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Dandy's eye narrowed down at the small, hologram map provided to him upon first being brought into the maze of a building. Part of him figured it would be rather useless to keep around when even she couldn't quite figure it out most of the time, but they figured it's not like they should say anything about it. Complaining where employees could hear might not end well for those... actually, could you even call them employees? It often felt as though they were somehow more doll-like than Dandy himself was.
Well, on the topic, they probably knew the place much better than it did. Dandy slowly walked up to the nearest employee and tapped them on the shoulder to get their attention. They slowly turned around just fine but it seemed as though their heart jumped right through their chest as their face turned from exhaustion to shock. It's been so long since he was one, was it normal for humans to flinch like that? The other stared at Dandy in anticipation and panic, not a single "Hello, how can I help?" or whatever they're expected to say to customers.
"I'm so sorry..." The tall man sighed. "...Do you know where testing lab C is?"
"Mmm... yes-siree, um... long walk over..." They yawned and rubbed the crust buildup from their left eye. "Down that way... I think..."
"I understand perfectly, thank you very much."
Dandy turned around to go down the hall, and as he did, he could hear a sigh of relief from the individual he had just spoken with. It waited until it was much farther away from any other employee to speak something under its breath, something empathetic of which he wasn't quite sure if it would get either of them in trouble. Now that he thought about it, The testing lab asked of him to go to was farther away from any other testing labs and grounds on the premises. There weren't any other employees to run into on the trip there.
They reached the location successfully and gently knocked on the door. A pause before a very sweet "Come on in." could be heard from the other side. Dandy opened the door to see Cider preparing who-knows-what this time at a computer to the side. Dandy stood in the door frame, hands shuffling, waiting for the other's input. Cider gazed their way in awkward silence, or at least it seemed. Who the hell knows what's going on behind that headset? He always looked serene. More graceful than them, that's for sure.
"Would you please lie down on the patient's table?" He asked.
"Let me see."
Dandy had fully entered the room and took a long gander at its surroundings. This felt like a typical enough clinic-style room, aside from all of the computers and other forms of technology that doesn't come with most doctor's offices. They studied these computers a bit, but shook their mind back onto the rest of the room. His eye got snagged on a metal cabinet, prompting him to reach forward and take the handle.
Before he could open it, he flinched at a gloved hand grabbing his wrist. He froze for a solid few seconds or so just registering what was going on before thrashing their arm around in a violent panic in the attempt to make Cider let go. Though it wasn't the raw power of their movements that loosened Cider's grip, but a strength that they never expected him to possess yanking them away from the cabinet. Dandy gazed at him with the stare of a hare as Cider mumbled something in self-frustration, turning to go grab them a cup from the water cooler while still keeping her eye on him.
She extended the cup to him. "Don't pry where you're not supposed to, Dandy."
"You're making it sound even more ominous what's going on now..." He wasn't calm by any means, but tried to level out as it took the cup and drank. "I can express that concern, yes?"
"Of course you can, but I can assure you, there's nothing to worry about in there. Some things simply aren't your business. Now, may we please begin? I've been looking forward to this all day."
Dandy sighed and tossed the empty, cone-shaped cup in the trash before taking off their shoes and sitting down on the patient's table to its side. Its eye remained fixed on Cider, waiting for whatever next move he had up her sleeve. She walked towards the door to close it, but was startled by a shout behind her not to. He turned his head to face Dandy, who now sat forward with his knees to his chest.
"Dandy, do you really trust me that little? Are you not comfortable being here?"
"It's not that... at least keep it a smidge open."
Cider complied, but was really pushing the definition of "open" here. He made his way back to the computer and took a wired adhesive of sorts, of which he attempted to apply to Dandy. This didn't quite work, as the patient leaned away and put their hand up to slow her down. She did, admittedly worried about property damage that might've followed had he gone into this without thinking.
Though now that they thought about it, Dandy had also gone into this without thinking. "What's the goal with the test here? You never specified, you just said it was very important."
"Oh, I see! It's a very special project, you see," Cider smiled. "It's... experimental technology, but I'm attempting to invent a way to strip my family of their pains."
He pointed at the adhesive. "The aim is to stick this to the patient's head, which records their memories into a database of which I can remove all of the memories that hurt."
Dandy clenched up at the proposition. What, so when she's actually putting effort into something, it's effectively just more streamlined brainwashing? Cider wasn't stupid, he noticed Dandy's concerned changes in the way he carried themselves.
"I don't know what molded you into the image of a hare, but you have a greater darkness than everyone else in this family," She sighed. "Wouldn't your quality of life improve substantially without your traumas?"
Dandy choked back his initial response. If he said that, they figured they'd surely never be let go from it any time soon.
"Well... what'll happen if I encounter the source a second time unknowingly, and it happens all over again?"
His brain began to scream at them. Even that must have been saying too much.
"Then I can remove it all over again. Just let me do this for you. Please, Dandy. It hurts me so much to see you hurt."
Her fingers danced across the surface of the adhesive as he got closer. Dandy didn't even see him do it. They didn't even think about the fact that he grabbed her wrist again. The only registration anything happened was the feeling of her struggling immensely to be let go in its grasp.
"NO, DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!"
It wasn't until they ran back what it had just said in their head when Dandy gazed back up at Cider. Nobody said anything, she had stopped struggling to get his wrist free and the eye on his headset's screen had opened. Her mouth remained at a neutral expression, but whether or not it was actually neutral was definitely up for debate.
"Dandy... you don't trust me in the slightest, do you?"
"I'm sorry, Cider. You can think whatever you want, but..." He gently let go, got up, and put his shoes back on. "Please. Forget this ever happened... you still have a machine to test, so why not try to get rid of this interaction?"
Dandy made its way towards the door and pushed it softly. It moved with ease, but he stared back at Cider briefly with an exhausted expression before turning around and leaving, closing the door behind them. Cider stood there for a bit, adhesive still in hand. He set it down briefly, the eye on the screen closing once more to its usual peaceful appearance as she reached into her pocket for a unique phone of sorts, searching the specialized contact menu until he was satisfied with his choice.
Hardly even a few minutes later, a doll had arrived at her door.