Chapter Text
Vees hanging out with shelly, but not really paying attention. Shes more focused on how to get revenge on dandy. She knows that hes the reason the ichor incident stuff happened, why they have to go on runs every day to make sure all the machines are fixed, to make sure they dont die. But thats not all of it, dandy has been specifically targetting vee to be left out of everything. The "Star of the show" cant handle having another toon being so close to his level, to being as if not more popular then him. Ever since gardenview was opened, till even after it shut down, hes been blaming her for countless problems. Accusing her of yelling at him, mocking him, hitting him, overall being a horrible person to him. She never did anything to him though, not yet. Delilah believed every word of it, and punished vee for something she didnt do. The shows she was in were "delayed", She would happen to be "out of order" when a kid wanted to see her, her game show cancelled, being locked in a supply closet and forgotten about for nearly a week, and once Delilah tried to remake her, a clone to be a better her. Of course, it failed. You cant exactly replicate a main and expect it to go well, theres something about their ichor thats special, that makes them, them.
And dandy made sure vee knew that she couldnt get help from anyone, he built up this whole "nice guy" persona where everyone trusts him, perfectly trapping her to be helpless when attempting to tell someone.
But she still found a way.
After years of being by herself, distanced from everyone else, the incident happened.
Dandy had tried to do something to pebble, maybe make him bigger or faster, nobody knows what he was trying to do really, and he wont elaborate. But something went wrong, very, very, wrong. The ichor had made some weird reaction to the main ichor, and had created some clone of pebble, but it wasnt him, it hardly resembled hime other then the shape of his head and color. It had been slowly growing over a week or so and dandy tried to hide it, but it got loose. Half the toons were injured and nearly killed. The ones who did would become a monster too, later named "twisteds" by the surviving toons. But the toons found a way to adapt. Yes, gardenview did have to get shutdown and was abandoned by all humans, but they found a way still. They made machines to pump ichor through so the twisteds dont get it, they found it makes them stronger.
The twisteds were very unusual. The less important they were to the show, the less fast or strong they were, the mains being the fastest. Every time someone got hit by one, a clone of them as a twisted would spawn somewhere, never two of the same on the same floor, and they made sure to not get hit, they get three lives per run after all. Dandy told everyone it would be ok and got countless people hurt saying the twisteds probably were safe to be around and just dont know whats happening, and oh was he wrong. It was once a rumor that he had gotten infected and was half twisted but only fully became one when he was mad, but people gave it up after how nice he was and realising he would never hurt a fly.
As vee was "daydreaming", shelly was waving her hand infront of vees screen, causing vee to snap back reality.
"Hellloooooo" Shelly, said trying to get her attention
Vee snapped back and Shoved shelly away, not fully back conscious
"Ow! What was that for? " Shelly exclaimed.
"Sorry, i wasnt paying attention, what were you saying?"
"I was saying, Sprout and Cosmo asked us to babysit toodles while they go on some date or something. "
"Cant they do it? " Vee said, annoyed.
"They always do it. Anyways itll be fun! They made us cookies for whe were there!! " Shelly exclaimed
Vee sighed. "Ok, i guess. Lets head down there then"
As they made their way down the hall, vee stopped at Astros door and said she needed to ask for a favor quick and for shelly to head down and headed in
Astro was just reading a book about space, one he had borrowed from razzle and dazzle. He looked up and asked what she wants.
"I know you can tell somethings up with dandy, and hes been strategically making me seem bad since this place opened. Would you be able to help me get him back? Just a few nightmares about the incident now and then, a few things he knows he couldnt stop, his worst moments, embarrassing memories, etc."
Astro sighed but she could see a slight glimmer in his eye appear.
"And what will you do in return? I cant exactly trust you after all that youve been accused of." Astro asked, still reading his book, half not expecting an answer. "Ill get you back in the book club?i know youve been banned since bringing up the ichor incident trauma and us losing rnd" Vee said, unsure she could actuslly get him back in. It was an empty promise, she hadnt intended on fulfilling, expecting astro to say no and all.
the book was the last thing astro had of rnds, the last thing any of them had that was once theirs. It had all been destroyed. "I can help you i suppose, dandys a good friend of mine although. I can tell hes been weird about you since forever, so i believe you. But i will not ruin all our friendship for your 'revenge plan'."
"Deal." Vee said, and she meant it.
"Deal." Astro said back, his tone a little weird.
"One last thing," Vee said, already in the hallway
"Yes? " Astro replied
"Can you give me and Shelly good dreams tonight? "
"I suppose.. " Astro replied
"Thanks! " Vee said, shutting the door behind her on her way out.
As vee walked down the hallway, she walked slower then needed. Maybe she was too lost in thought to speed up, or maybe she was just dreading babysitting toodles.