameras!" Connie yelled back, "Besides, we could always go steal from someone else."
Gigi shrugged, "Sure. Here's your prize back."
Gigi threw what she had found at Vee, before walking out, Connie following her. Once they had gotten decently far from Vee's room, Gigi popped her head open, grabbing something she had actually successfully stolen from Vee. It was your small, typical prize, but the fact Gigi had it was awesome. She handed it to Connie, letting out a small chuckle. The two were approaching Shrimpo's room, and by how Gigi's eyes were starting to dart around, Connie knew what she wanted to do. Connie nodded, signalling for Gigi to wait as she went invisible and placed the stolen present in Shrimpo's room.
Once Connie left Shrimpo's room, Gigi laughed, "Great job. Can't wait to see him get dished out later."
"Yeah, he's so gonna be pissed," Connie replied, chuckling, "This will be great."
"Who next?" Gigi asked allowed, looking around.
Connie hummed, thinking for a moment as she looked around, "No one good around here. Wanna go tease Sprout?"
"No, I want to prank someone, or steal something. We can tease him later," Gigi replied, before her eyes caught on a specific door, "I got an idea. Come on."
Connie followed Gigi as the two of them walked up to Yatta's door. Gigi pulled some candy out of her head (was that candy even good?), placing it in front of Yatta's door. It was bait, and Gigi encouraged Connie to turn both of them invisible. It was only five minutes where they had to wait, before Yatta came out of her room, seeing the candy on the floor. Once she leaned down, Gigi leaped onto her, with Connie letting go of her. Yatta freaked out, throwing Gigi on the floor, and Gigi busted out laughing. Connie laughed with her, turning visible as she did.
"Why'd you two DO THAT?!" Yatta asked.
Between bursts of laughter, Gigi explained, "HAHAHA! You should have... haha... seen yourself!"
"You practically leaped!" Connie added on, wiping a non-existent tear from her eye, "That's the best reaction I've seen in a while!"
"UGH, you two are NO fun!" Yatta groaned, getting up and walking away.
Connie and Gigi kept laughing for a bit longer, before going to find their next victim.
The rest of their morning was about the same as that. Find a victim, prank 'em, maybe steal some stuff, rinse and repeat. Watching Vee dish out Shrimpo for "stealing one of her prizes" was hilarious. It was now lunch time, and Gigi and Flutter were gossiping, Gigi retelling all the pranks she and Connie had gotten up to. Connie wasn't adding much, not because she didn't have anything to say, but because she was just so tired. It felt like every part of her ghostly body was screaming for some rest. Her eyes felt heavy, every blink a chore. And yet, she didn't even bother to speak up about it.
Besides, there's the rest of today she can spend with her girls! She can just sleep tonight. Plus, she didn't want to be alone. It was dumb, but the idea of being alone really, really bothered Connie. Her mind went back to her dream last night, watching everyone. No one with her, all of them sharing affection with one another. Was it dumb to say she wanted that affection everyone was giving each other? And, this morning, when watching Gigi sleep, was it really so dumb to want to crawl into Gigi's arms? Connie didn't know.
"Connie!" Gigi yelled, waving her sleeve in front of Connie's face.
Connie blinked, realizing she had zoned out, "Sorry! Wassup?"
"You good, girl?" Gigi asked, "Looking pretty out of it."
"Pssh, I'm fine, don't worry about it," Connie smiled, trying to look convincing.
"...?!!.!!" Flutter started explaining, "!!?!!...!"
Gigi nodded, "You're right... Connie, why were you up so early?"
"I just woke up early. That's it," Connie admitted. She didn't add on how late she went to bed last night.
"Ok, so you woke up early," Gigi restated, seeing Connie nod, "Then when did you go to bed?"
Connie blinked, "Well... uh... I'm... not really sure?"
Gigi looked at Connie, really looked at her, then turned to Flutter and whispered something to her. Afterwards, Gigi got up, grabbed Connie by the arm, and just dragged her away. Connie couldn't help but linger on the way Gigi held her arm. Even though she was completely exhausted, Connie's focus was on this. Where they were going blurred away to Connie. Her focus was on Gigi and Gigi alone. Why was Gigi doing this? Connie was just really tired, she barely slept last night, and she didn't want to be left alone. Gigi was going to leave her alone.
Right?
Once the two had gotten to Gigi's room, Gigi encouraged Connie to lay down on her bed. Even though she'd usually question Gigi on this, Connie was too tired to. Connie laid down, and pitifully looked up at Gigi with all the energy she had. She didn't want to be alone. Gigi looked at her, trying to figure out what Connie could possibly want. If she was so exhausted, wouldn't she instantly go to sleep? Why was Connie staring at Gigi like that? So... pitifully. Like Connie wanted nothing more than Gigi to stay with her.
Gigi leaned down, rubbing her sleeve against Connie's cheek, "Aren't you gonna sleep? You seem so tired."
"Stay..." Connie barely mumbled, to the point even Gigi wasn't sure what she said.
"What was that?" Gigi asked, climbing onto her bed to hear Connie better, "It's hard to hear you..."
Instead of answering with words, Connie grabbed onto Gigi's arm like a teddy bear. At first, Gigi chuckled, lightly tugging for her arm back. This, however, seemed the opposite of what Connie wanted, as Connie started tugging back against Gigi, and with an unexpected amount of force. Gigi tumbled over, landing right next to Connie. Gigi softly chuckled, trying to sit back up.
Only for, instead, a weight to be wrapped around her. When Gigi looked, Connie was hugging her, dozing off. Gigi sighed, realizing her fate. She was stuck here, with Connie. Gigi wasn't going to complain, but she still was a little surprised. Gigi shifted to face Connie, seeing her fast asleep. Gigi wrapped her arms around her, holding her closer. Connie had a soft smile worm its way onto her face. To that, Gigi smiled, holding Connie, not too tight, but in a way to where she'd know Gigi was there.
Of course, although a nap wasn't exactly in Gigi's plans for a day with the girls, or a day off, she would take it. Not because she was tired, but because she knew Connie needed it. Besides, dreams were fun. She could explode people with her mind, and win slots every time! What's more fun than that?