Chapter Text
“Who is that?”
Dandy inquires, looking over Arthur’s shoulder by standing on a stool crafted specifically for him.
“Ah, that’s Dyle! Delilah said she needed to hire staff but didn’t have the money to afford a train conductor.. especially after creating you.”
“Oh.. then.. he’ll be the train conductor?”
“Mhm! See those trains around Gardenview?”
He lifts Dandy into his arms like he had done the first day, walking to his window that Dandy thought of as the only thing without sticky notes or papers.
The trains were one of the things that Dandy asked non-stop about until Delilah gave him a book on it to read in his room. Needless to say, he was stuck trying to read “train” for three hours until Arthur came over.
“What about them?”
“Its the backbone of how Gardenview functions.”
“Eh?”
“How do you think guests will get from one place to another?”
“By.. Oh..”
Walking took too long, as he heard Delilah complain about once.
“See? It's much more exciting to use a train than a bike or car, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know.”
He’s never been in a vehicle; they never took him anywhere else besides this house.
“Well, you’ll find out one day, but all you have to know is that they see trains as more “magical” than cars or any of the sort.”
“Really?”
“Mhm! That’s why we chose trains.”
That didn’t sound like the whole truth to him, but he can ask that some other time.
“So.. that guy will run the trains?”
“Dyle, his name is Dyle.”
“Dyle.. Dyle will run it?”
“All by himself.”
“But that’s so harddd!”
The first time reading through the book gave him the impression that everything related to trains is hard to control, but in reality, it's just because he couldn’t read the first words on the page... or the title.
“And that’s why Dyle does the job! You just have to play.”
“That’s it?”
“Mhm! Simple, right?”
“Hehe, yeahh!”
He wraps his arms excitedly around Arthur, receiving a small pat on the back in return, the most amount of affection he knows from him. . . ‘Who is that?’ What are you talking about? ‘That.. That person that just passed by the door. . ‘
He paused and looked at me. Eyes so familiar to the one I saw drawn across the paper. Is it.. Him?
For a brief moment he comes back into view, peeking through the crack of the door, then disappearing before he can say hello.
“ What is it, Dandy? “
“I..”
He looks at Arthur, trying to find words to explain, but upon looking back at where the toon once stood, ‘He won’t believe me,’ his shoulders drop.
“I thought I saw something.”
“Must’ve been the pictures outside.”
He chuckles and pats his back, setting him down onto his feet.
“Rest early tonight, we’re going to Gardenview first thing in the morning!”
The first days felt like a nightmare, is Gardenview a big black box with nothing but a small glass box inside?
Dandy sat with his knees curled to his chest, covered under the blanket Delilah let him keep after a persistent back and forth. I fought so hard for you, why won’t you bring me warmth like you usually do? What warmth did I feel back then? It’s not fair..
The air inside was faint, letting his hair and blanket stay slightly afloat. Maybe that’s the reason why I feel so cold. The thin machinery underneath and above this glass box did nothing to ease his discomfort. Gardenview was supposed to look cheerful as far as he remembered, which was yesterday, if he ever took a clear view of it. I’m sure I did.
Tkh-tkh
His head raises from underneath his blankets to another box anchored like his own.
Another toon sat completely still in their box, back faced to him like a motionless doll. Something about his appearance made him familiarize it with a face he’s seen before.
‘Isn’t that the toon I met yesterday?’
Dandy’s hands met the glass, expression awe-struck with nothing but pure curiosity.
‘It is!’
His smile brightened the moment Dyle turned his head around, and almost instinctively he starts speaking aloud, waving his hands only to meet a blank stare of confusion. Can he hear me? That must be why he isn’t responding. No time to give up now! He began to mouth his name, finding a quick thrill of relief as Dyle seemed to catch on, squinting his eyes to read his lips.
D-Y-L-E.
He nods happily when Dyle points at himself, mouthing the words back. He got it first try! We can speak to each other like this! He could practically bounce in place if not for the delay in gravity, and by then Dyle’s hands were also on the glass opposite of his, giving him the disoriented thought that he might not be as blank as he looked before.
He began to mouth his own name.
D-A-N-D-Y
Dyle mouths the words back, pausing for some time, then pointing at him.
“That’s right!”
Dandy found himself speaking aloud, finding it a bit awkward that he couldn’t hear anything, but that feeling is shoved aside by the absolute joy of creating a new friend. This is how you made friends, right? He read it in the books they gave him. First you exchange names, then you talk about your interests, then you play with them! Easy-peasy! He looks like he wants to be my friend, he isn’t frowning anymore! That thought brought an almost hyper feeling of joy, he’d run around if the area wasn't so small.
Tkh-tkh
The gears shift, their hands no longer aligned. He was going one way and Dyle was going the other.
What? Where are you going? He leaps to the other end of the glass as their distance grew, his futile attempts at breaking the glass did nothing to stop or even dent the box. Dyle isn't smiling anymore, his hands clenched in fists that didn’t move like his.
His hands loosen and press against the box, knuckles red from attempting what he found isn't possible at all.
I don’t like this feeling.. It hurts so much..
His chest caves in and soon his nose refused to let him breath normally, forcing him to acknowledge tears that shouldn’t be coming out, not according to what Arthur draws. There weren't any upset sketches, not like this.
But that was the last thing on his mind, because all he can think about is losing his first ever friend.
Dyle’s fists turned into a wave, the glass now blended in with the black, giving the illusion that he was out of his box, but still unfree.
"Don’t leave!"