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“Tell me about him, ‘Bertie. What could possibly have you so wound up about that dino, huh?”
The shrimp and the anglerfish were slumped around the round table. It was a sort of pseudo-therapy session, something Hank would initiate, one-on-one with his army. It was a small thing for both parties, but it’d give Hank a sense of comfort. Like a way of showing his members that he did care for them, even individually.
“Uh… n- no, I’m fine… it’s okay, Hank… thank you…”
Glowbert suddenly started squirming in his costume. His normally soft, comfortable, decorated hoodie felt like rough sponge, brushing against his skin all over.
Hank’s expression softened, very suddenly. A negative reaction like this definitely wasn’t something he had seen from Glowbert.
“Ah… alright. You know that me and Clancy are here if you need the help, yeah?”
Glowbert clasped his arms against his centre, trying to comfort himself despite the awkward feeling, and the now awkward situation.
“Oh… yeah, thank you, Hank… I’ve really gotta go now…”
With little warning, Glowbert stood up and walked away, darting his eyes left and right as to figure out whether Hank was following him and wanted to continue their short conversation.
And yet, he didn’t.
Hank sat there, somewhat confused, saddened, a bit angry, but calmed himself. He had no right to take control of him, despite the fact that he just wanted to make things right.
He was off, once more. Still looking around in fear, but much less than before. His eyes were transfixed on the sand, which crunched under his boots and he strolled to the shoreline. Slowly, he felt himself begin to calm, only after taking off the suit and giving himself a moment to breathe.
Glowbert perched himself on the base of the hill of sand, focusing on his breathing and staring into nothingness. The anglerfish darted around once more, making sure he was alone, before finally releasing himself from his suit's clutches.
As he laid on the base of the sand mound, his mind wandered, reminiscing about the painful memories of what he lost. How the aquarium had filled with murky, uninhabitable water, how no animatronics would work in that environment, and how it was all caused by one hot dog. From that dinosaur who he detested so easily, and so readily.
His face. His body. A clear picture in his mind, being a bright pink. A wide, dopey, obnoxious smile, and not to mention, a greasy, disgusting, vile hot dog, loaded with mustard and other cheap toppings, only a child could enjoy. Thankfully, he was far from a child, and had no reason to place himself near such food, let alone consume it.
Sand tumbled onto the ground next to him. Before he could realise it, he had bashed the sand near him with his fist, too angry to think straight.
A sharp, painful exhale escaped his nostrils. Bubbles floated past his eyes, as he tried to clear his mind of his previous thoughts.
Before long, he followed his breathing with a sharp inhale, propping his body up and slinking up the sand mound, moving up to the surface.
And there it was, Velocirapids. To greet him. After all that anger.
Thankfully, it was after closing time. Not a brawler, nor park goer was around to see him.
The salty, chlorinated water infested his lungs, providing an unsavory reminder of the hurt this place symbolised.
The anglerfish scanned the dim horizon, staring up at the stars and shrinking into himself for warmth. He wandered around the pools, scratching his feet against the tiles and staying on guard in case he slipped.
Glowbert slipped out of the pools as quickly as he could, wandering aimlessly around the dark streets of Starr Park.
Flashing signs, turned on with nobody to see them. Streetlamps, with nobody except him to use. At night, the park was like a husk of its usual self. Perfect for a nobody like him to explore, of course.
Hours passed with little but a couple tears rolling down his cheek, and an ever-growing sense of doom in his chest. It was just so unfair, wasn’t it? That he got all the fame, all the love, all the friendship. And then he was left with nothing. Nothing but a couple of broken hunks of junk, and then a group of freaks who are probably just acting like they care, right? Right?! RIGHT.
He felt like he had to slap himself. His conscious mind suddenly got in the way of his spiralling thoughts, quietening them down for just a moment to let him breathe again, something he felt like he hadn’t done in ages.
Glowbert let his body go lax on the bench. Nobody would be around to see him, anyway. Who cares if he’s a bit weird looking, they already think he’s a freak…
Head dangling behind the back of the cold wooden bench, he looked up in the sky once more, which was turning bluer and bluer by the minute. The anglerfish straightened up, albeit slowly, worrying slightly more about who saw him now.
Screw that guy, and screw everything he had done.
Worst part of it all? He barely knows what he did.
Other park workers started filling the streets, making their way to their workspaces and beginning another day, barely paying attention to the guy having a battle with his own mind on the bench.
As Glowbert watched around him, he saw more people, and began shuffling back to Deepsea. His contradiction-filled mind was now worried about what they were probably thinking about him, and what little reputation he had, had been lost completely, with no chance of coming back.
Each back alley and lane was another random, panicked turn, which he squeezed through, finally making it back to Velocirapids. Just a couple hundred more steps, and he’d be back in the safety of Deepsea, where nobody would have to think of him ever again.
Now in the pools, he darted around, hoping none of the dinos would see him and approach. By then, the mission had changed from ‘getting back to deepsea’ to ‘being perceived as little as possible’.
And then, a hurdle. Scuffling, and minor chatting could be heard from far away. He cocked his head around, and saw two blobs, one pink and one green, through the head office’s windows. Panic began once more, as the pink one moved towards the door, opened it, and peered out at the water park, noticing Glowbert in flight mode.
“Yo! Brah! Where’re you goin’, dude! We’re not going to hurt you!” And then, freeze.
He had been called out, so there was definitely no denying his presence.
Glowbert slowly turned his back to face the dinosaur. Staring at him with some sort of shit-eating grin. It felt infuriating. He’d be forced to interact with him, act all polite and happy, and then hopefully never deal with him again.
“Oh! I know you, you’re that dude in a costume down in Deepsea!”
He cleared his throat, pushing back the tears and angst he had put himself through for the last few hours to hold a conversation.
“No… not... It’s Glowbert…”
He was as awkward as ever, but much less shy. More sure of himself. More angry.
“…OOOOH! Now I remember!”
Doug came running over, still smiling as he practically flailed about in his dino suit.
“Nice to finally meet you, brah! I’m Doug… not sure if you know, hehe.”
Doug stood tall and jolly above Glowbert, who was practically zoning out, only holding the conversation to be polite. In his mind, all that could be heard was him cursing out the dinosaur.
“…nice to meet you too, Doug. I- I have to go… Deepsea- I need to fix some stuff up… my animatronics… haywire… y’know…”
All his confidence had blown away like the wind. It was an impulsive decision to even leave so suddenly, and he hadn’t prepared any responses.
“Oh. I mean, if you want, you could stay for a little! Y’know… have a weiner, chill out… have you ever been to the Velocirapids, anyways?”
“No- no, I haven’t… but I’m alright… I need to go-“
Before he knew it, Doug had gripped his hand and began walking him over to the ‘hot Doug’ cart, which Doug had very aptly named himself. He ran behind the counter, almost excited to be back at work
“I mean, who doesn’t like weiners for breakfast? Anyway, you’ve GOTTA be hungry if you’re out this early.”
Doug whipped up the usual hot dog, and placed it right in front of Glowbert, anticipating a thankful reaction.
Instead, he gripped the bun in his hands. He gripped it tighter, smushing meat with ketchup and mustard, before holding it as tightly as he possibly could, getting an amalgamation of sauce, bun and sausage all over his hands. He threw the remaining food onto the floor, letting out an angry grunt.
Doug on the other hand, was surprised, moving back and slightly panicking.
“No! NO! You do NOT hand me a hot dog after EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE TO MY EXHIBIT, AND ACT LIKE EVERYTHING’S OKAY! YOU ARE HORRIBLE! I HATE YOU! I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR SMILE, YOUR LAUGH, AND WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME ‘BRO’! I AM NOT YOUR BRO!”
Doug stood, silent, and genuinely, even more confused now. A slight sense of guilt panged in his chest, but he had no idea what he had done wrong, or why Glowbert was reacting so extremely.
“I- dude… please chill… I really don’t know what I did, but… damn… I’m sorry, man.”
“FINALLY!”
The words almost slipped out of his mouth. He was stuttering, blubbering, yelling, and almost a mess.
“…if you want to see what you did, COME ON!”
He ran into the water leading to Deepsea, not even expecting him to follow. With as much speed as his legs would allow, he ran into the aquarium, hiding behind a wall and breaking down fully.
Doug did follow, eyes widened with concern as he heard Glowbert’s sobs from outside the building.
“Yo… if there’s anything you need from me… I’ll be out here!”
He let out an awkward call as Glowbert let all his emotions out. Doug sat on the sand, fiddling with the individual grains as he gave Glowbert the time to feel.
Many, several minutes had passed. Doug definitely should’ve been at work by now. But that reaction told him that something was wrong. His words hurt. Reflecting on Glowbert’s reaction made him zone out, and feel even more guilty.
Glowbert, on the other hand, had mostly calmed down. And now he felt so much more guilt for saying anything. He couldn’t control it. He was just angry. That things were unfair. Things were unfair, he didn’t deserve them, and they were Doug’s fault, after all. Now he just needed to explain himself. That he wasn’t a psycho. And also, that he was sorry for lashing out. Because it was right. Nothing in him could get him to genuinely apologise. But something had to change, or else nothing would.
He let out a weak, softened call, hoping for a response.
“Uh… a-a-are you still there… Doug..?”
Doug’s ears perked up. He shuffled, still on the ground, over to the brick wall that made up part of the aquarium. He let out a response, matching Glowbert’s tone, but not his emotion.
“Yeah. Everything alright? And… I’m sorry. I wish I knew what I did, man. I really do.”
“N-no… it’s alright… n-no, it’s not alright. Sorry, though. Sorry for screaming at you. I look insane, I know…”
He wiped away at his face, hoping any signs of him crying would disappear. He rubbed at his eyes, wanting the endless supply of water to bring away the evidence.
“…come in. I’ll explain.
Doug opened the door, bracing himself. He looked around, not knowing where the voice came from, until he looked right, seeing Glowbert curled in a corner. He swiftly got up, trying to look composed. He walked in front of the dino, unable to bring himself to look at him as he took Doug for a pseudo-tour of the building.
“Okay… I- it started a couple months ago. It was a hot dog… and I don’t know how… but it got into the vents of this building.”
Glowbert was almost gasping for breath, struggling to even choke the words out.
“All the pieces got stuck… in animatronics… in the fish tanks… and now this entire place is disgusting… I can’t clean it, no matter how hard I try. Nobody wants to help. This was my entire life… and you stole it… and I can’t get it back now.”
Doug sighed. The events leading up to this started to come back to him.
”…I remember throwing hot dogs into Deepsea. I don’t know why, man… it was just a dumb joke, y’know? ‘Feeding the fish’…”
They both stared unwaveringly into the ground, unsure of what to say or do next.
“…why?”
Glowbert managed one last word, before going completely silent. He continued walking, however, quietly displaying the murky, uninhabitable water in the fish tanks. He then activated each animatronic one by one, showing their jerky, unstable movements. Nothing in this building worked anymore, except maybe the room lights.
Glowbert plopped his body onto the ground with a thunk. Doug joined him, out of sympathy, but mainly out of guilt.
Their breathing speed matched each other’s. Their mouths refused to move, but their minds were racing. Glowbert’s, fully angry. Doug’s, sympathetic.
They both then stared into the walls. Their motions were almost perfectly synchronised. Except for their arms. Glowbert was clutching himself desperately, whereas Doug was fully neutral, unsure whether offering sympathy and support was even worth it, especially considering how much he knew about Glowbert’s passion.
Most of the discussion around Glowbert, at least for the other brawlers, was about his tours. He’d get excited, hell, thrilled, to show off the exhibit, seemingly unbored with each new tour coming in. Every question asked by visitors would be perfectly answered. When giving tours, he was a different person.
Some were put off by his energy. Doug, however, enjoyed it. For someone to have so much passion about their work, no matter what they did, was very much reflective of himself. And he had stolen it out of his hands.
Glowbert fell asleep. His hoodie was soft and comfortable enough to act as a blanket, anyways.
Doug eventually parted as well. His decision to leave was plagued with guilt, but he did so anyway. Mainly because he wasn’t doing much, apart from offering his presence.
Before exiting, he carefully positioned a pillow he found on Glowbert’s desk chair behind his head, not wanting the wall to feel too hard against his head, especially after all of the pain he had caused him.
Glowbert awakened.
He returned the pillow to the chair, and made his way back to Deepsea once more. He had been up late the night before, so it was night once he had woken up from his nap.
Hank was still up, at the table and filing through some papers. He darted over to Glowbert, noticing him walk through the doors, despite trying to be as silent as possible.
“Glowbert… you feelin’ any better?”
Glowbert sighed.
“Oh… I- n- y- I… I don’t know.”
The two let silence permeate the conversation, before Glowbert interrupted the awkwardness.
“…a little bit.”