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‘Dear diary,’
‘Heyo, Dandy here! Another day, another new adventure waiting for me! It’s now my 3rd week of having Pebble with me. He’s been really fun to play with! Though, it does get a bit lonely. Not that Pebble isn’t enough, it’s just I wish I had someone I could really talk to; someone more like me.
Miss Delilah has been talking about making more of the toons from the show, like me! I’m so excited to meet them, I know we’ll be the best of friends!!
Speaking of the show, I’ve been watching a few episodes as of late. It’s incredible how people are able to animate characters and make them nearly alive! Maybe one day they could show me!
For now, I’m just sitting around in my room with Pebbs. I hope Mr Arthur visits soon. He said Miss Delilah was busy doing work stuff, and he was helping her out. I hope she’s okay! I think it’s almost time for Pebble’s dinner, I’ll call—‘
“Dandy?” A voice came from the door, cracked open slightly.
Dandy looked up from his diary to see Pebble wagging his tail and barking at the door. Looking further, he saw Arthur in the doorway, peeking through.
“Mr Arthur!” Dandy stood, leaving his diary open and running to the door, scooping up Pebble in his arms. “You’re back!”
Arthur opened the door wider, looking down at Dandy. “How’s it been? Has Pebble been adjusting well?”
“Yep! We’ve had lots of time to play!”
“That’s good. Soon enough you’ll have more things to do around here.” Arthur kneeled down to Dandy, holding onto the doorframe.
Dandy chuckled, nearly falling over as Pebble leaped out of his arms to Arthur. The elder chuckled, patting Pebble softly.
“Well,” Arthur began, standing slowly and still holding the doorframe, “we have a little surprise for you two. Wanna go see it?”
Dandy beamed, his eyes lighting up with glee.
“Oh yes, yes!! Thank you so much Mr. Arthur!” Dandy exclaimed as he hugged Arthur’s pant leg.
The two of them were distracted enough to not notice Pebble slipping through the cracked-open door, running out into the ‘dorm’ halls. Once he began to bark they snapped out of their wholesome moment to catch him.
“Pebble!! Come back!” Dandy ran out, Arthur chuckling before following along.
They ran through the carpeted halls, the adorned with decorative posters of the show. ‘Dandy and Friends,’ each one of them stated: the previous name of the show. Dandy didn’t quite know why it was changing, but nevertheless he was excited to perform. There were many rooms throughout the halls. Dandy, again, didn’t know why. There were only six characters in the show, so why so many rooms? Maybe one day he’d know. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, but Pebble kept going, pursuing the surprise.
“You alright there, bud?” Arthur said, turning a corner into the hall where the small flower stood.
“I’m okay! Pebble just has a LOT of energy!” Dandy claimed, smiling back at Arthur before running off once again.
The sound of barking led Dandy to the right direction; the lobby. He exited the dorm halls, looking first to the train station before overhearing a commotion.
“Hey! Pebble, down! Pebble!” A voice spoke from near the elevator shafts.
Dandy rushed over, already apologizing.
“I am so sorry! We didn’t mean for Pebble to get out, sorry!!”
“It’s alright Dandy.” The voice spoke once again.
Upon Dandy arriving in front of the oak tree and patch of grass under the large skylight, he recognized the person behind the voice. It was Austin! The crew didn’t visit often, focusing on the work stuff, but when they did it was great to have them around! Austin and Devan were calm but slightly intimidating, often seen together as they worked through paperwork. Veronica was usually calm, but could overthink things and get upset quite easily. Sam was… authoritative, to say the least, but they made things go by smoothly. Shannon was very kind and caring, visiting most often out of the crew.
Austin stood, pointing down at Pebble before speaking calmly, “Sit.”
Pebble looked up at him with the same expression.
Austin repeated, “Sit.”
Pebble just stared up at him.
Dandy chucked lightly, stepping over to Pebble, “He’s still learning!”
Before Dandy could speak further, he heard a faint shift on the floorboards. Pebble also seemed to notice, and even noticed the cause of the sound, barking forward at Austin.
“What is it Pebbs?” Dandy cautiously asked.
Austin sighed deeply, looking down at the two toons. “Well, I’m guessing Arthur told you about some sort of ‘surprise’ or something?”
Dandy nodded, still confused.
“Well, here he is…” Austin spoke with feigned excitement before stepping aside.
Dandy stood in slight shock at the figure in front of him. It was definitely a new toon, but who? It took a moment for Dandy to figure out who the new toon was.
‘Let’s see: crescent mask, purple blanket around them, matching purple nightcap, black fluffy slippers— wait.’
“Astro..?”