Chapter Text
The toons were all going on about their regular schedules. Gardenview was closed today, so none of them needed to worry about kids rushing in. The mains handlers hadn't been seen in a hot minute, but neither of the mains were worried--well, besides Shelly. She noticed. Astro had been sleeping on a bench, he stirred slightly as he heard a scream, but he couldn't get up. He fell back asleep. Dandy noticed Astro sleeping on the bench, walking over to him. Dandy smiled as he woke Astro up.
"Astro! You know it isn't good to sleep out in the open, why don't you go to your room?" He smiled brightly.
"Right... sorry, I can't help it." Astro apologized. He felt bad for falling asleep all the time.
"Don't worry! Just be careful next time!" Dandy smiled once more, helping his best friend up from the bench.
"Yeah.. I will." Astro gave a slight smile, beginning to walk back to his own room.
Dandy felt weird... why did something feel off? He shook the feeling off, he needed to check on everyone else. As Dandy went off to check on everyone else, Glisten walked into the main lobby of Gardenview. He looked around.. feeling an odd feeling. He accidentally bumped into a wall,
"ow!" he rubbed his head. God what was wrong with him today? He looked around, praying nobody saw that. Thankfully, nobody was in the lobby.
Glisten walked over to the hallway where all the toons' rooms were located, he walked into his room, sighing. Today was terrible! He'd ran into multiple walls... He shouldn't be so clumsy! He needs to be perfect! Oh well. He fixed up his makeup and walked out of his room. He noticed a strange leak that seemed to come from the kitchen. He walked over to the kitchen, seeing that there was ichor everywhere surprised him.
'Who spilt all of this?? I shouldn't touch it; I must remain perfect. I'll go get someone else to check it out.' He thought to himself.
Glisten knocked on Blot's door, hoping he was inside. Luckily, Blot opened the door.
"Hello, Blot. Could you come check this out for me?" Glisten asked. Hoping Blot would say yes.
"?tahw tuo kcehc" (translation "check out what?") Blot asked. He was confused.
"Right-there's this ichor leak in the kitchen, and I'm pretty sure you are able to touch it, no?" Glisten pointed to where the kitchen was directed.
".uoy htiw emoc ll'I, yako" (translation "okay, I'll come with you.") He said, waiting for Glisten to lead the way.
"Great! Follow me~" Glisten smiled, keeping up his perfect act. He began walking to the kitchen, hoping Blot would follow.
As they both made it to the kitchen, Blot's eye(s) widened, what the hell happened here? There was ichor EVERYWHERE! It looked like one of the toons had been murdered...Blot and Glisten hoped not. Glisten felt sick just looking at the ichor... should he have involved Blot in this mess? Oh well, it was too late now.
"Should we try and find Delilah--or maybe even Arthur?" Glisten asked, looking everywhere BUT the ichor.
"...aedi doog a s'taht ebyam, heay" (translation "yeah, maybe that's a good idea...") He said... he couldn't stop looking at the ichor.
Glisten nodded, hurrying off to find Delilah or Arthur. Blot began inspecting the ichor carefully. he didn't know what could've caused this bad of an ichor spill. It was a disturbing sight. Meanwhile, with Glisten, he was unable to find Delilah or Arthur, but he did find Dandy. He sighed, walking up to Dandy.
"Hey, Dandy. Do you think you could follow me real quick? There's a problem you might be able to fix." Glisten asked, he'd rather not be talking with Dandy... but he had no choice.
"Oh! Hello, Glisten! What do you need me to fix?" Dandy smiled widely, Glisten hadn't talked to him in a while.
"Just a leak... Follow me," Glisten said simply, beginning to lead Dandy towards the problem.
As they both made it to the kitchen, Blot was still inspecting the ichor. Dandy's eyes widened.
'What happened here? Why is there--okay... Don't stress, Dandy. Help your friends out!" He said internally.
"Do not worry, friends! I'm sure it's no big deal," He smiled brightly, Blot and Glisten exchanged looks.
".ereh tog ti woh wonk su fo rehtin" (translation 'neither of us know how it got here.') Blot stated, a bit weirded out by Dandy's smile.
Dandy gave a confused look, trying to figure out what Blot had said silently.
"He said 'neither of us know how it got here'." Glisten replied (for context Glisten understands Blot since he's a mirror and Blot's words sound normal to him).
"Right! I knew that. So none of you know how the kitchen got...this bad??" Dandy asked, Glisten and Blot nodded.
"Great! I can try and clean it... but I'm not the best cleaner," Dandy awkwardly laughed, grabbing a mop from the corner.
Glisten and Blot watched for a moment before they both left Dandy. Dandy began feeling a sense of unease, why did he feel like something was wrong? Delilah had told him that everything was his fault previously...had something happened that Dandy didn't know about? It made Dandy feel sick. He couldn't be the problem, right? He took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the thoughts that made him feel sick, and before he knew it? Most of the ichor had been cleaned up. Just as he was finishing up, Tisha walked into the kitchen, gasping comically.
"What in Gardenview happened here?!" Tisha said, immediately grabbing her feather duster.
"Oh, hello Tisha! I'm unsure how all this ichor spilt everywhere," Dandy greeted, smiling.
"Oh no... this won't do. I'll clean up the rest, you can go." She was already stressed... Gosh she hadn't felt this stressed since she cleaned Gigi's room.
"If you insist. I'll take my leave now," Dandy placed the mop back, waving bye to Tisha, who was already cleaning up.
Dandy left the kitchen. Tisha had the place spotless in 20 minutes. She sighed, feeling a sense of satisfaction now that she had cleaned the kitchen up. She put her feather duster away and began walking back to her room. Soon enough, night fell. All toons were in their rooms, some were asleep, and some weren't. Astro was out cold, Boxten tried to visit him to ask something--but he decided not to. Dandy was overthinking in his shop. Brusha was back in her little art corner, making some new art. Tisha was deep cleaning her room for the 10th time that day. Cosmo was having a sleepover with Sprout. Looey, Blot and Yatta were also having a sleepover, like they always do. After almost every toon was asleep, Brusha stayed awake, painting. She felt sick... as if there was something preventing her from moving a lot.
'what the hell? Ugh--I feel like I'm going to pass out...' She said internally, her vision was going blurry. Was she just tired?
She began stumbling, she dropped her paint brush and crashed into her canvas. Falling on top of her art piece. Brusha fell unconscious. It had been an hour since she had passed out... the ichor soon found its way to her unconscious form, slowly seeping its way into her body. Becoming apart of her. Brusha woke up in a cold sweat once all of the ichor had entered her body. She didn't feel the same. Her eyes were leaking ichor, her clothes were covered in ichor, and she felt hungry for...toons? What was happening? She could barely see, her insides felt weak. She smashed her head against the wall, stumbling all over the place. All she could think was:
'hungry hungry hungry hungry hungry' She tried biting her own hand off, but someone stopped her.
That someone happened to be Tisha. She looked terrified.
"B-brusha? What happened to you?" She said shakily.
"..." Brusha stayed silent, she quite literally started drooling.
"B-brusha..." She backed up as Brusha approached her.
Tisha almost tripped over her own feet trying to back up, why did Brusha look so...hungry? Why wasn't she saying anything? Brusha drooled as she approached Tisha, she almost growled at the sight of Tisha. All she could think of was food. And Tisha looked like food to her... Tisha tripped, but she quickly got back up and ran away screaming. Brusha chased after her. Tisha hid around a corner, covering her mouth. Trying not to cry. Brusha slowly looked around for her. After Brusha searched for her, Tisha was able to escape silently. She had to tell someone about this!