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''Blot?''- She asked before even looking who was there, and as soon the name was mentioned some of the boxes made a rumbling sound. It seems they got startled by the presence of another toon in the room.
A fat minute of silence paused the situation, only the sounds of the outside yelling and chattling of the others echoing in the backstage. Vee was getting impatient of waiting for him to get out, and as she stepped more closer, the metal of her foot breaking the silence, the ink blot decided to get out from the disaster of boxes that hid him from the light. The toon looked awful, all his makeup was ruined by tears that he tried to hold in while he struggled to get out from the pile awkwarldy, and although both of them were right in front of the other, Blot refused to make eye contact out of embarrassment while he tightly grabbed the arm of his striped sweater out of stress.
Vee glanced at him in confusion trying to understand what was happening, she has never seen him like this before... Or has even anybody? His personality didn't reflect this at all. It was like seeing a whole new character, anybody but Blot.
She found it difficult to come up with something to say, she did not know what to do. ''How do I comfort him? What do I even say!?'' The TV said to herself as she scanned the mime, her screen glowing a cumbersome face at the sight of this serious moment. Yeah, Vee is not the right one for this! Her system wasn't programmed for these situations!
As she looked for a solution for this like it was a math problem, Blot glanced back at her, matching the same expression she had, getting a weird feeling about this. ''What is she even doing...'' He said to himself as his eyebrow frowned slowly while he started to feel way more uncomfortable that he was already.
Before the mime could said anything, Vee made a sudden move, with wobbly arms, she grabbed the arm that he was tightening and awkwardly pulled him closer, to then wrap her arms around him vaguely and praying inside that this could help -That was the only thing she remembered about comforting thanks to her toon handler, besides head pats- . Blot starred at the wall behind the TV with more confusion while he felt the metal hands softly grabbing the fabric of his clothing, asking himself why was she doing that? Wasn’t she afraid of getting all stained with ink? Her suit would get ruined…
All these questions started to overwhelm the ink blot again, and the tears that he was holding all these minutes finally started to come out from his single eye as he unconsciously started to hug the robot back, this action making Vee internally sigh of relief, indicating that maybe this was working.
A small and quiet moment passed when Blot came back to his senses, pulling away carefully from the hug with a more calm expression, but it was changed to a worried one when he saw the stained clothes that Vee had on.
“.tius …ruoY” (“Your… suit.”)- He said glancing at the ruined fabric of the green clothes that were shinning before.
“ …yrros m’I-I” (“I-I’m sorry…”)- He apologized with a trembling voice, caused by his squeezed throat that was affected by his crying.
Vee, that somehow didn’t notice the ink that was placed on the fabric, peeked down to see the mess that Blot caused, but instead of complaining she just rolled her eyes with her usual smirk, resting her hands on her hips
"Come on! I'm sure that Tisha wouldn't mind a little more of cleaning today."- The TV spoke with a jokingly voice, mocking the box tissue, which made Blot let out a slight chuckle and lighting up the mood in the room. But right after that, the mime's expression went back to his melancholic face that he has been showing since the start, making the environment have a serious tone once again.
Instead of trying to lighten up the mood again, Vee decided that maybe that wasn’t the way to solve this, and while she crossed her arms with a soft smile on her screen she asked:
“So, are you telling me what’s wrong?”- Titling her head to the side, showing genuine caring.
Blot looked away at this question, doubting if he should really answer that. Is not that he disliked her, but was Vee really the best toon for this? He thought. After all he had his best friends to talk about it, having the feeling that they would understand him better but…
He finally had the opportunity to spit it out. To tell someone what he has been locking in his mind to show a personality otherwise of those thoughts. He glanced back at her before sitting on the floor and patting the spot on his side, asking Vee to sit right beside him. After Vee followed his sign with a low thump when she lied down her back on the wall behind them, he finally spoke up again:
“.lamron eb ot tnaw tsuj …I” (“I… just want to be normal.”)- He wrapped his arms around his knees while resting his head on them, letting the ink drip through his legs, his pupil going away again with vulnerability from the green toon, but it went back after a moment of silence -besides the humming that came from the insides of the robot- to the glowing screen who had a hint of confusion on her face.
He sighed in hassle, realizing that maybe Vee wouldn’t understand this. She had a translator, didn’t mind the mess he made with his ink, hell, she even tried to convince him every time she could to work with her! She was just too kind to him in comparison of the other toons -besides Looey and Yatta-, why is she like this?
“-,yllamron kaeps ,wonk uoY” (“You know, speak normally,-)- He made a pause and pointed at his mouth dramatically while he ranted “?ydob lamron a evaH-“ (“-Have a normal body?”)- Added while he made a sign at the dripping ink on his face, quite annoyed by feeling it drop on his sweater again.
Vee seemed to start understanding what he meant. He was different, something that she really never cared about. Vee always saw potential on other toons that, according to her, they wasted it most of the time, and Blot wasn’t out of this opinion in her eyes -or screen- . So that’s maybe why his obvious contrast with the other toons wasn’t a disturbance to her, Vee thought. But she had to look further what he really showed, since the TV never fully learned what emotions the others hided, like in this case.
“I guess I never saw it.”- She started to explain with her hand on the oposite arm -something that she usually does to stay focused in casual moments- . “I just see you like a talented toon, full of potential, but-“- She let out a sound similar to a sigh with a small glitch on her screen, cutting eye contact with the mime “-I never thought you never found how to show it. You know because, the speaking backwards and… your ink.”
With an awkward voice at the last part of that sentence, Vee took a bit to think what she should say next, making sure to not mess it up, but Blot waited with patience, aware that this was a little difficult to her.
Then she continued: “I’m sorry I never noticed that.”
“.ot desoppus t’nerew uoY” (You weren’t supposed to.”)- Blot interrupted, shivering from the cold that wrapped up the room. Vee removed her jacket and covered Blot’s shoulders with it, peeking an eye to the green robot with slight surprise.
They stayed in a comforting silence, not an awkward one like before this conversation, until the TV said in a stutter:
“Maybe you should talk about this with your circus troupe”
“…yas uoY” (“You say…”)- He answered frowning his eye again, as if it was easy to follow that tip.
“I mean, just saying! I’m not the best one for this Blot.”- Answered back to him casually, thinking that maybe she should’ve responded another back with in a better way.
Even though that was true, Blot was happy enough that there was someone to listen to his words, something that he has been waiting for such a long time already. He didn’t mind how awkward this situation could get, he felt comforted and understood, and Vee has just made that. Drowning in his own thoughts, he placed his head on the green toon’s shoulder and tuck up himself with the jacket;
“deniats lla gnitteg era sehtolc ruoy yrros m’I” (“I’m sorry your clothes are getting all stained”)- He apologized once again, even though he was obviously looking for touch.
Vee stared at him for a quick moment, feeling the weight of the mime lay on her, and slowly placed the side of her TV head on his, reaching the gloved hands and interlacing their fingers.
“I don’t mind. Don’t apologize.” She responded to Blot once again in a whisper, both placed themselves in silence for a long time in the backstage, starring at the light that trespassed the large red curtains.