Chapter Text
July 6, 2002, 7:16 AM
Everything was well in Gardenview center, bakers were fixing up delicious treats, gamblers were taking chances, main characters who weren't busy were being crowded(almost all of them anyway), Shrimpo’s being a bitch, and the rest of the toons were helping and entertaining.
"Mama, can we go see Sprout?" A child asked their mother, eager to meet Sprout Seedly, a hardworking baker along side his best friend, Cosmo!
"Maybe another time sweetie, he’s a baker. He must have to bake sooo many sweets and treats for everyone!" The mother tried to kindly reject her child's request, unsure if the toon was even available to bother.
Tears welled up in the kid's eyes, a quiver was visible in their lip.
"But, I wanna see him now! I don't wanna see another toon! I wanna see Sprout!" The child began to go on with invalid, weak reasons as to why they should see Sprout.
Off to the side in the gift shop, Shelly was checking if anyone had bought her merchandise while holding a Sprout plushie. To her dismay, nobody had bought.
While looking at how empty the other main toons shelf's were, she felt a lump in her throat.
Did nobody like her? Why can't she be as popular with the kiddos like the others? Was she boring? Annoying? Dumb?
She kept going on in her head before she heard a child wail, in which she quickly went over to, her tail swishing as she swiftly made her way over.
When she arrived to where she heard the cries of a kid, she saw a little boy on the ground kicking his feet and shout crying while the mother tried to console him.
"Shh, sweetie, you'll get to see Sprout once he serves up all his sweet treats with Cosmo, okay?" The mother hushed, rubbing her child's back.
Although the attempts were made with effort, they did no good seeing that the boy kept sobbing.
Shelly looked at the plush of Sprout in her hand.
She could always get another one?
"Hi little boy, what's your name?" Shelly kneeled down, tail curling into a question mark.
The boy sniffled and looked up at her, eyes widening in awe.
"I-Im, Mateo. . ." The boy whispered, still staring at Shelly.
Shelly smiled as best as she could without teeth to avoid scaring the boy with them.
"Hi Mateo! I'm Shelly, Shelly Fossilian," Shelly stood up with her hand offered to the boy, "I like looking at fossils alot, and it looks like you favor my friend, Sprout?"
The boy nodded silently, his tears drying up.
"Well, I can't get him out here just yet but. . ." She pulled out the Sprout Plushie and stuck one of her 'fossil explorer' stickers onto the smack dab middle of the chest and handed the plush to him, "I can give you this plush and tell him that once he's done, he should go be on the lookout for a Sprout plushie with sticker of mine on it!"
Gently taking the plush, the boy hugged it tightly and thanked Shelly.
Smiling at the boy, Shelly waved him goodbye and went on her way, overhearing him ask his mom for a Shelly plush, making her tear up.