Work Text:
The elevator ride to the mains’ private rooms felt like an eternity
Dandy stood in the elevator with Dyle and Astro. They were pacing in the back, and anxiously looking at the decreasing numbers on the elevator panel. Astro and Dyle were talking. Dandy took a minute to open the notebook they were carrying and reread their notes on ichor.
Raw ichor
Found- Pipes, Machines, Capsules (practically everywhere)
Use- turned into toon or lethal ichor; used as a base for creating toons.
Toxicity- strong, but only to humans.
This couldn’t have been everything they wrote down. There had to be more. All their tests showed raw ichor was relatively weak until purified to toons’ ichor or tainted into lethal ichor. Dandy was keen on testing ichor on themself to get these results.
The elevator opened, and Dandy ran down the hall. They skidded to a stop in front of Vee’s room. The flower grabbed the handle and tried to open the door. It didn’t budge. Dandy knocked on the door with increasing worry. “Vee!!! VEE!!!” they called, and continued to try and open it. Vee’s voice came from behind the door. It was weak, and shaky. “I’m fine…! I-I’m just fine!” she called. “Astro told me what happened!! You’re NOT OKAY!!! STOP PRETENDING LIKE YOU ARE!!!” They demanded, “OPEN THE DOOR!!!” Astro and Dyle ran up beside them. Shakily, the door creaked open.
Vee looked awful.
Her jacket was stained with ichor and lime green. Her arms are shaking. Her eyes were loosely opened. She gazed at the toons in front of her, and asked, “... wha-at are you doing here? Don’t you have a run to-o host Dandy…?” The three looked at her with equal looks of concern. “Vee… we’d like to check on you. Astro told us what happened.” Dyle explained. Vee’s antenna pinned back. “I’m all right though-” She tried to protest. Astro exclaimed, “Don’t pretend like what happened earlier didn’t happen!!! Please Vee!! Please let us check on you!” Vee sighed and opened her door.
Dandy walked into the room, and looked around. As Dyle and Astro ushered Vee to sit down, Dandy analyzed the room.
Her desk was unorganized and had a handful of rags stained with ichor and what dandy assumed was coolant.
The floor had two distinct dark stains.
There were papers everywhere.
The sight was painfully familiar. Not just to their own office, but something from much farther back in time.
“Mama? What’s wrong?!”
Dandy was in the doorway, worriedly holding the side open. Delilah was standing over a puddle of black and red. Her hand gripped the side of the table she stood beside.
She was shaking as she wiped the tar-like ichor from her mouth.
“Dandy, do not panic. I’m just fine… Just… just a bit too much energy was taken out of me today.”
There were papers on the ground, and tissues stained with black and red peaking from the trashcan. Delilah further clarified,
“I’ll be fine, don’t panic Dandy.”
Delilah had lied right through her teeth.
Dandy had come to learn in time Delilah had vomited blood alongside ichor. A symptom of poisoning from the raw ichor.
Symptoms Vee was sharing.
The raw ichor vee had been using to revive toons had been poisoning her.
For the past two weeks vee had been slowly getting poisoned…
“Okay, next, you’re going to have to get your hands dirty. You should be fine touching raw ichor, right?”
…and it was completely their fault.
Other than the guilt ripping them to shreds on the inside as they gazed at the sickened television, another question plagued their mind.
How?
They had worked with ichor without any gloves, and they’d been fine! Why was Vee getting sick from it?!
They didn’t know what to do.
Dandy completely froze, staring as vee started to cough and gag again. Dyle and Astro talking about possibly getting the healers completely drowned out by the flower’s heartbeat pounding in their ears.
God they just can’t have any stable relationship could they?
Vee was now having trouble making out what was around her.
She was ushered to lay down, and started reluctantly obliging. Not much she could do with this pounding headache and terrible stomach pain. She didn’t even think that was possible. Yet, in her state, she looked around for at least a blur of the flower.
Glimpses of conversation were picked up by her trembling antenna.
“Dan….o we do..?”
Fading in and out like glitchy signals.
“I… ow…. … don’t kn…!”
This had to be the worst pain she’s ever physically felt.
“I… ow what ha…. To mama…!”
Her fans whirred erratically, cutting out pieces of conversation.
“Get Sprout and Cosmo.”
That was the clearest sentence she heard before shutting off.
“What do you think I can do?!”
Sprout looked at Vee. Cosmo stood to the side. “Im sure ichor poisoning shares symptoms with other forms of poisoning, right?” Dandy asked worriedly. Cosmo stepped forward, and asked, “Do you know what causes ichor poisoning? That might help see what we can do!” Dandy took out a thick journal, the one they held earlier. “I know it's from exposure to raw and unfiltered ichor, which is the base of toon revival! Vee’s been working with the stuff for days.” They explained. Sprout crossed his arms. “So you got Vee to work with stuff that you knew would make her sick?” he accused. Dandy snapped back, “I didn’t think it would make her sick! I’ve been fine!! Besides, I've done some research and Toons’ ichor should be stronger than raw ichor!”
Dyle thought for a moment as they went back and forth. “Dandicus, you noted how you weren't affected?” he asked. Dandy nodded, “Yeah, I work with raw ichor with my bare hands and I've been fine!” They said, Dyle asked further, “Do you think it has something to do with the fact that you and I have lethal ichor rather than just toon ichor making us up.” Dandy stood there for a moment and thought about it, and flipped to the page for lethal ichor in their journal.
Lethal ichor was strange, and it was so potent, it overtook the ichor/blood of whoever decided to work with it. Thats how Dandy and Dyle became lethal twisteds. They had only been testing ichor on themself after becoming lethal. Vee isn’t a lethal twisted.
Which meant raw ichor was just as toxic to normal toons as it is to humans, and only lethal toons aren’t affected.
Dandy dropped their journal and grabbed their petals. Of course, why didn’t they take into account they were a special case. “I should’ve known-!” their voice was quiet, and barely above a soft whisper.
Sprout turned to Vee and went closer. “... Hmm… Well we can’t change what happened. Let's just try to help, and compare her symptoms to types of poisoning we know.” He said, and gently analyzed vee. Cosmo took out a small notepad and began writing stuff down. Dandy peered over Cosmo's shoulder to watch what he wrote.
1. Paler skin/coating
2. Fatigue/exhaustion
3. Fans whirring abnormally (breathing troub
Sprout shook vee a bit. “Vee, can you speak, and maybe tell us anything we can’t see?” he asked, and vee gently opened her eyes. She replied shakily, “M…my head hurts… my hands feel numb… and my stomach hurts… where my stomach would be i mean…” Astro added, “She threw up ichor and coolant fluid earlier. I didnt even know she could throw up.” Vee remarked, “Neither could I…” Cosmo finished his list.
1. Paler skin/coating
2. fatigue/exhaustion
3. Fans whirring abnormally (breathing troubles?)
4. Headache
5. Numbness in hands
6. Stomach pain
7. Vomiting ichor and coolant (Blood?)
Cosmo looked up. “Does this remind you of that one PSA we hosted about the lead in the water Sprout?” he asked. Sprout thought for a minute, then snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah! Back in the 90s when there were a handful of lead in water incidents!” he exclaimed, then added, “You’re right, these symptoms do line up with what we learned about lead poisoning." Dyle looked a bit surprised. “So ichor poisoning is similar? Then what do we do to fix it?” Cosmo sharply inhaled, then said, “Well… we don’t have the materials, and Vee can’t really take medication anyway… so…”
Dandy looked horrified as Astro asked what was on their mind, “Does that mean Vee’s going to die?!” Vee immediately sat up after somehow hearing that. “I'M DY-YING?!” she exclaimed. Sprout and Cosmo jumped to reassure them, “WHOAH NO VEE’S NOT DYING!! SHE’LL BE FINE!!!” “not sure about the fine thing BUT WE’LL THINK OF SOMETHING!!!” Dyle asked, “Then what can we do then? I’m not sure how much longer Vee’s older tech can support her poisoned ichor.”
There was a long pause of sickening silence, until Sprout snapped his fingers.
“I’ve got an idea! But it’s kind of brutal…” He said. Dandy remarked, “At this point anything’s on the table! I want to help Vee.” Sprout nodded. “Okay, so, Vee’s actual ichor itself was contaminated because of raw ichor, right?” he asked. Dandy nodded. “Dandy, you get a tub of not-raw ichor or whatever toons have. Dyle, you get some empty capsules.” he knelt down beside Vee. “Hey Vee? Where’s your toolbox?” he asked. Vee weakly replied, “Under my bed…” Cosmo knelt down to get it. Dandy and Dyle left the room. Astro cautiously asked, “Sprout… what are you planning?” Cosmo asked as well, “Yeah, what’s the plan?” Sprout took vee’s arm, and turned her palm up. “Vee’s the only toon who can handle this, but…”
“BLOODLETTING?!”
Dandy exclaimed after Sprout explained the plan. “Yeah! Come on Dandy-” Dandy interrupted him, “Bloodletting is known for being really dangerous in history! Heck, VEE HERSELF can tell you that!” Vee just barely spoke up, “Bloodletting killed the first president of the United States: George Washington…” Sprout went to reassure them, “Look, look, it was ineffective because people can’t live without blood, BUT Vee, you’re a robot! You should be able to take a little more ichor loss because your body is powered by electricity and wiring. So theoretically if we get enough of the contaminated ichor from her systems she should be okay!” Every toon looked at Sprout like he was insane. Vee spoke up. It was weak but it held a lot of emotion, “Sprout that is literally the reason bloodletting was so dangerous… you’d bleed someone dry trying to get ‘contaminated blood’ out..” sprout turned around, “Well does ANYONE ELSE have any BRIGHT IDEAS?”
No one came forward.
Sprout started putting gloves on. “All right then, let's start.”
Dandy could barely watch.
They felt so useless, watching as Cosmo and Sprout collected ichor straight from Vee’s arm in capsules. Vee was struggling to stay calm as they collected the ichor. Her eyes were scrunched shut as ichor dripped down her arm. Astro stood over her, placing his star hands on her head to try and calm her down. Dyle stood supervising.
They felt like they couldn’t do anything.
They could barely even look at her in this state, guilt felt like it was stabbing them in the chest.
They had to leave the room.
Vee just barely extended her hand for them as they left.
Dandy sat on the second floor of Vee’s public floor. Their feet dangled over the railing. They couldn’t face her. They couldn’t bear the thought of even seeing her after this. It was their fault she got so sick, thinking she could handle ichor as recklessly as they could.
Dandy scratched at their upper forearm.
They hated the guilt.
They just wanted to rid themself of this feeling.
The overwhelming feeling of guilt.
They bit down on their hand suddenly. Physical pain. At this point physical pain is all that can make them feel better. It felt like it overwrote the pain in their chest from guilt.
It felt deserved.
Yet they were still hesitant to break their skin.
What a coward they were.
“Dan…? Hey are you up here?”
Vee’s voice, although weak and shaky, it was her.
Dandy spat their hand from their mouth and turned around.
She still looked terrible, but she was standing. It's clear whatever sprout did worked out. Her elbow and forearm were all bandaged up, and she was leaning heavily on her cane. “Hey, Brightney said she saw you up here…” she said and walked over. Dandy ran up to hug her. They just started to cry into her jacket. The fabric was still stained with her coolant. “Dan! I’m all right! I’m better now!” she exclaimed, and knelt down shakily to hug them back. Her grasp was so much weaker than before. Dandy shakily managed to get out, “I’m sorry… I'm so sorry I should've… i really should’ve known-” Vee gently stopped them, “Its over now, i should be fine!”
Dandy looked back up at her, their eyes filled with tears. “No Vee! Stop it! I nearly got you KILLED!!! You can’t just ignore that!!!” they cried out, “You can’t just forgive me and move on from that!” Vee took their hands, her grasp was so much weaker than before. It crushed the flower’s heart. “Dandy, calm down! It’s over, I'm fine!” She tried to reassure them. Dandy squeezed her hands. “Why aren’t you angry with me?! J-just a month ago you would’ve been so mad that i did this-” Vee interrupted them with a hiss, “You know why blossom, it’s because we’ve grown closer, gotten to know each other, and I now know you don’t hate me anymore. I don’t hate you either.” She gently leaned forth, “I asked to help out, I'm forgiving you, and it's all because I love you Dandy.”
Dandy sat in silence, just trying to process what she told them.
“How can you still love me after all of this…? I practically ruined you!! I-I ruined your reputation among toons, I let you poison yourself for weeks, and-! and-!” They sputtered, and grabbed their petals. Vee pulled their hands away. “DANDICUS!!!” Despite her weaker voice, she still sounded so stern. Dandy looked at her, eyes wide. She held their face in her shaky metal hands. Her hands were warm. “Shut up, just shut up! I volunteered to take your spot on runs. Stop acting like you’re at fault for everything that happened! Yes, you could’ve warned me I could’ve gotten sick, but you know what else? I could’ve let you come and revive toons yourself! I asked to learn, I asked to help you. You simply tried to guide me, and it went badly.” she reassured them, “Please, don’t think all of it was your fault.” Dandy’s eyes softened and they leaned into Vee’s gentle hold. “Vee… I’m s-” they tried to apologize again. Vee shushed them, and pulled them closer.
“Don’t try to apologize, it's fine.”
“Just hold me, please.”
Dandy hugged her tightly, and remained quiet. They felt like they didn’t deserve this. This sort of forgiveness. She should be screaming in their ears, she should be yelling that they ruined her life, she should be saying that she never wants to see them again.
Yet, she didn’t.
Because for some reason.
Vee loved them.