Memories should be comforting (but sometimes, they're not)

He slammed the door closed, causing it to make various noises, such as like a whole tree was falling down the ground, like a bunch of sticks being stepped on, like a bunch of crayons being broken one by one and many other things. However, despite how harsh the whole slam thing was, the doors, which were golden with black stripes, were perfectly fine. Even the handle, that had the possibility to fall down on the multicoloured floor, which had only warm colours, was still intact! It was some sort of miracle happening in the middle of the night, as he knew the time he even decided to come there, to come to that room. Everything was perfectly in place, despite his actions being able to shake things up. At least, that was how he would see himself — someone, who seems to be weak, due to how he looked like, but deep down he had enough force to move things, to make enough of a difference. Or made a mistake.

As he stepped down inside the room, his left green eye would look around, noticing how a singular lightbulb was still giving the light to that little room. Yes, the room was pretty small - while it was bigger than a janitor's closet, it wasn't as big as the party room, which had to allow as many guests as possible, because no one knew who would invite all of their friends to their birthdays. But even with the size of the room he stepped in not being that big, he didn't mind. It wasn't supposed to be a public room, which everyone, including kids, would be able to enter. It was a private room, that only the staff members, like him or his friends, would be able to step in any time they wanted. Well, "any time", meant in that context "whenever they had time to do so", with him having the least time to do so at all.

He needed to take care of everything — checking the special guests' lists, making schedules, making sure, that Toons living in the building were doing fine, weren't sick, checking supplies, buy ingredients, if some of them were low. In short, he was the main one, who was supposed to make sure the place was in almost-perfect shape. And while yes, he had others to help him do everything, do all of those things, he was still pretty busy with other things. Those included: being parts of the show, interacting with guests, talking with Toon Handlers, training the newly hired people, both Toons and humans, helping with the script and more! It was a pretty tiring thing to do, however, that was the price to pay for being the star of this place.

The. Star. Of. This. Place.

Whenever he would think about it, he would just sigh, putting his purple hand on his head. He knew, it was hard to be the star of the show. He knew that well. Back, when he was still a normal Toon, a Toon, that was just supposed to take care of the activity related to them, he would always wonder how it was to be a literal "the star of the show" — he would often discuss it with his friends about it, he would make guesses about it.

The star of the show was supposed to make sure everything's in the building was fine, was okay. That was the main job of being the "leader", as he'd learn from the predecessor. Even then, he didn't know more about that "job", which wasn't exactly a job, but rather something someone, who was the "face" of the place was supposed to do — he just knew only mere two things, and that was it.

With that little knowledge, he'd have to face the reality of being the "star of the show", and only with the help from the Toon Handlers, his friends and even from the ones, that he wasn't really on good terms with, he managed to take the responsibility. It was a harsh lesson, whenever he'd have the time to reflect over the past, as back, when he was considered a normal Toon, he would never expect to have that amount of responsibility to take on his back. Once he learnt about it, he sometimes wished he could've come back to the simpler times, when the only responsibility he had to take was to help maintain the circus trio troupe act.

And that was it.

As he thought about it, both of his eyes - the purple and the green ones, would notice how a lot of posters were on the blue and pink walls, with the pink parts having purple dots on it and the blue part - having zigzagged darker stripes. Some would think, that on those there were Toons belonging to the new "Troupe Toons", with the term itself replacing the older "Main Characters". The reason for the change of terms being the need to separate the current location from the older one. However, those hypothetical people, who may not even come to that room, as it was hidden away from the public's eyes, would see old posters from the older location.

The posters would be placed around the room. He would notice, for example, how Shelly and Vee's ones, despite the current relationship between those two, were placed next to each other, with the only thing separating them being the small television. Another thing would be how Sprout's one was next to the entrance and exit from the room, as if someone, who placed that old poster, wanted to make the reference of his resignation from the "Main Character" position clear, with the reasoning why it happened cursing his mind for eternity. All of those were in, surprisingly enough, good condition, despite all of them being over 5 years old. However, out of the three, only one was in a worse condition. The one with the green television being awfully vandalised, reminding him of what position she took during the accident, that took place back in the old place.

The "Win Prizes with Vee" was completely "hidden", though he could still notice some parts of the original text being still visible, due to the red crayon being used. Under it, using the same red crayon, there was written a text, which read:

" Ruining lives with Vee! "

He was shocked at the crudelly red crayoned message to the point, that he took out his sigh at that poster, in hoping he wouldn't see anything else, as the memories of what happened there were flooding his head.

The screams.

The begs for it to stop.

The panic being all over the place.

The special event being ruined.

Even with the fact it's been years since it happened, those memories were still alive in his and his friends' heads, as if it was something else than just a painful memory. Oh, who was he kidding?

It was a painful reminder of why the location had changed in the first place and why everything had changed. Not just the terms, not just the posters, everything had changed.

Everything.

He didn't want to think about it, no, he didn't want to!

He wanted to think positively about the past, as how many older people would look with nostalgia-blinded eyes at their childhood. However, the poster, it was reminding him of the whole thing and why the relationship between her and Shelly was shattered!

As he was breathing heavily, like if inside his throat was growing a rose with lots of spikes, hurting the walls of that organ, feeling like it caused them to bleed, while his two-coloured eyes would land on another poster, with it being between two light violet-coloured closets.

It did make him feel like he was unable to breathe to the point, that he put his green hand on his mouth as he kneeled down, with two droplet of tears dripping down his yellow cheeks.

The poster, even with the awful condition it was in, with the edges being ripped out, with it being vandalised, as the text of it being completely "hidden" by using the same red crayon and nothing else, shown one of the former "Main Characters", and there would be nothing wrong, if not the fact who was on it. If it was someone like Sprout or Shelly yet again, it wouldn't cause him to react that way. However, they weren't on that poster, with it reminding him of dream-like atmospheres from various fairy tales his parents would read, when he was a kid.

The one, who was on the poster was someone, who was long gone.

Who wasn't there.

It was no one else, but-

Suddenly, he got up, although his legs were bending together, shaking as well, and ran towards the poster. Almost hitting the wall. He grabbed the poster on both of the ruined edges and then — he took it off the wall and threw it away. The sign promoting the powers of that former "Main Character" ended up near the exit, but he didn't care at all.

As he caught a breath, he was glad he removed that poster from the colourful wall. Even though, he wasn't supposed to do that, as the purpose of that room was to keep all the things from the old location, that survived for so long, he didn't care. Well, he did care, as he did feel guilty over what he did, but he didn't bother to put it on its rightful place.

That "Main Character" didn't deserve to be remembered at all, not even as just a mere poster from the old place.

Especially not after what that "Main Character" did back in there.

Remembering what that "Main Character" had done back then, while his mind was desperately attempting to block anything related to the name of that dream-related
"Main Character" caused him to hold his chest, feeling like something was growing inside it. It felt like a plant was growing inside his own body. It caused him the need to catch large amount of air by one big gulp, as well as more tears appearing on his two-coloured eyes.

He felt like he was losing control over his body due to merely looking at that cursed poster, that came from the old place. And it just happened, because he tried to not look at that vandalised Vee's poster!

As he feared his reactions getting worse, his sight landed on the television, that was still between those other posters. Seeing that thing, that was brought from the old location, as he remembered catching a look at it somewhere in the past. He felt calmer.

Yes, it was a weird thing to say, because how could he be calmer around a literal television? It wasn't alive at all! It was just standing there, for as long as he could remember it being there, being unable to play anything on its own.

Unlike, how a certain green television could play various things on her head.

However, did he even care about it being just an inanimate object? Certainly, he didn't, as he would get closer to that thing, with him almost bumping into the baby blue with purple dots sofa.

Again, he needed to be careful.

As he avoided another chance of bumping his own body against that couch, he got so close to the grey television to the point he noticed how the antenness weren't mangled. They were still standing in their rightful positions, which made him crack a small smile.

Why did he smile at knowing the fact, that the anteness weren't mangled, as how it would happen with that type of old televisions? He himself had no idea. Really. However, it had to be a sign, that his feelings started to calm down, right? Well, not really, as he would still see that vandalised poster, but he didn't want to rip another thing related to the past.

Desperately, trying to not feel that way, as he felt before, he kneeled down, next to the litte rectangle-shaped shelf. Shakily, he grabbed the camel handle and opened it, revealing various VHS tapes presented. Yes, those things, as the television had the VHS player in it.

Still shakily, he grabbed various tapes, with them having the living variety of colourful covers, supposedly having them, so that it would catch the attention of kids. These things would even have various characters, mostly the "Main Characters" and the old star of the show, doing various activities, that were supposed to show the theme of the compilation of various episodes. However, all of them would have at the center top of the cover the large white stripe, with the multicoloured text.

It read simply: "Dandy's World"

"Dandy's World"

Under it, there would be subtitles related to the shared theme between episodes put in the specific compilation. The most well-known example would be related to all episodes centered either around Vee or around her game show, with the cover either having a scene from one of the episodes or a custom one. The second one happened often. The subtitles would be coloured around the theme, so if almost all the episodes were related to Sprout — they would be coloured after him, if they were related to "Common" characters, they would be coloured after them and more, and more.

Whenever he would see something related to the old show he was a part, he would feel mixed. From one side, he wasn't really featured as the main character of the episodes, and often was sidelined for others, so he wasn't supposed to feel any strong emotions towards it. However, another side of his would feel like no matter how much he was featured in the show, no matter how much screentime he had received, he should be grateful, he even got the chance to be featured. Personally, he leaned more to the second one. Yes, in the old show he didn't receive a lot of screentime. unlike the old star of the show and the "Main Characters", however what mattered more for him was the fact he had fun.

He had fun being the part of the crew, being able to make various funny jokes, being able to be remembered by people as someone, who would always try his best.

Try. His. Best.

When he thought about it, he immediately hid some tapes back inside the shelf, feeling like he didn't want to watch anything in them. He wasn't interested in either "Sprout's Great Baking Show" compiling all episodes from season 1, that featured him and his baking misadventures or "The Craft Siblings' Fun", which compiled all episodes from season 2, that featured Goob and Scraps as main characters.

No, he was searching for something related to him, hoping if he watched something from the past, he would forget completely about the feeling caused by seeing those two posters.

As he thought, he found a tape, with the cover of it featuring one of former "Uncommon" Toons — Razzle and Dazzle, being in the middle of the stage, with two other former "Uncommons" being Connie and Rodger. The first one seemed to scare the conjoined twins off, as they appeared to be terrified, with the magnifying glass appearing to be annoyed. Title of the compilation was called "Theatre Panic!", which gave him a clue of what that compilation would be themed after.

Theatre.

At first, he was about to put it inside the shelf and continue his little searching misadventure, only for him to look at the back cover. It listed all the episodes presented in the compilation, with one making him awed.

"Improvisationally Theatre Woes!"

Season 3, episode 10.

That episode, he was the main character in it! The reason for it was simple — after the previous episode, he decided to try to suggest some sort of a "special episode", that wasn't related to any holiday. The status of it being "special" would come from the experimental form it'd taken, which simply meant those things: no script, no preparing sessions, no location change. Just one place and basic plot he'd in mind back then. Improvisations were supposed to be a big part of the episode. At first, he was nervous if his idea would even be realised, considering his position as the "Common" Toon. But, surprisingly enough, Arthur agreed to do that episode.

As his memory would go deeper, he remembered how the main premise of it was simple — at the theatre stage, that he'd find himself on, he needed to think about his newest act, while the others would occassionally come there and try to help him. Some of them would talk to him about other stuff, others would even try to attempt to do those acts with him. However, the "hook" with the "others" was, that it was entirely up to them, if they wanted to take a part of the whole experimental episode or not, because, unlike with other episodes of the series, it was entirely based on imagination, on what they could do without lots of preparations.

And the results with the "experimental" episode would be, that it was considered one of the best in season 3 by both fans of the show and the critics. It was praised for the idea of one of the most "sidelined" characters receiving an episode centered around him and his relationship with others, how he functioned outside of his circus troupe and more. The critics praised for the use of purely improvisations, giving the positive points for authenticity of characters' reactions around him. It even made all those people appreciate him way more!

As he reminiscenced about the past, he got up, snatched the remote, turned the television. Carefully, he pulled the tape out of the box and then — put it inside the VHS player. After the whole thing was done, he sat on the baby blue coach and waited for the results, while holding the remote to the TV.

~~~

The waiting didn't last long, as the, previously, dark blue screen would show a green screen, featuring the logo of the old show. It was as cheerful and colourful as it was back then. It made him feel warmth inside his chest.

Being given the opportunity to work on the show, alongside his circus troupe friends, was a wonderful experience. Yes, even, when he didn't get along with everyone, even, when he wasn't the "Main Character", he still remembered the whole thing fondly.

Just like, how he remembered the old location fondly, in spite of what happened. Because he couldn't deny the simplest fact — he genuinely had the pleasure working at the old location!

As he reminiscenced over the past, his multicoloured eyes noticed three options on the title screen. All of them being inside purple with darker stripes quadrat-shaped "boxes", with the text being lavender-coloured. Three options read:

"Episodes"

"Extras"

"Quit"

Obviously, he selected the first option, which led him to another screen, showing him episodes, that were inside the compilation. Using the powerful remote, he started to go through the episodes, all of them having small descriptions, telling the never-presented customer what was the plot of it, while asking them if the presented problem would be resolved. Over the short description, there was always presented a well-fitting screenshot from the episode.

However, he didn't really want to read all the descriptions or look at the screenshots. It wasn't what he came for, after all. However, there was an odd thing he noticed, while scrolling down. Unlike all other compilations, that focused on characters' moments from respectful season, that compilation focused on all episodes related to theatre from all seasons. It was evident with him seeing. for example, "Rage-Opera" from season 1, "The Crafty Mess" from season 2 and "Boo-nstic Boom Show!" from season 3. All three episodes were from three completely different seasons.

All in one compilation.

He had no clue why that compilation featured all theatre-themed episodes from all three seasons, however he felt like it had to be created shortly, before the accident. His mind was telling him it had to be true, even though he couldn't see any evidence, that would support that claim.

As that supposition appeared inside his mind, suddenly the scrolling stopped. He found it! He found that episode he wanted to rewatch to remember the old times! Without bothering to read the description, he pressed the name of that episode, which was the only way to even play it in the first place.

The screen would become black, only for it to suddenly play the intro of the old cartoon, specifically the season 3 version of it. The intro would be changed whenever there was a new season.

It started with the cloudly sky, which would, soon enough, move to the building. The middle of it was dark green, with the higher parts of it being brownish. It had the white rectangle-shaped sign with colourful text, which would read: "Gardenview Center", with the old star of the show's head being at top. Then, it would immediately get to the area, with three presented elevators. Two characters — Dandy and Pebble would look at the viewer, in that case it was him.

It did make him feel uncomfortable, not because of how cheerful both of them were. He absolutely loved, how the rainbow flower waved at him, with the pet rock having his tongue out. No, he absolutely adored that scene of the intro. The problem lied with the knowledge of what happened to those two — their fates, that they got weren't deserved at all, especially Pebble's.

It was a knowledge, that was haunting him, ever since he witnessed the whole incident happening at the old location.

Before his mind could make him think more about the old location, the chorus could be heard. Yes, there was always the chorus in the intro, no matter what season. The only exception of it not being present were Halloween-related episodes.

"Here at Gardenview, met our friends!"

When it sang, the names, written in the colours associated with them, were presented next to the two characters — green for Dandy and grey for Pebble.

"Who go on various adventures!"

As he memorised, the next few scenes showed various scenes from various episodes from season 3, such as showing irritated Vee, Sprout and Cosmo baking lots of goods for Connie, Razzle and Dazzle, Pebble playing with his bone, Shelly and Tisha cleaning fossils, and more scenes. The difference between those and the actual scenes from actual episodes, was the names of characters being near them. It was supposed to remind the viewers, what were their names.

"Even, when it seems like we don't exactly get along"

Then, the next two scenes, which were on both screen's end. The right side showed a scene, in which the green television was frustrated, by Scraps winning yet another game show. On the left, it showed Shrimpo being irritated at Dandy, possibly over nothing.

"We will always work our differences out!"

Then, the scene on the right would show the lamp going to calm the game show host's down, which was pretty nice, as those two used to be friends. Keyword: used to. The context behind why they were no longer friends was haunting him, but what made him feel haunted way more was the scene from the left side. It showed Dandy smiling, at-

Automatically, both his eyes closed, as he knew to whom the rainbow flower was smiling at. That "Main Character", he didn't really want to see him at all, to even be reminded, that he used to be a good person, before he did what he did.

"So, come down to Gardenview"

As his eyes opened, he saw another bunch of scenes, coming from various episodes. One of them was Flutter hanging around with Gigi, another — the same gachapon stealing Toodles' white and black dog plush, causing Rodger to chase her down, seemingly mad. Ah yes, season 3, episode 1 "The Big Gacha Chase!". Good times!

"And see the brand new adventures"

Then, the scene showed Dandy slipping down, with Pebble barking at him. Then, the rainbow flower would get up and then — walk somewhere, which turned out to be a big dream-like stage, with everyone being presented. Yes, even the shrimp, grumpy as he used to be, was there.

"Of our dear friends!"

The last scene shown Dandy waving at the viewer, in that case — just like before the accident.

"Today!"

It showed the close-up of Dandy, but that time with that rainbow flower chuckling.

Then, the screen went to black, only for it to reveal the "Title Card". It showed simply him, when he was still "Common" Toon, jumping like a bunny on the stage, holding a Clown's horn and a ribbon, with Razzle and Dazzle holding long stripes. The place, in which it was happening was the theatre stage, as he could see the red curtains, the beige floor, everything. His eyes would notice the white text, which was actually the title of the episode.

"Improvisationally Theatre Woes!"

And then, he noticed the smaller text, which mentioned, that it was him. Him, the hero of the episode. Him, the main character of the episode. And while, he didn't receive a lot of "character-centered episodes", he would still fondly remember that episode. Forever.

Then, the screen would turn to black, giving a sign, that the actual episode was about to start. And, he was right about it, as after the black screen disappeared, he would be welcomed with the close-up of the stage with no one else, but him sitting on the edge, looking like he was wondering over something. He even saw how he wore that old white half-turtleneck with green and purple dots on it. Well, not as him from the current times, but him from the past

From the times, when that show was still being produced.

From those times, when he was still considered a "Common" Toon.

Those times were lost forever, because of the incident. Due to the possibility of him watching the old episodes, however, he could rewatch the past. The feeling of nostalgia started to fill his mind, as he watched how the camera would show the full stage — the red curtains were still there, the decorations, centered around the Mediavel Times, were still presented. Oh, the decorations from the previous episode — "Two Dogs versus One Cat" were references. Ah, simple nods to the continuity! He loved spotting those!

"What to do for my newest act?", suddenly, the voice of his younger self could be heard, "What to do? Should I try to honk as loud as possible?", then, he would pull from somewhere a clown's horn, "or should I try to wear a cat's mask?", then, from another arm, he would pull the white and black cat's mask.

That mask, it reminded him of something, related to the old show. Something, a white and black cat.

There had to be a white and black cat, right?

"No, both of those ideas seem pretty lazy!", then, his younger self threw both of those things possibly behind the stage, "I need to think about something", as his younger self would wonder, he would get up and start walking in the circle, "but what to do exactly? What to do, what to do? I mean", he would stop, "I need to think about something new, something unique!", he would point at himself, "But what?", he would put his green arm on his chin, "What to do? What to do?", he would walk in circles, yet again, "What to do? What to-"

"Hey, you balloon-thing!", suddenly, a voice could be heard, "What are you doing there?", then, the camera would move from his younger self of a familiar mirror — Glisten!

It was Glisten!

Just like how seeing his younger self was like, seeing younger self of that mirror made him feel various emotions. It was nice seeing him again, just like if nothing bad happened to him. At the same time, however, knowing how much the accident made him change, he felt weird for even thinking it was nice seeing his younger self, from 1999! However, he still wanted to return to that year, even for a brief moment, before things have changed drastically.

As he wondered about it, the camera then changed to show both his younger self and Glisten.

"Oh, hi, Glisten!", his younger self waved at the golden mirror, "I was just wondering about my newest act… Hahaha", ah yes, his tick of him chuckling, whenever he felt either unsure or nervous would be present.

Obviously.

"And you didn't… Decide to as me to help you?", the mirror would cross his shoulder, while his younger self patted his own back.

"I mean, I didn't know you would want to help at all", as he explained, the mirror rolled his eyes.

"I mean, you spent most of the time either alone or with your friends", past version of Glisten would mention those facts.

Just remembering, how he would spend lots of time with his friends, made his heart beat faster. Yes, he didn't really hang out with people, who he didn't know at all. Unlike how people like Dandy or Glisten could hang out with complete strangers, he couldn't really do that. Well, he could do various acts in front of strangers, but doing more than that? Well, he could handle simple conversations, yes, but other than that he would feel pressured and felt like he would be laughed at. Which he heavily disliked!

Yes, he did change that attitude, but it took him years and years to even have it. And it took him lots of training to get over his nervousness to hang out with complete strangers. Because, as the star of the show, he needed to interact with them, hold long conversations. He was the one, who was training the newcomers, as in Toons or humans, who got hired after the new place was opened, due to… The need to fill the staff, after what happened at the old place.

"And what about me doing those things, Glisten?", his younger self would question the mirror.

The past mirror sighed.

"Nothing wrong with it, obviously!", past version of Glisten reassured his younger self, "It's just due to you hanging out with them, you didn't know I might help you with preparing your next act!", the golden mirror raised his hands, as a sign of him being excited.

Was he really hanging out with those three back then? Yes, he was, but things have changed, again.

His younger self's tail wagged happily.

"So, you're gonna help me?", his younger self assumed.

The mirror shook his head.

"I never said I was going to help you", he accented the word "was", to give him a clue about the whole thing.

His younger self's tail stopped wagging. He would just stood, like he turned into a pillar of salt.

"However, it doesn't mean it won't happen… Sooner or later!", as the past mirror said, he would suddenly leave, "Gotta go, I need to… Re-posite my bow!"

"GLISTEN, WAIT!", his younger self called out the mirror's name, with the hope of him coming back.

However, he didn't come back.

As he watched how his past self would, again, sit on the edge of the stage, feeling like he was just left for himself, it reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite recall what it was.

Suddenly, loud stumps could be heard, with his younger self's head getting up, only to notice a familiar shrimp. Or rather, a bit younger version of the familiar shrimp, as he could see his old appearance — him having lighter colours and him wearing that red dress-shaped shirt, that had only one singular line at the bottom. That shirt he didn't wear at all after everything, that went down.

Not only it got destroyed during the whole thing, but also Shrimpo didn't want to fix it, even though Shelly offered herself to do that. Simply, he didn't want it to get fixed. And no, he didn't use his attitude at all, he just told her, that the shirt represented someone he used to be at the old location. It was clear, that the shrimp didn't want to remember who he was back then, but for him, it was pretty bad, as he did like seeing him having that shirt.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?!", the shrimp yelled at his younger self, distracting him from the thoughts about the past.

"Oh, Shrimpo! I was just wondering about what my next act should be about and-"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT!", ah yes, back then, Shrimpo used to be so loud and so rude, "I DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT YOUR NEXT ACT!"

"Sh-Hey!", his younger self would get up, with his arms on both backs, "I know I didn't even think about my next act at all, however, I'm sure it will be worth the thought process and-"

"I HOPE YOUR ACT WILL FAIL!", the past Shrimpo would groan at him, "I HOPE IT WILL BE A MESS!"

Ah yes, Shrimpo's old attitude. How could he forget he used to be really spiteful?

"Oh, come on, Shrimpo, you need to believe in-"

"I DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE IN YOU!", the shrimp would yell, as he stumped so loud, "I HOPE IT WILL FAIL, BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU TO SUCCEED AT ANYTHING, YOU BALLOON-THING!"

As the past self of Shrimpo continued being mean, his younger self would, suddenly, pull out a red Clown's horn. And then, he used it, causing it to make a loud noise.

"Womp, womp…", as his younger self would said, while the horn's noises could be heard, the shrimp seemed to be irritated.

The Past Shrimpo was so irritated by that noise, to the point of him putting his hands on the places, where he, supposedly, had something aligned to ears.

"AGHH! STOP IT! STOP MAKING SO MUCH NOISES!", the past shrimp would yell, "I HATE YOU! I WILL PUT EXTRA THUMBTACKS IN YOUR ROOM 'CAUSE OF THAT!", and then — he sprinted so fast, that his younger self was unable to even comment properly.

"Shri-at least he left… But, oh boy, I have to check my room after that", as his younger self commented, he walked away from the place, where he was before.

Then, he would stop and look at the viewer or rather — at him. From the future. Yes, he felt like his younger self just looked at him, even though, actually, he looked at the cameraman. Back then, he would be completely unaware of the accident. Well, it didn't even happen at all, when the episode was being filmed. So, it was natural for his younger self, or just for everyone back then, to be completely unaware of the future.

Of the messed up future.

The longer his younger self looked at him, the longer he felt like his younger self was attempting to connect to him. No, that was absurd — he was just looking at the cameraman! Well, him, as in himself, was looking at the camera man! He wasn't attempting to try to communicate with the future, at all! However, the whole staring thing was just making his mind go in that direction.

Suddenly, his younger self would pull out various notes, yes, notes, and started to read them.

"Well, let's see what my newest act could be!", his younger self announced, "Playing with fake fires, no, that was last week", he chuckled, "Trying to learn ice powers, no, that's impossible", whenever his past self rejected an option, he would threw the notes away, as if he just wrote one singular thing per note, "Making a very loud noise, no, that would be too boring. Parodying the King Arthur, but turn him into a clown, that could actually work!", his younger self would put the purple hand on his yellow chin, "But at the same time, who would even laugh at that? Possibly history nerds", when he brought up that fact, a lot of chuckles could be heard.

Who was that?

"Who's there?!", his younger self fretted, as he looked around, "Show yourself or, or I will tell-"

"BOOO!", suddenly, a familiar ghost would suddenly appear, causing his past self to fell on the ground, "HAHAHA!", the ghost laughed.

As the laugh would go, the past self image of him would get up, looking annoyed.

"Connie!", he yelled, revealing the name of the ghost figure.

Connie.

To be honest, he and her never really got along back then, due to various reasons. One of them was, how she would often scare him, whenever he wasn't aware of her presence. Well, it was like with everyone else — it was never known, when she would appear, as she would be invisible to them. Well, except Scraps and Goob, as those two could, easily, see her, without any problems. And while with the papercraft feline it was obvious as she was, well, a feline, with the fluffy craft it was harder thing to decode, as he was… A monster? A dog? He had no clue what he was supposed to be, but oh well, he didn't want to really think about it, especially not after the whole thing. Another reason for them to not get along was because of her rejection of joining his circus troupe at the time. Well, it was a part of the episode, season 3, episode 3 "The Great Spookscare!", which had a scene with him asking her, if she looked to join his little group. And what did she do? She rejected it! Obviously, that was in the script, but what else was in the script? Him saying "Womp, womp…", and while it was supposed to sound sad, for her it sounded like he was mocking her.

He didn't actually mock her, but she thought that way!

Nowadays, they were on better terms, however, the signs of the past relationship between them was still visible, as she'd tease him about "joining his circus troupe", which was obviously a joke, as she was a part of it. Well, a part of "Troupe Toons", anyway.

"What's the matter?", the past self of Connie would ask, looking all smug and all cool, "I just scared you!"

His younger self pointed at her.

"I could get seriously hurt! Please, do not do that, again!", his past self begged the ghost.

The past Connie, however, just laughed. Again.

"I can't promise you anything!", she simply told him, "Because if I did stop scaring you around, then who could I scare? Shrimpo? He never admits he's scared, unlike how you show it!", she made excuses, mentioned the shrimp.

"Oh, don't mention him right now, Connie!", his younger self, crossing his shoulder, ordered, or at least tried to do, "He was already in there and-"

"You probably forgot, that I am a ghost!", the past Connie reminded him, smirking, "So, I did see the little dispute between you and him!"

"It wasn't a dispute, Connie!", his younger version would argue, "It was literally him trying to discourage me from trying to come up with another act! That'd be a disaster, if I had no act prepared soon!", he told her, with his voice being a mix of him being disappointed in her and him being stressed out.

Oh, yes, he remembered how he'd always be stressed out about his acts. He wanted to be liked, to be noticed by others. He wanted others to laugh at him, to have fun with his little gang back then. And, even, when people were laughing with him now, he would always have that feeling, that he needed to prepare his greatest act yet. Sometimes, some feelings would never leave.

Never.

"Maybe, you should go with the plan you had, before I appear, Gooey?", her mentioning his last name — Gooey, made his younger self flustered.

Back then, he disliked, when people used his last name. He really did. Nowadays, he got used to it.

"Connie, don't mention it right now!", his past self would scream, as she would roll her eyes, as she smirked, "I am being serious!", he scoffed.

"Whatever you said", she responded, "But, you parodying king Arthur would be nice, though", she brought up one of his younger self's plans, on which he softly slammed his dog-like face.

"But, there's no historic nerds there!", he would argue, "Besides, I doubt Shelly would even get it, as she's more into prehistorical period, not the Mediavel period!", he did remember, how he would often bring up the fossil, whenever someone wanted him to make a historical reference, that wasn't related to dinosaurs.

The past ghost sighed, still showing how smug she was. Currently, he was surprised how she acted back then. Yes, she was still smug, she still could make some comments, but she calmed down. A bit.

"You never know who might visit Gardenview Center, Gooey!", she exclaimed, raising her ghostly hands, "You'll never know-"

"Connie, stop calling me-", before he could say anything, she disappeared.

Just like that!

"Connie, I'm sure you're still there, ready to-"

"Umm, but I'm not her", suddenly, a shy voice could be heard.

The one, who was in place, where the past ghost used to be was no one else, but Boxten. One of other "Commons" back, at the old location. To be honest, seeing the past version of him made him feel sad. Yes, sad. He didn't feel happy, even, when he had pretty good chemistry with him back in the day. What was causing it? Was it related to the incident, that changed lots of Toons? Was it related to something else? He didn't want to think about it, at least for now.

"Boxten? What are you doing there, aren't you supposed to be with Cosmo and Sprout today?", his younger self pointed out.

Oh, Boxten did use to be taught about how to bake by those two bakers. As his memories could reach deeep and deep, he almost was able to bake something simple, but then the accident destroyed it all. Even now, the purple music box didn't try to bake anything at all, related to the condition both of the pastry and the strawberry had.

"W-well, I mean, they were supposed to teach me about it, but, but", he put his glasses back, where they were, "Something, um, happened in the kitchen…"

His past self chuckled.

"Did they forget to turn on the timer, when they baked, again?", his past self questioned, as he spinned happily. After he did it, he chuckled.

The purple box shook.

"N-no, actually, they didn't accidentally burn anything, it's more like… Umm…", the past Boxten seemed to try to think about something, about anything, "They made a huge mess and… And, when I walked to the kitchen, she was lecturing them about how they should not make it at all, how they should be careful. Like, the stuff she does, whenever someone makes a huge mess, hehe… Hehe…", the nervous chuckle made his younger self spinned around yet again.

"Of course, Tisha would behave that way! She really loves cleaning and hates mess!", he would point at something.

The camera moved, showing the picture of the blue tissues box scolding the shrimp, due to him breaking the vase. Then, it came back to both of the past selves of him and the purple box.

"See? She's been always that way!", he had no clue, but when his younger self was making comments, he couldn't tell, but he felt like…

Those comments were insensitive.

Yes, while at the time of the episode's filming, no one got hurt seriously or anything, he still felt like he went too hard with those comments he made within the release of the episode. And while the blue tissues box didn't tell him she was offended, he still could tell he did hurt her feelings for a bit. And while, he did try to apologise, he was unable to do that, because of-

"She always tries her best!", the past Boxten scolded him, "And while yes, she can let her perfectionist get ahead of her, she means no harm towards anyone!", as he tried to defend Tisha, his younger self pulled out a bunch of notes.

"I mean, fair enough, Boxten… So, let's see, what my newest act should-"

"Y-You're, um, already working on your newest act?", the past purple music box asked, getting closer to him, "I thought, you would, um… Take a break from it…", as he questioned, his younger self hid some of the notes somewhere.

"Yes, yes, I'm doing it", he confirmed the obvious facts, "And I can't just take a break, Boxten!", his past self argued.

"But… Umm… Why?", the past self of music box questioned, correcting the position of his glasses, again, "You can take a break! We don't want you-"

"You don't understand, Boxten!", as he watched his younger self interjecting the past Boxten, he noticed how the camera would get closer to him, well, his past self, "You don't understand! If, if I did take a break from doing my acts, everyone would never see me try my best! And, and", as his younger self was saying it, the camera showed two past selves, again.

His younger self seemed stressed for a bit. He meant, he always wanted to show his best, to make people laugh with him and not at him!

"And, and, for me that'd be awful!", his younger self finished, with his eyes looking at any direction, "So, no, I can't take a break at all!"

"But, you should-"

"I made up my mind, Boxten!", he told him, smiling nervously, "I just, look, Boxten, I need to think about my newest act, and, and I've been wondering about, let's see", his past self, yet again, pulled out the notes, "Maybe I should actually go with parodying King Arthur? Or maybe, I should-"

"Wait, King Arthur?", suddenly, Boxten perked, "Like, the King Arthur from-"

"Yes, yes", his past self answered the question, before it was even fully explained, "The King Arthur from those legends, yes! I even wrote in the notes of him being a clown and me making fun of those legends, because that's what some clowns do!", as he said it, the purple music box looked back at something, and then — at him.

"Well, that's, um… Interesting… If you do get with that plan, would you need music to make it more-"

"You want to help me prepare my newest act?!", his younger self got so close with the past Boxten to the point, that he could see him sweat, "Thank you! Thank you!"

"I-I mean, I mean, I could do that, but not right now, I umm…", as the purple music box would say it, his younger self's ears flopped.

"Cosmo and Sprout are probably cleaning the kitchen, why can't you compose the music right now?", he questioned, with him getting, uncomfortable, close to the music box.

He forgot whenever he would hear people implying to want to help him, he would react that way. Of course, he would still question why they couldn't do that right now, but not like that.

Guess, he was a bit pushy in the past.

"I, um,I promised, um… I promised, um, Poppy…", as he heard that name, his ears flopped.

Poppy, his best friend. Whenever he would hear her name, he would just, stood there. His eyes becoming smaller and smaller. His mind making him remember all the things he did with her, together. Helping each other, her helping him with his newest acts from time to time, him helping her find her bow. Those were all things he would see in his mind.

Poppy…

"Poppy? My best friend?", as his younger self would question the past Boxten, his mind would bring to his current self an image he would never forget.

Hurt, barely bandaged Boxten, holding ragged pink bow. The same bow she'd always wear all day, even during the Holiday season, no matter if it was Halloween, Christmas or Easter Egg. The same bow was at his hands, with one of her best friends sobbing. His glasses were broken beyond repair, as well.

"Yes, your best, um, friend… And my best friend, too…", while he was experiencing that image, the noises from TV could be hear the voices, "She, she, umm, she wanted me to visit her after the session…"

The glasses could be repaired, but the bow?

It could never be repaired.

Never.

"I mean, I understand, she's my best friend, too!"

The bow would be in Boxten's room.

"I wonder… I wonder, how she would react, if you told her you didn't have the learning session with them!"

And sometimes, in his room, too.

"She, um, would probably be mad at them… Or at Tisha. Or at both them and Tisha… Knowing her temperament…"

Because…

"Oh, yeah, she can be pretty hot-headed at times, but I doubt she'd be mad at them. Maybe a bit at Sprout and Cosmo, but it wouldn't be that serious!"

No matter how much he would have the collections of photos, featuring both him and her. And sometimes, others.

"I just, um, hope she'd not be, um, mad…"

"Oh, come on, Boxten! Head's up! Just tell her what happened… And maybe… Add the fact, that you're going to compose music for my newest act! Hahaha…"

No matter how much he would "take care" of that pink bow.

"I hope… I hope, um, you're right… I need to, um, go now… She's probably worrying about me… Maybe she even decided to look after me…"

"Okay! I will… Stay there and wait for you!"

He would never be able to get over what happened to Poppy.

Never.

"Then… Then, um, goodbye… See you later… I hope…", just in time the purple music box would say it, he, using his purple arm, covered his teary eyes.

Soft sobbing noises could be heard, as he was being reminded by what happened to Poppy. He was even about to yell at the past Boxten, that there was no use in going to see the bubbly girl at all. For what reason? For a very simple reason.

She was gone.

Gone.

Forever.

He was muttering to himself, how Boxten was stupid, how he was in denial. Poppy wasn't there, what was left from her was the ragged pink bow and her outfit she wore the day the whole thing happened.

Only for him to remember the episode was filmed before the tragedy occured.

Before it happened.

Was he oversensitive for sobbing just for him hearing her name? And in the episode, in which she didn't appear at all? Was he still grieving for her? Yes, he was still grieving, however, he thought he wouldn't react that way!

However, remembering how he reacted at the vandalised poster of Vee and just seeing that "Main Character's" poster, made him question it. Question, if he was truly over the tragedy.

No, he wasn't over it.

He would never be over it.

Never.

Feeling that way, he wiped his tears out. He needed to calm down, because he couldn't just break down, just simply by watching an episode of the old show!

He couldn't! He needed to be mentally stable! He was the star of the show, after all!

Slowly, he took his green arm from his eyes, noticing how he missed a couple of scenes from that episode. That episode, in which he starred the main role. He literally saw, how his younger self, writing something in one of many notes, while a particular familiar person was looking at him.

That was Shelly. One of the former Main Characters.

His heart started to beat faster. It wasn't just because he saw her younger self, but also because of remembering how they interacted with each other. Because, back at the old location, he didn't have good relationship with her, at all. Yes, they weren't enemies, unlike how Shrimpo saw him as one. But, they weren't friends either. While she was desperately trying to make connections with him, he would often ignore her, either because of her talking about dinosaurs, him being busy with something else or for any other reason. And while, he did apologise to her, the whole thing still does affect their relationship.

As if it was something, that couldn't get away.

"So, you really want to act like King Arthur?", Shelly's soft voice could be heard from the television.

"Mmmm", his younger self, still busy writing in the note, just muttered.

"And Boxten will help you, right?", the fossil asked another question.

"Mmmm!", his past self muttered.

His younger self saying nothing to her was making him feel regret for treating her that way. Yes, he didn't mean to hurt her, but still, just seeing his past self act that way, was something he simply hated seeing.

"Can… Can, I help you, too?", suddenly, Shelly suggested, pointing at herself, "In my room, I think I do have a large bone, that could be used as a replacement for-"

"Mmm!", again, his younger self muttered.

When he did it, Shelly's face was painted in worry.

"Are you… Even listening to me?", that question right there, made him hug himself.

Remembering, how he was ignoring her, made him feel bad. And while, he wasn't ignoring her in the current times, being reminded of how he acted around her, made him feel awful.

"Mmm!", his younger self muttered and then — stopped writing something in the note, "Oh, I know! I need to get a large cone candy as a replacement for a sword!", the sudden announcent, that completely dismissed the fossil's suggestion, caused the past Shelly to sigh. She sounded depressed.

"Alright… Maybe next time…", as she walked away, having darkened expression, the camera would show no one else, but the old star of the show.

Dandy.

The flower would notice the fossil leaving.

"Why is she so-", then, the camera would go to his younger self and then — back to the rainbow flower, "Hey, what are you doing there?!", the rainbow flower would sprint towards him, causing his past self to jump and scream, only for him to realise who was that.

As the flower was close enough to his younger self, the flower would stop and look at him. Dandy's reddish eyes would look at him. Curiosity was in them.

"Dandy!", he called out the flower's name, "What are you doing there?", as he asked, the flower looked at him, confused.

"I asked you that question first!", the flower reminded his younger self, the left foot stomping on the floor, "What are you doing there?", Dandy repeated the question.

After the question was asked, his past self would look around, with the camera showing the calender outside the stage. Then, it showed the data, that was circled around, using a red marker.

March 20th, 1999.

As he noticed the year, he was, once again, reminded when that episode was filmed. Back in 1999, or rather — the third month of 1999. That's why Dandy looked just like before the accident happened. That's why Dandy acted that way. Nothing had happened to that rainbow flower within the beginning of that year. Everyone was still happy, except for Shrimpo. Everything was going well.

But then, things changed, alongside the rainbow flower. Just, looking at Dandy, at the past Dandy, at least, made him feel big regret, as if he was at the fault for what happened to that flower. However, he did nothing wrong towards that flower.

But still, he felt that feeling of regret. Maybe, that's why he would often check on Dandy, to make sure nothing bad happened?

As he reflected over the past, the camera would come back to them.

"I mean, I'm just trying to prepare my newest act, haha!", he chuckled out of nervousness, with his tail being low.

Dandy looked at him, with the curiosity still being presented in that flower's eyes.

"Why are you not preparing your acts with your little circus group?", as the flower questioned, the eyes would be squinted, "Why not with them?"

"Well, umm…", his younger version would pat his own back, "They have an emergency meeting with Brightney", as his past self mentioned, the rainbow flower's eyes were squinted harder, as if they were seeking something else.

Ah, yes, he remembered how his friends would spend time with that lamp, whenever they got the chance. Either it would be related to anything involving the book club, involving their personal feelings or something else. They thought, she was best at helping them with their problems. And while they still visit her, they're not as close as before.

"And, umm, and, what are you doing, um, here, Dandy?", his younger self questioned the rainbow flower, causing Dandy's eyes to become wide open.

"Me? I know, I should have spent some time with my best friend", even, when Dandy didn't mention that "Main Character's" name directly, he still shook.

He would often forget how important that person was for Dandy. And yet, whatever he did to that flower was monstrous. But even with him keeping in mind, that the whole episode was filmed before it happened, he would often see both that "Main Character" and Dandy hanging out, acting like they were best friends. According to an episode, season 1 episode 1, that "Main Character" was that rainbow flower's best friend since childhood. However, how much it could be believable, when it could be just in the script? Since, in season 1 episode 3, Cosmo and Sprout "met" each other for the first time, even, when they knew about each other longer than that. Would that fact also be just for the show's sake or was it actually real? He had no clue, he didn't even want to get the answer at all.

Especially not after that "Main Character" did.

"And I was supposed to help him with cleaning his room, before Tisha would lecture him about how he should keep it clean and all", another mention of that blue tissues box being a perfectionist made him the same emotion he felt, when she was firstly mentioned in that episode, "But, but then-", the flower looked around, with the sweat appearing there and there.

His younger self squinted his eyes, as he got closer to the flower.

"And then? Then, what happened, that make you go there, mmm?", his purple ear would point at the flower.

"But, but then, then Pebble", the sudden mention of Dandy's rock dog made him hug himself, as another wave of the salty tears would drip down his yellow cheeks.

Pebble, Dandy's loyal dog, that the flower adopted, when he was still just a small rock. At least, according to one of the earliest episodes of the series, season 1 episode 2. Unlike the mention of how the rainbow flower and that "Main Character" were friends since childhood being dubious, Dandy did actually confirm it. And just being aware of the whole fact made him feel lots of pain, lots of sorrow grow inside him.

"He, um, he stole the broom, that was supposed to help with cleaning the mess", as the past Dandy continued to explain to his younger self, he would fall on the baby blue coach, still hugging himself.

Remembering the whole thing with what happened to that dog, caused more and more tears to drip down his cheeks. Pebble, the innocent dog, was just trying his best to save others.

"And I, naturally, I, umm, I ran after me, because what kind of owner would let their dog wander around freely, with a broom?", just hearing the whole thing caused him to lie his head on the coach, while letting the tears drip down.

Fresh tears started to make the coach wet, but he didn't care at all.

Remembering how much Dandy cared for the pet rock made him feel regret, feel overwhelming sorrow. The dog also cared for his owner to the point, that he would do anything to help the flower as best as he could.

He was a rock dog, he couldn't do much. He would, however, try his best.

"And, while I was wandering around, I accidentally bumped into various Toons"

"Not going to lie, that sounds kind of bad, Dandy-"

"I know, I know, but even then, I apologised!"

The overwhelming sorrow, the grief he was holding inside was too much for him to handle. It caused him to stop hugging himself and just cover his eyes. Using both hands. The sobs still could be heard from him. Why would he silence himself, when no one was there? When no one would see him be that vulnerable?

"Did they forgive you, actually, Dandy?"

"I mean, only Flutter forgave me, I think. I mean, yeah, causing her to fall on ground was pretty hurtfult, but she did forgive me, as she buzzed various noises!"

Flutter, that butterfly. Despite her inability of speaking, she was still someone he viewed as a friend, though not as close one as before. He did regret they weren't close friends back then, they weren't really that close now. In spite of it, they still had better relationship than back in the old location.

And they would always remind him, how the accident hurt everyone or even… Did something much worse.

"Do you really believe she did forgive you?"

"Yes! I believe it! Why… Why do you have that look?"

"You should try to do something for her, because I'm pretty sure she didn't forgive you-"

"Aww, come on! You should believe me! I mean, unlike how Teagan might not forgive me", just the mention of that teacup, that elegant teacup, caused him to shake completely to the point, where he changed his position on the coach.

From lying on his belly, to lying on his back.

He was still sobbing a lot, with him hugging himself, as he felt like he couldn't hide his sadness away from anyone. Being that vulnerable, just because of him hearing the names of people, who suffered greatly during the accident. Or rather, who didn't appear at the new location.

His mind, possibly out of grief, decided to terrify him, by showing him a mental image of him founding the golden gloves, or rather the leftovers of them. He found them near the exit of that "Main Character's" room, implying she either escaped or something worse happened to her. At that moment, he hoped she was okay, that she escaped.

"I mean, I did cause her to spill her tea on her dress, and while she got angry, I assume, as her face turned red, I did manage to escape from her-"

"How did you even manage to cause her to spill her tea from her head on her dress?!"

"I bumped into her, okay?!"

However, she didn't escape.

"That isn't an excuse for it to even happen! You should be way more careful, Dandy!"

"I tried to be careful after that, okay?"

Yes, she did manage to leave that "Main Character's" room.

"And, how did it turn out?"

"I accidentally bumped into Finn out of everyone-"

Finn, just hearing his name, caused him to whimper. Literally, he whimpered, as if he was a little puppy, who got lost and couldn't find his mother. While, yes, he looked like a dog, he wasn't exactly one.

"Dandy! You should've been more careful!"

"I tried! And, and just see what happened! I caused his water to spill over his orange jacket… And I kinda caused him to panic over his toy fish falling out of his fishbowl, as well-"

"He treats it like it was alive!"

"I know! And I picked that toy fish instantly and put it back!"

Finn, the one, who would make those fish puns… He hadn't heard any of his fish puns for a very long time. Yes, he would hear those fish puns from either watching old episodes, him hearing someone trying to mimic it or just remembering hearing it somewhere. Either from watching the old show or from visiting the old place. Or from both. He would often hear either Rodger or even Shrimpo saying those fish puns.

Especially from Shrimpo, who he seemed to dislike the fish puns. However, maybe he did like them, secretly? Maybe. However, he would never be sure about it, as he didn't plan to ask the shrimp about it, because he's still grieving over the lost of him.

While he and Finn never seemed to get along, it was obvious the shrimp didn't exactly hate him. Well, he never mentioned how much he hated the fishbowl, only mentioning he hated his facts, which would often be shown in season 1, as season 2 and 3 had Shrimpo not really mentioning it at all. He had no clue why it happened. Was it because of the writers seeing, that it was getting old? Was it Shrimpo, who warmed up to those puns? Was it Finn, who requested the whole "I hate your facts" thing to be removed?

He would never learn about it. Neither from Shrimpo nor from anyone.

Never.

It was like a forbidden knowledge, that would curse anyone, who would come to it. Just like the knowledge he actually had about the whole accident. It was like the curse, that he and others would never get rid of. The awareness of it was causing him to feel that way, to be a sobbing mess, to try to find comfort in the past.

However, even watching the episodes of the old show couldn't exactly help. Especially, when he was aware, that some of the characters in the show weren't in the current location.

The awareness of what happened to them, was crushing his mind. And even after years of the incident happening, he couldn't get over it.

Just like how others couldn't. Only being able to cope in variety of ways.

And yet, he had to hide his sadness, his grief from everyone, except for selected people, that he trusted the most. Those people would be aware of how he felt, of how he tried to cope with it, while others were unaware about his truest feelings. Not because of the possibility of them not treating it seriously. It was because of him feeling like he couldn't show it to everyone. He was the star of the show, he was supposed to be there for everyone, to support them, to bright their mood.

He was supposed to be their star.

But yet, even as the star of the show, he was feeling the overwhelming grief. Only being able to fight against it through attempting to help running the whole location, training the newcomers, taking care of the location or even — reminiscenting over the past. But even then, it wasn't enough, it wasn't enough to help him get over it. He had to hide his grief by acting like he moved on.

But, he didn't move on.

And wouldn't move on.

Never.

Never in his life, he would be in peace.

Secretly, he would be forever a crying, whimpering mess, when no one'd look. He would be that way, he would be that way, forever. And he was still hugging himself, either because he attempted to try to find comfort in himself or to emulate the feeling of being hugged by his best friend — Poppy.

Poppy, his and Boxten's best friend, was gone.

Just like Finn, Teagan and Pebble.

They were all gone! And he had to watch the grief of everyone else's after it! Including Dandy!

He had to see the omnipresent grief, while he himself couldn't properly grief! Of course, he did cry, when he saw the ragged pink bow, he did break down, when he learnt the fates of all other three. But that was all, he couldn't grief properly in public.

Only in private!

Only through hiding!

Only-

~~~

Suddenly, he heard the loud creaking noise. His ears rose up. Who would even come there? The Toon Handlers? One of the newcomers finding that room? One of the former Main Characters? Either way, he was alerted, because they couldn't see him in that state! They couldn't see him as crying, whimpering mess! Or the failed hugging mess!

They needed to see him as someone, who was just overwhelmed by the whole work related to being the star of the show!

Barely, he sat on the coach, his eyes feeling sore, his throat feeling like it was sore as well, his noise being full. Wiping out his tears, he got on his legs and turned his head towards the entrance, only to see a familiar figure, that looked on the multicoloured floor.

Recognising the figure came instantly. It wasn't neither the former Main Character from the old location, the newcomers or the Toon Handlers. It was one of the "Troupe" Toons, former "Uncommon" Toon — Rodger! The magnifying glass wasn't wearing his elegant outfit, as he would do it in public. Instead, he wore his classic pajama — a dark blue shirt with two wolves — one black and another dark grey, howling to the moon, that wasn't visible and checkered pants in shades of light blue. Just seeing him wearing pajamas made a lot of questions appear inside his mind.

Why was he here and not sleeping?

Was it because of him being unable to sleep, as he drank too much caffeine?

Was it because of him having insomnia?

Or was it because of-

"Weird, the poster wasn't on the floor before", the voice of former Uncommon Toon made his questions disappear, at least for a brief moment, "Who would put it on the-", then, his only eye noticed him.

Him, because he looked at him, first, as he analysed the poster!

Feeling the rise of panic, he attempted to give him a fake smile.

"Looey, did you do that?", but even then, it didn't save him from that question.

At first, he wanted to lie to him, because he didn't want to admit he did it. However, feeling like he would figure it either way, due to his "detective skills", he decided to just nod, confirming his assumptions, with his fake smile disappearing as well.

The magnifying glass walked towards him. At first, he looked tired, but when he was close enough to him, to the point he would almost touch his nose, his expression would change, or rather — would have another emotion to it. Concern. He was concerned at him! Not him being concerned over him!

"Did you cry, Looey?", he asked, his voice full of concern.

He was aware Rodger was one of the selected people, who were aware of how he genuinely felt about what happened back at the old location. He knew, how he tried to cope with it. The magnifying glass was completely aware about it. And yet, he just, he still felt off about him just asking that simple question. So, instead of confirming his correct assumptions, he would simply turn to the television.

He missed a lot of scenes, again, as now it shown Rodger, or rather — his younger version. When he still wore that "detective wannabe" outfit, as he would hear from him. He wasn't wrong, that outfit didn't look exactly fashionable, but it still portrayed his detective-like curiosity well. And just, seeing the past version of Rodger, while the current Rodger was in the same room as him, was weird.

But, it was something.

Suddenly, he felt like how someone sat on the baby blue coach. His head turned to the side, noticing no one else, but Rodger. Still having concern painted all over his face.

"Come on, Looey", as he spoke to him, he moved over to him.

And, then, he would put his hand on his shoulder, as if he attempted to give him some comfort. Or maybe encouragement to be honest with him? He was unsure, but the detective Troupe Toon, caring about him, made him feel like he could've just tell him what happened, tell him everything! At the same time, his nervousness were making him feel like he couldn't just tell him, what went down in there! He simply couldn't. So, all he did was to nod.

Rodger looked at the television, his pupils becoming bigger, realising what he was watching.

"Were you watching the old show?", he questioned.

All he did was to give him a simple nod.

The former Uncommon Toon would then glance his sight on the vandalised Vee poster from the old location. He would put his hand on his nonexistent chin, as if he tried to connect everything to his current state, that he found himself in. Or rather, he tried to think about what happened inside the room.

"Toodles…", suddenly, he would mention his adopted daughter.

His bloodshed eyes looked at him, curious what did he mean. The magnifying glass' pupil saw it and sighed, as if he seemed to give up over something.

"She vandalised the post, didn't she?", he told him, "I mean, it was obvious she'd have a grudge against Vee for how she was involved in the whole-", before Rodger could finish, he noticed how the star of the show would hid his face, "Looey-", he spoke, all concerned.

All he did was to whimper.

"The vandalisation triggered you, didn't it?", Rodger asked, worried.

As he revealed his face, he nodded. Revealing his bloodshed eyes. They were no longer looking that colorful, as they looked before. They were darker, messier. It perfectly portrayed how sorrow took over him.

"And… Let me guess, you ripped another vandalised poster, because of it featuring-", before he finished, the star of the show just nodded.

Sorrow, that feeling was inside him for years now. Not only it, but grief as well. The grief over the lost of his best friend, of Teagan, of Pebble, of Finn. Sometimes, he couldn't even handle it that much, despite his best efforts. Because, as the star of the show, he was supposed to take control over the situation. To make sure people could cope better with the loss. But the damage was done, they changed.

He changed, too.

"I don't blame you… And I can't blame Toodles as well", the magnifying glass admitted, "I mean, Toodles was just 8 year old, when the whole thing went down", as he recalled, he noticed how the balloon dog-like creature looked at him, "I'm not trying to downplay everyone's, including my own, feelings over the whole thing. It's just about how young she was, when she had to see everything around her fall apart…", he got silent at the end.

He was aware about the whole fact, that his adopted daughter was the youngest out of everyone. She was just a kid, while others were already grown adults. Even him, being 24 year old around the time, still considered himself to be a full-grown adult. And while it wasn't exactly true, as he was just in his 20s, just being aware of Toodles' real age made him feel like he was much older than he was.

He decided to work on the old show, when they were in season 2. And she? She didn't exactly work on it, more like, she was Rodger's adopted daughter, who needed constant attention from him. Because it was simple — all kids needed to be protected, to be taken care of, to be loved. And the magnifying glass was giving it all, causing her to want to be like him, a detective. He did remember, how she would often claim herself as "Junior Detective", how she would "solve all the mysteries!". She was enthusiastic about it, as any other kid would be. The 8-ball really wanted to pursue the dream to be the detective, even getting herself a major role in one of the episodes. Well, it wasn't her, who managed to convince Arthur to let her in. It was Rodger and Teagan, who managed to convinced him.

"And, and even, when I was by her side, when I protected her… Even, when I got myself hurt", as the magnifying glass spoke, he pointed at his stomach, implying he got hurt in there, "I didn't exactly save her… I saved her body, but I didn't save her innocence…", he went silent, looking at the television.

He did look at it, too.

There was a scene, in which younger Toodles was next to the past self of the dog-like balloon creature, with her holding her black and white plushie. She seemed to not only be curious, but also wanting to be a part of the newest act. And while her only major role was in season 3, episode 13, "Lights out investigation", she did have minor appearances in other episodes released in 1999.

Just seeing her younger self, how innocent she was back then, made him feel even worse over the words Rodger told him. While her body was intact, she didn't get injured at all, her mind wasn't. Her mind was broken, as she was exposed to the omnipresent suffering.

The same suffering that took her mother figure away.

"How innocent and playful she was, before it all went down!", Rodger would point at the television, "She would always hold her plushie, whenever she could…", then, he would look at him, "And, and I did try to protect her plushie, I really tried, but I found it destroyed… Having a scratch on its neck-", as the magnifying glass mentioned it, he saw how the star of the show's pupils became smaller as he remembered something.

Pebble, Dandy's rock dog, had a very similar wound underneath his mouth. Similar, because it wasn't the scratch wound.

"Looey, did I remind you of… Pebble?", suddenly, the magnifying glass asked, worried.

All he could do was to nod. Even, when the wound found on Dandy's trusty pet rock wasn't a scratch wound, just hearing something similar happening to Toodles' plushie caused him to react that way.

"I'm sorry, I didn't… Want to make you feel worse", he apologised, as he looked away, "… I still remember that sight…", his single eye landed at him, "I still remember hoping we'd find Dandy's dog alive, but… What we found was a reminder of him…", he went silent, closing his eye and then — opening it.

It wasn't just Rodger, who found the reminder of the dog. It was also him, Rudie and Glisten. In case of Rudie, despite his right arm being wounded, he still wanted to help. In case of the golden mirror's wounds around his back, he still managed to move, but he couldn't even imagine how painful it had to be for him to even do that. And it wasn't just Pebble, who was found in that state. In the place, where the rock dog was, they found two more people.

Two more.

"And… And just noticing that wound", Rodger continued, "terrified me and you, Looey", as his name was mentioned, he nodded.

However it wasn't exactly true.

Was finding Pebble in that state terrifying? Yes, it was. However, it wasn't exactly terrifying. Well, it was, but it was more heartbreaking. That cute pet rock didn't deserve that kind of fate. He didn't deserve it.

And neither did Poppy, Teagan and Finn.

They didn't deserve being gone.

"I do blame myself for letting it happen…", suddenly, Rodger admitted.

However, he disagreed with that statement. It was no one's fault for the fate of Pebble. And even, if someone needed to blame someone for it, it had to be the "Main Character".

"R-Rodger", he choked out, "D-don't-"

"I was the one, who told him to find Teagan and Finn!", the magnifying glass tried to defend his statement, "I was the one, who let him go with Shrimpo to find them! And… And just, just look what happened to him!", as he shouted, a tear dripped down his glass, "Just look! He's gone, Teagan's gone, Finn's gone! And, and-"

"S-Shrimpo… Told you how Pebble found them alive…", out of sudden, he brought up that fact, "And how he… He tried to get them… To safer spot…", each words felt like it was being grabbed out of his throat violently.

But, he still managed to spoke them out.

Rodger, just hearing it, hid his face. It was either out of shame, for forgetting about it or out of grief, because how could he forget about that detail? That Pebble did find Teagan and Finn alive? Or maybe it was a mix of both?

"I… I'm sorry, but… Even then, he didn't get them to the safer spot, far away from…", he went silent, as if he wondered if he should say the name of that "Main Character", that caused it.

The same " Main Character ", that claimed to be Dandy's best friend since childhood.

The same " Main Character " that caused Poppy to be gone.

Should he let him say it? To be honest, he still felt uncomfortable or even out-right terrified, whenever someone would mention that name of the former "Main Character" or even by simply having someone reference him. However, at the same time, there was literally his relative working in the palace, sharing the same last name. But his relative wasn't like him — faking everything, silent, waiting for a perfect moment to strike. She was someone else, she was nice, a bit shy, always trying her best.

They were like night and day, literally.

However, at the same time, he couldn't even take looking at that old poster from the old location. He literally ripped it out of the wall! So, just to play safe, he shook his head, giving the magnifying glass clear sign to not mention his name.

At least, not in the state he was.

"From… That monster. He, he got to him… According to Shrimpo, he separated Pebble from others and… Bit him. Even, when Pebble's a rock and wasn't supposed to even get hurt that badly… But, his fangs found a way to make him join the stars…", it was obvious Rodger didn't want to say explicitly what that "Main Character" did to that dog.

He was gone, yes. But, he didn't "join the stars".

"He died, Rodger…", he choked out another portion of words, "He's gone… Just like…", he went silent, as he felt like rose thorns growing inside his throat.

Even then, Rodger understood what he wanted to tell him.

"Teagan… Toodles needed lots of therapy sessions, to even manage to visit her grave without having a panic attack…", as he mentioned his close friend's name, another single tear dripped down his glass, "She viewed her as a mother, just like how she views me as her father… Even, when I wasn't Teagan's partner, I was just her close friend since we were kids…", bringing up that fact made another tear drip down, "And… And it affected me, too. I know, you may think I got over her death, but I truly didn't, Looey", of course, he didn't.

No one got over from what happened.

And if someone claimed they did, they were lying.

"I would never think you did get over it…", he uttered, as his face got closer to the magnifying glass, "Just because you can fake getting over it, doesn't mean you truly got over it", mentioning it, caused Rodger to wrap his arm around the balloon creature.

It felt weird for him, because he didn't expect it to happen today. Howeve, it did feel nice. But it couldn't truly heal him at all. No matter how hard he would like to think it could heal him.

The best it could do could be making him feel a bit better.

And that was all.

"I know, I know about it…", the magnifying glass told him, as he would wrap another arm around the balloon creature, hugging him.

Or was he actually hugging him? Or did he just wrap around him, to make himself feel better? He was unsure about it, however it felt nice. It did feel nice being hugged or whatever it was supposed to be.

"Toodles, she… She never got over it, too", as Rodger mentioned her, a memory appeared inside his head.

A memory related to how she hugged her father figure, all crying. She wasn't injured, unlike all other Toons. However, she didn't have her dog plush at all, because it was destroyed. As he recalled, the reason why she cried was the mixed result of being overstimulated from all the suffering and screams, yells and her being aware of what happened to her mother figure. She learnt about it from Glisten. Unlike Rudie, who did try to not tell her the truth, because she was a kid, the golden mirror wanted her to know the truth. No matter how harsh it would be.

And it resulted in her crying.

"She never got over losing both her favourite pet and her mother figure", the magnifying glass continued.

All he did was to simply nod.

"I still remember her telling me how much she missed her mother… How much she missed Pebble… And even she told me, how she missed Finn…", as he continued, another single tear dripped down from his glass.

"Don't… We all… Miss them?", he choked out those words, as he felt like how his throat walls seemed to make it painful for him.

Rodger nodded.

"Yes, we all miss them…", he admitted, "We all miss them… And, I found myself missing Finn a lot, even… When we weren't close at all…", his pupil became smaller for a brief moment, before it returned to its original size.

"I miss him a lot… Even the same amount I miss P-Poppy-", as he mentioned his best friend's name, a lot of tears dripped down his yellow cheeks, "I, I miss her, don't get me wrong, I miss everyone in the same amount… Even Teagan, when I wasn't even her childhood friend!", as he cried, his pupils getting bigger, "I'm sorry", he apologised shortly.

"No need to… Apologise", the magnifying glass reassured him, "You can grief all of the losses at the same amount…", he went silent, "Even I wonder why I grief over losing Finn, as it was more painful for Shrimpo to lose him… When there was a hope for both him and Teagan to survive…", yet again, he went silent.

The star of the show knew what he meant by saying it. When Pebble, Dandy's dog, was leading them to the safe spot, there was hope for them to all survive. Due to how fast the dog was, sometimes he'd need to slow down, at least that was how the shrimp recalled the events. However, even the dog, out of everyone, leading them to safety wasn't enough.

"The hope… Was crushed, once Pebble got caught by him", he mentioned, his voice sounding weaker, just like before.

"Even then… They tried to survive…", Rodger attempted to give some bright into the whole thing.

However, he failed.

"But that wasn't enough, as Finn and Teagan died and Shrimpo got injured…", when he finished, he started to wonder over it.

Why did that "Main Character" left Shrimpo alive? Why didn't he kill him? Was it because he did have pity?

Why would he even have pity over someone like Shrimpo? He hated him even before the incident happened.

Maybe he wanted to make him suffer, by leaving him in that place, with the fishbowl and teacup being just lifeless corpses? Maybe he wanted to see if he could break him? Just by simply forcing him to be with the corpses?

It could be a possibility, but it could be also because that "Main Character" wanted to finish others off? Leaving Shrimpo at the end?

Maybe…

"Shrimpo… He suffered a lot, because we found him all curled in a ball…", Rodger recalled another memory, "Whimpering… It was our first time seeing him vulnerable…"

"He… He never experienced a situation like that before…"

"Of course, he didn't", the magnifying glass agreed, "And neither we did… It was our first time having to live through a massacre", the word "massacre" caused both of them to shake.

Massacre.

That was what the whole thing was. Not only almost everyone got injured, with some Toons getting heavily wounded, but also four Toons got killed during it. However, they weren't the only victims of it.

"Not… Only us, Rodger…", he wepted, "Remember… Visitors and Toon Handlers… Were a part of it"

"I know, I know… It was a pretty gruesome view… A lot of people dead and injured, especially if… They were… Kids", as Rodger barely choked out words, he tightly closed his eye and then — opened it.

The whole view of dead bodies, alongside injured humans, lying around the room of that "Main Character" was a disgusting thing to look at. No, it wasn't disgusting, that word didn't fit there. It was terrifying and saddening at the same time. Terrifying, because everyone hated looking at corpses and injured people, saddening, because all of them had familiar to take care of.

"It affected all of us…", Rodger continued, "To the point… In this location we have special procedure, in case… Something similar would happen", the sudden mention of what the massacre caused to be implemented, made him look at the magnifying glass, as if he said something awful, "Looey, but that's true…", he told him.

"I know… And other things changed… A lot of them did…", as he mentioned, the hug became a little more tighter.

As if Rodger wanted to either comfort himself or comfort both him and himself.

"Yes… The Gardenview Center had to be closed down, recompensations for the families of victims had to be given, a lot of us had to be in hospital for either weeks, months or even a few years… There were funerals…", Rodger counted, however those weren't changes that were implemented in the new location.

Those were just things, that happened immediately after the massacre.

"You're talking about different changes…", he pointed out, "What happened back in the old location…", he added.

Rodger's pupil became bigger for a brief second. It, however, came back to its normal size.

"I know… I just wanted to point out what happened shortly… After the whole thing…", he tried to explain, "And… I remember, you visited me, when I was at the hospital… You and Toodles", as he mentioned, his ears flopped down.

He recalled, how he needed to take care of his adopted daughter for a few weeks. It was because of Rodger's wound, as he got hurt in the stomach. It was a miracle, he still manage to try to take control of the situation, alongside him. And it was a miracle he survived long enough to be taken to the hospital. And it was a miracle the scar didn't hurt him that much. And while his daughter was in a pretty bad place mentally, he somehow managed to take good care of her. Well, he was the one, who took her to therapy, as he recognised she needed it the most.

"Oh, I did… I did visit you, and others", as he recalled, he remembered how he would visit others, especially the ones Toodles would want to see.

And how he could say "no" to her, knowing she experienced the heavy loss?

"You mean, when you'd visit Brightney to check on her?", the magnifying glass asked.

The star of the show nodded.

"I was worried… She wouldn't make it out, because… She got hit multiple times in various places… Even getting her lightbulb destroyed by him…", as he recalled, he remembered another memory.

He saw himself kneeling down to injured red lamp, to check if her heart was still beating. Remembering how he prayed deep down inside his heart for her to be alive, caused him at the time to panic. Even screaming at her, basically begging her to be alive. And she survived, just barely. That's why she was in the hospital the longest — for two whole years. There were the risks, that she could die inside the medical building.

"But, she made it", the magnifying glass admitted, "She made it… But barely. There was even a time the doctors didn't want to try to save her any more, because of her condition… But, they were forced to…", as he explained, the hug between them got a bit tighter, again.

"… If she didn't make it out, it would be catastrophic", the dog-like balloon creature mentioned the possibility, "And… And I just, I just wish everyone made it out alive…", as he continued, Rodger started to rub his back.

Was he trying to comfort him more? Or was he trying to improve the mood? He was unsure, but it felt… Nice.

"I wish it was the case", Rodger told him, "I wish no one died or even got injured", he added.

"Or even… The whole thing never happened", the star of the show added, "Because if it didn't happen, we would still be at the old location, I would still be the Common Toon, you would be the Uncommon Toon, the Main Characters would stay the same, and, and-"

"And… Dandy and him would be still friends…?"

He nodded.

"I… I still wonder why he… He even did that to… To Dandy", as he uttered, a single tear dripped down, "Why he even did the whole thing? We were all friends with him. I mean, excluding Shrimpo, everyone were going to him to get good dreams… Especially Scraps and Boxten", as he mentioned, he felt like how his throat walls were getting tighter and tighter.

Because before the massacre happened, he was a good person.

He did lots of good things for everyone.

He never hurt anyone.

And everyone liked him. Excluding Shrimpo, because of his attitude he had towards others. Well, maybe Finn was a small exception, he was unsure. But still, everyone would try to be like him.

That "Main Character" had many positive attributes such as being silent, supporting dream-like creativity, supporting introverts and shy people.

But yet, he did the whole thing. He hurt people looking to him. He killed a lot of people.

Including his own Toon Handler.

"I still… I still wonder why he did it", he suddenly spoke, "Why did he even do it? What we even did to him?", as he wondered, Rodger suddenly nuzzled him in the nose.

It was something he only did, whenever he felt like he needed one. But did he actually need it, now? Or not?

"We didn't hurt him…", Rodger attested, "I was curious about him, to be honest, such as his powers, his abilities… And I did want to learn about it… But, not in that way", as he mentioned, the balloon creature remembered how everyone learnt about him having four arms.

During the massacre.

It was terrifying, because not only it turned out he was some sort of night creature, but also he decided to reveal it during that moment.

Shortly, after he hurt Dandy.

After he did that thing to that flower.

"I… I did make notes after the thing went down… When I lied in the hospital bed, but it wasn't like how I would do it normally… It was my own way of coping with what I saw…", the magnifying glass recalled it.

"I don't blame you…", he told him, "I… I don't blame you… I just, I still remember… How his own Toon Handler attempted to calm him down", as he recalled, he remembered that image.

Image, in which his Toon Handler, wearing the same outfit as before. Dark blue short sleeve shirt, blue vast, dark blue pants, white gloves. He remembered how he shouted at him, trying to calm him down.

"But… He got killed, by his own assigned Toon slicing him in half", as he finished, he shook.

Rodger nuzzled to him, again. It felt weird and nice, at the same time.

"And… And I still remember… I still remember how another wave of scream happened, and, and… And just how he… He started to attack everyone and-"

"It was traumatising…", before Rodger said more, he realised he said it wrong, "I mean, the whole thing was traumatising… ", he nodded at that statement.

"The whole thing gave me nightmares for months… I still have them", the star of the show admitted.

"Didn't we all have nightmares about it?", Rodger asked rhetorically, "I did have them, too… Toodles as well… Everyone suffered from those nightmares"

He nodded, because it was true.

They all suffered from the night terrors. They all were forced to experience that thing again, even worse than before, because of their mind playing with them.

"And I still… Do have them…", he admitted, "But, I try to… Not have it affect my day… Which doesn't exactly work…", as he continued, he could feel how Rodger wanted to nuzzle again.

He did like, whenever he would do it. It felt nice. But, at the same time, he didn't want to do that often. However, that time, he didn't want to protest, so he let him do that.

"Despite the nightmares being alive, we still persisted… In our ways", Rodger noticed, "But the scars of what happened are still presented… In various ways…", as he stated, the balloon creature's left ear rose.

"And those scars changed us… Forever…", he added, "There's no exception, we all changed…", both of his colourful eyes looked over the television.

~~~

The whole conversation with the magnifying glass made both of them not notice how much time have passed. However, unlike the first other times, when both of them would simply see another scene from that episode, it showed simply the end screen. The end screen would always appear at the end of the episode, however there were differences between the VHS version and the version appearing in the TV release. The VHS version had the orange end screen with Dandy, sitting on the armchair, reading a book. It was unknown what type of book it was, but it had to be a kids' book. Next to him there was that flower's pet — Pebble, sleeping on the colourful rug. On the top there was visible window. On the left down side there was written text. It read:

"Do you want to come back to the 'Episodes' menu?"

With the two options underneath being "Yes" or "No". He remembered how the option "Yes" would cause to exit the episode and come back to the "Episodes" selection menu. However, choosing "No" would turn the whole compilation off and force the TV to show the latest thing, that was playing, before the compilation was put inside the VHS player.

At least, that was how it worked.

Then, they both looked at each other.

"I keep forgetting… How nice the end screen always looked", the magnifying glass commented, "Because it's simply warm, it makes me feel emotions… But, at the same time…"

"Pebble…", that was the only world he choked out, as his throat walls felt like they were still having something inside them.

Noticing that warm and fuzzy end screen, which featured Dandy and Pebble, made him feel emotions. He did remember seeing a similar scene happening a lot, whenever that flower would be reading anything, The pet rock would always come to his owner and would lie down either on floor or on the rug. Or on anything, really, while listening to what Dandy was reading. Because that flower would always read things out loud. Always.

"Pebble… I remember him… Listening to whatever Dandy was reading…", the magnifying glass mentioned, "It was interesting to see him… Listening to anything. No matter if it was a fairy tale, a newspaper, a novel… Pebble just took everything, no matter what his owner was reading…"

He simply nodded.

"And… And… We all know how… How Dandy reacted, when… When she found out about her dog's passing", when Rodger called that rainbow flower a "she", the balloon creature was about to say something, only to remember another thing.

Dandy, the former star of the show, was hiding from all of them her identity or rather — it was them assuming things, just by her appearance. Because she looked androgynous, her voice was androgynous enough, even sounding masculine. Her having lashes was treated as something a man could also have — Glisten had them, too, but he was a man.

However, they were all wrong about it. And the revelation was something no one expected it. It was a welcoming one, though.

"Yes… Despite her injury making in unable… To express feelings like she used to, she… She did break down, once she heard about her dog being… Gone", his throat didn't feel that much "blocked" as before, so he could admit it.

Rodger nodded.

"She sobbed a lot, she even hugged… Shelly, out of everyone, even when they… Were never close at all…", as the magnifying glass recalled the obvious fact, the current star of the show recalled how the relationships between certain people were.

How Shelly didn't really have close friends, besides Tisha and maybe Vee.

How Dandy was close with that "Main Character".

How Boxten had good relationship with Poppy and Glisten.

But the relationships changed, as well.

"Her ex-best friend hurt her a lot, hurt a lot of people, caused the massacre… And Shelly just happened to be close to her", he tried to explain to Rodger that thing.

"I mean, after Shelly hugged her back… I feel like it was the start of them forming a deep bond… I do see them, nowadays, hanging out", the magnifying glass recalled.

He nodded. He did also see them acting like they were friends. It was good, because it did prove to him, that the rainbow flower could make new friends, even after what happened to her.

"It's nice seeing her improving… Despite the mental damage she received…", he concluded, "It's nice seeing her having another close friendship…"

~~~

"It is…", then, the magnifying glass looked at the television and then — at him, as if he wanted to ask him something.

Asking him, if he planned to watch more episodes of the old show. Or if he wanted to turn it off. The small part of him wanted to continue to watch the episodes, because he could, at least, still see the ones, who were gone. The most part of him, however, wanted to turn it off for a simple reason — he literally cried, when he watched that episode.

He cried, when he heard the names of his best friend, the teacup, the fishbowl and the rock dog.

He didn't want to have a breakdown, again.

He wanted to feel better for the next day. And yes, he could watch more episodes — tomorrow was Saturday. The free day from work. However, even during the weekends he had things to do, such as checking the supplies, training the newcomers, making sure nothing was leaking.

It was just the life of the star of the show, after all.

What was the most important thing for him, forever, was to appear mentally stable. He needed to be mentally stable. Because if he was mentally unstable, his friends would lose hope in him. He always tried the truest best of him to make everyone feel better. Even, when he himself felt bad.

It was just the life of him, anyway. Nothing special.

"Enough episodes for today…", that was his comment, as he attempted to look for remote, "Where… Where it is?", he wondered.

Suddenly, he saw how the magnifying glass would point at the floor. He looked down, noticing how there was the controller to the TV. Immediately, he grabbed it and chose the option "No". Pressing the button caused the screen to go black for a brief second. Then, on the television appeared a blue screen. He pressed one of the buttons on the controller, causing the whole machine to be turned off.

Before he could even get to pull out the VHS tape, Rodger was faster than him. Just by two or three actions, he managed to get it out of the VHS player. However, he didn't hide the tape inside the player, at least not yet. The magnifying glass seemed to be reading the back cover of it.

"… That was the last compilation, released shortly before December…", the conclusion Rodger came to made him be shocked.

So, it was the last compilation of the show?

Just before the massacre?

"… I didn't know that…", the balloon thing admitted.

Rodger turned to him, still holding the tape.

"It's… Nothing bad", he told him, "To be unaware about it…", as he said, he turned to the shelf, opened it and hid the tape inside.

Then, he turned to him, looking at him with that sight in his eye. He seemed to be curious about what he planned to do now. However, it wasn't the same curiosity he'd have, whenever he needed to solve the case. It was that type of curiosity, that came from concern over him. He remembered, how Rodger would always care about his wellbeing, about how he would overwork himself to the point of almost passing out. He cared about him, which was obvious.

"I need to get some sleep…", that was all he could say.

"I mean… I was going to bed, too, however… I heard you sobbing and… I deciced to check on you…", as he told him, finally revealing how he even got there, was something he needed to expect.

Because Rodger had that "sixth sense", that could make him feel like something was off. And the "off" thing was, in that case, him hearing how he cried. So, naturally he decided to check on him.

It was nice, being cared by someone.

"It's nice to know you… Care for me…", as he said, suddenly, he wrapped his arm around the magnifying glass' neck.

It caught Rodger's off guard.

"I always cared for you, Looey…", he admitted, as he hugged him, "Especially… After everything…"

Looey simply muttered "Mmm".

Hugging Rodger was something he didn't expect himself to do. Because, to be honest, he felt weird being cared by him today. It was, however, related to his emotional state at the time — being vulnerable, after being exposed to the past, that would never come back. But now, he needed some comfort, he needed it. Which resulted in him thinking about how he would be unable to sleep alone today.

His room was big, he had many things related to circus.

However, he could sleep somewhere else.

So, the idea, that appeared in his mind — to sleep with Rodger, immediately made him look at the magnifying glass, still having the bloodshed eyes. They'd probably disappear after sleeping, he hoped.

"You… Want to sleep with me?", Rodger immediately caught on what he tried to tell him.

He simply nodded.

"I mean… Honestly… I do need cuddles when sleeping", when he said, the balloon thing gave him a look, which could be basically translated to: "It's not our first time sleeping together".

On which, Rodger nodded.

"… Tomorrow, we will take care of this room… Okay?", Rodger told him, on which he nodded.

The star of the show yanwed. The whole emotional mess made him feel tired. Feel tired to the point of him needing to get some sleep. And he could tell, that Rodger need some sleep, too. Because he needed to entertain kids today, he needed to be at some teenager's birthday party, who wanted to solve a mystery with him. It was tiring, really.

Because of that, Rodger gave him the look to let him go. On which, he stopped hugging him. It didn't mean, however, he wouldn't hold him at all, as he immediately grabbed the magnifying glass' hand.

"… Let's just… Get some sleep…", as he said, they would both head to the exit door and then — leave through it.

He closed the door. Unlike how he closed the door, as he entered the room, he closed it softly. Then, he looked at Rodger, giving him a sign they could go to his room.

So, they did do that, while the star of the show had hopes for better tomorrow. Because tomorrow was another day, right?