Work Text:
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Blot tapped her foot impatiently, the ink droplets rolling off her body and staining the elevator floor.
She hated going on these stupid runs. She had no idea why the other toons enjoyed them so much.
She looked to her side, and glanced at one of the five toons currently in the elevator.
Vee.
Thankfully, another toon who also seemed to see runs as just being a complete and utter waste of time had also tagged along.
Sadly, Looey or Yatta hadn’t joined this time around. Which was weird, considering the fact that Dandy liked to pair together toons who were close or at the very least knew one another when it came to who he selected to participate in a run.
Ah, whatever. Not really much use in thinking about what might possibly be going up in Dandy’s mind now. Especially since most toons, including Blot herself, didn’t really like Dandy anymore. Ever since Gardenview shut down, it was as if he was an entirely different person, even if he did keep up the same cheerful and friendly act.
Well, Blot may as well try to get one thing out of this run: If she can somehow manage to reach Vee’s almost impossibly strict standards, then maybe, just maybe, they would consider allowing the circus troupe to perform one of their acts on their show.
It would greatly boost their popularity, and allow them to showcase their talents for everyone to see. Even if they weren’t entertaining children anymore, the three of them had still worked hard to hone their skills to be the very best, and it would be a damned shame if they never got to use them to their fullest potential.
…Now that all sounded like a good idea on paper, but how was Blot actually going to accomplish such a thing? As she mentioned earlier, Vee was notorious for being very difficult to please. Even Brightney, whom everyone knew Vee considered to be their best contestant, had trouble picking out gifts for them sometimes.
She needed to come up with a plan. And fast.
The elevator was slowing down, and in any moment now, they would arrive on the next floor-
Ding!
…Aaand there it was. Blot really needed to stop jinxing herself..
The other toons began to pour out of the elevator, and Blot reluctantly followed, one of the last toons to step outside of it.
—
The thing about Vee was that they were excellent at extracting ichor, but also had some of the worst mobility out of any toon in Gardenview.
It didn’t help that Twisteds seemed to spot them more easily than they did other toons.
As such, it was a surprise to absolutely no one when Vee was the first toon to be seen by a Twisted after failing a skillcheck, getting themselves into a very tight situation not even five minutes into the floor. Even the self-proclaimed outstanding gameshow host slipped up sometimes, huh?
This was Blot’s chance. She couldn’t care less about completing machines, and put very little effort into extracting, but she could handle Twisteds very well.
Stepping out from the shadows as Vee was almost hit by none other than Twisted Brusha, she quickly used her ability and set down one of her many, many precious little Blot Jr’s.
Twisted Brusha had an annoyingly sharp eye, but in situations like these, it worked to Blot’s benefit. The Twisted froze in her tracks, inspecting the miniature ink blob for a few moments before clawing at it. Blot winced as the Jr fell apart in one strike.. she really needed to find a way to make them more durable.
It bought Vee enough time to get away, and for Brusha to refocus her attention on Blot, who now was forced to distract the Twisted for the rest of the floor. Great.
Hopefully this would be enough..
—
“…Os” Blot started, attempting to strike up conversation with Vee in the elevator, “?Taht saw woh”
Vee blinked. Oh, shit, was their translator even on-?
“How was what? That little stunt you pulled earlier?” Vee replied, their face not at all amused in the slightest.
“tsuj saw I-“ Blot rushed to explain herself, hands waving frantically, not dissimilar to how they would move whenever she did one of her mime acts.
Vee sighed, “No, no. Thank you for saving me back there, Blot. I really appreciate it.”
A moment of silence passed by.
“-I dna attaY dna yeooL em tel ll’uoy naem siht seod.. oS” Blot started, only for Vee to interject only a few moments after.
“Oh would you look at that the elevator’s opening, see you later Blot-“ Vee quickly waved to her before heading out onto the floor.
Blot shook her head. Guess she would have to work a little harder if she wanted to earn the admiration of the great Vee..
—
“…attaY od ot tahw wonk t’nod tsuj I” Blot thought out loud, laying on her bed in her room.. well technically, the circus trio shared a room, but-
“Ooh! Ooh! I KNOW!!” Yatta exclaimed, “You should get them some batteries!! Computers love batteries!! …I think!! You’ll totally earn their love that way!!”
Blot’s eyes narrowed, “…Eno, eeV’s a VT, ton a retupmoc, dna owt- uoy ekam ti dnuos ekil m’I gniyrt ot etad meht ro gnihtemos-“
“…You aren’t?” Yatta seemed surprised, “You sure talk about them like you are!”
“T’nod I oN? Tahw” Blot pouted, and sat up, “!Reh llet, yeooL”
Looey looked up from where he was sat in a crate, attempting to make as much balloon animals as he could within the shortest period of time. He liked to do this, for some reason. He called it “making sure his skills were up to par”, but Blot wasn’t really all too confident that it was entirely the truth.
“…Um…” Looey looked between the two of them, clearly wanting to make neither of them upset, “I’m sorry to say this, Blot… but Yatta sounds kinda.. right? Not that you are actually in love with Vee or anything-“
“See! I told you, Blot!” Yatta snorted proudly, and Blot felt like burying her head in her pillow.
So that was exactly what she did.
“..ElbissopmI era syug uoY” Blot grumbled quietly as she shut her eyes.
—
Okay. New Plan.
This time, she would take inspiration from something that Glisten had told her.
“YES! When you make that, do you think you can make one in MY image next time?”
Glisten was one of Vee’s closest friends, so naturally, their likes and interests had to align at least somewhat.
If Blot could create a Jr. that resembled Vee and gifted it to them.. then maybe they would consider Blot’s pitch, even if only for a few seconds longer than usual..?
God, she felt like she was Looey that one time he attempted to get Shrimpo off his back by gifting him a balloon animal. He had backed off for a couple nights, but he had eventually gotten back to his shenanigans again..
…She really was getting desperate, wasn’t she?
Urgh. Whatever. It was worth a shot.
She just needed a bit of time.. and a little more ink..
—
“!eeV” Blot greeted the main, trying to look as energetic as possible.
They were in the lobby. Blot had spent a majority of her night making the Jr as accurately as she could, and also making sure it didn’t fall apart throughout the night.
“What is it? I’m very busy, I’ll have you know, and-“
“Oh..?” Vee tilted their head, inspecting it closer, “What’s this..?”
“?ti ekil uoy oD! uoy rof siht edam I” Blot asked, anxiety beginning to build up in her gut as she held out the Blot Jr.
Vee went silent for a moment, their expression unreadable as they poked and prodded at the little Junior, much to Blot’s chagrin.
Eventually, they seemed to come to a decision on how they felt about the damned thing, redirecting their gaze to Blot.
“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s anything like any of the gifts I recieve normally..” Vee spoke, “But. I can still tell you out hard work into it, and I applaud you for that.”
Blot’s heart swelled in relief and hope. Maybe, just maybe, this would finally be it-
“…Before you ask, no, I do not need any extra acts on my show.” Annnd there went all of Blot’s hopes and dreams.
Her gaze dropped to the floor. If Blot had to guess, she thought she looked like a very sad puppy right now.
“I - oh, don’t give me that look!” Vee’s voice didn’t show much emotion, but Blot could tell they felt at least a little bit guilty, “I mean- for now, that is!”
Blot brightened at those last words.
“A-and! Just so you know..” Vee cleared their throat, “My offer for you to join me will always be on the table.”
They got closer to her, and..
Planted. A kiss. On her cheek.
A tentative, shy little kiss.
That Vee immediately seemed to regret doing afterward, judging by the slight glitch in their voice when they said: “U-uh.. bye Blot! Have a nice rest of your day with your little circus trio or whatever!!”
Blot just stood there as Vee dashed away, hand still resting on her cheek, face still covered in blush.
“Lla retfa thgir erew yooeL dna attaY ebyaM..”
—