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“He’s in his room, working on some…research project, or whatever”
Gigi jumped, tumbling backwards in her spinning chair with a scream, sprawling out onto the floor as Connie suddenly appeared next to her.
“I…don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.” She looked up at Connie, back against the luckily, fluffy star rug that she kept. Gigi rolled out of the armed chair’s grasp, fixing it back to upright before facing the ghost.
Connie rolled her eyes. “Womp womp, either you get all of me or none of me! And here I was thinking you needed my spying expertis-“
“Wait wait wait waiiittttt, let’s not go that far! We make a great duo, jumpscares and all!” Gigi hastily replied, she couldn’t lose her only viable source of tracking Rodger. Before Connie, it was Flutter. But Rodger had a keen eye, as he called it, that had clocked her following him near immediately. And as much as Poppy tried to spy for her, even getting into character with unreadable hand signals, her excitability was a dead giveaway. Connie was also the only toon that could directly snoop on not only his whereabouts, but his what-abouts.
“Heh, I know that’s right.” She snickered at Gigi’s frantic praises, knowing that she had just as much fun snooping around as Gigi did using the knowledge to talk to Rodger.
“Okay, but seriously girl, ‘womp womp’? How often have you and Looey been hanging out?” Gigi teased, poking Connie as she said the phrase.
Connie floated upwards out of Gigi’s reach, hands cupped over her mouth. “Oh my ghoul, you’re right. I’m starting to sound like an actual airhead! I gotta go.” And with that, she was gone, phasing through the walls of the red room.
Gigi sits back down, wishing she could’ve gotten more details before the ghost’s sudden departure. Reaching down, she yanks one of her chock-full desk drawers open. A couple items bounce out from the force, such as a kids paint set, a pressed flower, and an assortment of gumballs. She rifles throughout the drawer, finding exactly what she was looking for after about two tries - a dirtied magnifying glass, with…A SNAPPED HANDLE?
The magnifying glass is tossed from her sleeved hands onto the table. The gachapon roots through the overfilled contents of her desk some more to find the handle’s other half. After a struggle, she pulls out the missing chunk, the break’s edges sharp and jagged.
“Rodger is gonna be so mad at me! He’ll for sure notice whatever I do to fix it, and if that’s not bad enough, he’ll know I stole it!” Gigi cupped her head in her sweatshirt, stretching the fabric as she cocooned herself. She’d have to abort her previously perfect plan, because a fracture would sink the whole ship.
“Wow Rodger, you have like, a lot of piles of folders! Are you sure the thing isn’t in here?” Says dream Gigi, before beginning to wade through the papers, slipping the magnifying glass in from her long sleeves.
“I’m certain, those are all perfectly organized, if anything was in there, I’d be the first to-“ Dream Rodger starts, his pride being cut off by Gigi’s super awesome feat.
“Found it!” She slides the eyeglass from in between two of the files. Rodger stops in his tracks, turning around in his chair to face her.
“Wow Gigi, you sure do have a knack for locating things! Thank you, truly.”
But now, that would never happen. The obnoxious crack through Rodger’s honored tool breaking Gigi’s plan to pieces as well, apparently not having caused enough damage. Swerving in her chair dejectedly, Gigi popped a gumball from the floor into her mouth, chewing anxiously.
Maybe she should just talk to him about it. Stir up casual conversation, where she mentions…finding it! Lying on the ground, handle snapped. A genius story, and she had just the way to make herself the hero as well. Slamming shut the previous drawer, Gigi ripped open the very bottom drawer to her desk, rolling up her sleeve to grab a small wheel of tape, heavy duty enough to mend the wound.
Unspooling an extra long piece, she laid the smooth side down onto her desk table, before spooling the magnifying glass carefully, pulling more tape from the round as she went. Once deemed sturdy enough, she pressed the tape to the serrated edge, tearing it off to finish her crafting.
Gigi held up the eyeglass in her hand, making a concentrated beam of refraction using her ceiling light. Angling it around the room, she watched like a cat with a laser pointer as it drifted along her walls, to her floor, and back to the ceiling. Rodger may not realize, but his head did the same in the sun, often leading to bright showers of light following him. He literally sparkled, and Gigi wanted nothing more than to add him to her collection. With that thought fresh in her mind, she stood up and tucked the glass into her deep pocket, sewn into her elongated sleeves.
As Gigi reached Rodger’s door, she hesitated before knocking. Her room was just down the hall, it wouldn’t hurt to go back now and speak with him at a later time, all the other toons or people around. But she knew she needed to learn to talk to him eventually, how could she preach such advice if she can’t follow it? With three loud knocks on the door, she heard a call from inside.
“Come in, it’s unlocked.” Rodger answered from the inside, a touch of irritation in his tone. Gigi opened up the dark, ebony door, to see Rodger exactly as Connie described; Sitting in his leathery chair, bent over numerous papers. An exploded pen lay discarded on his desk, staining the sheet beneath it.
“Toodles, please, this mystery isn’t for little toons. This is the last time I ask you to leave before getting stern with you.” Rodger didn’t even look up as he heard Gigi closing the door, rubbing his nonexistent temples in frustration.
“Uh, Rodger, I’m not Toodles.” Gigi awkwardly replied, walking over to his desk. He pushed out his chair, breathing a sigh of relief.
Gigi leaned on the side of Rodger’s work area, clearly unbothered by the mess of his room. “Sorry Gigi, Toodles has been pestering me all day. The poor girl has nothing to do with Gardenview on vacation.”
She nods in understanding, hoping she wouldn’t prove to be too much of an annoyance either. After all, the kid was taking after her, with Gigi being among her favorite babysitters and closest role models. “Yeah, I totally get that. I’ve been taking the time to dust off my coolest trinkets.”
Rodger raises his eyebrow at this, questioning her intentions. “You aren’t perusing around here for something new to add to your collections, right?” He questions her, suspicions apparent in his demeanor.
“Whaaaatttt? Me? Never! I’m not a thief, Rodger!” Dragging out the what, she chuckled mischievously to herself. She’d already collected her goods, returning them is what she came here to do.
“I’m sure, you do know I keep records of everything you ‘borrow’, right?” She’d been caught red handed, Rodger was already wary of her. He’d clock her as the thief immediately if she returned the glass now. Best to chat him up.
She stopped in her tracks, rubbing the back of her head guiltily. “Oh. Well when’s the most recent record?” Smiling smugly, Gigi folded her arms. She hadn’t taken anything in the last few weeks or so. Atleast she thought.
“Let’s see,” He walked over to a bookshelf, pulling out a thick binder. On the front, plain and simple, it read Gigi. Was that whole thing dedicated to solely her? There was no way. She looked back and forth from the floor to the filled pages as Rodger flipped to the back. “About four hours ago, Astro approached me with complaints of a missing night cap. Do you know anything about that?”
“What? That’s just an accusation, there’s no proof I did anything! Could’ve been Con-anyone!” Almost tossing the only one who might be listening under the bus, she threw her hands up in exasperation, eyes narrowed at the binder. She took that last week, and he couldn’t have come forward any sooner?
“Fair enough. However, there’s other records with substantial evidence to back them up here. Any comment on those?” Rodger raised his brow, turning to face her. He was in full interrogation mode, tapping his foot and all. It was authoritative, and attractive.
“Ughhhh…”Gigi needed to turn the conversation around if she ever wanted to return the magnifying glass. Turning to face Rodger’s desk, she picked up a paper. Just as she went to read it, the sheet was ripped from her hand.
“Hey, what gives? I wanna know what you’re working on!” Gigi whined, her nosiness taking over. Rodger’s face filled with a…boredom? Annoyance? He sat back down, reclaiming his seat.
“There’s nothing for you to see on these papers. They’re highly classified.” He insisted sternly, a warning that only made Gigi want to know more.
Adjusting her position to lean over the chair back, Gigi began to interrogate some herself. “Uhuh…uhuh… but we’re besties! Buddies! Pals! You GOTTA show me.” She tried reading another paper from over his shoulder, before Rodger promptly began stacking them away.
“I’m not just keeping it from you, this is a private investigation for only the closest and most secure of my friends.” Ouch. Gigi paused for a moment, before beginning to banter.
“What’s that supposed to mean Rodger? No way you mean friends like Glisten, he’s the biggest gossip I know!” She teased, half serious with her advice. Honestly, she couldn’t be talking, considering her and Flutter’s friendship was sourced from sharing secrets. Justifying that was easy though, it’s not like they ever let things get out out.
“You and him are alike in that aspect. Now if you don’t mind, enough, I should be getting back to work.” Rodger jabbed at Gigi, much more stern than Gigi had anticipated. But still, she laughed out loud, because sure, Gigi may be a crook, but never a yenta.
“Oh come on! No way someone as trustworthy as me can’t see! Just show em’ already!” Moving again, she tried grabbing the stack of papers out of Rodger’s hands.
“No!” Rodger smacked Gigi’s hand away, like swatting at a child. It stung, the only thing that had saved it from becoming a lumpy bruise was the cushioning of her sleeve. She stumbled back in hurt, unable to form words. Rodger glared at her from his desk, silence filling the void between them as he waited for a response that wouldn’t come. “Gigi, it’d be best for you to leave. I never expected you to be so impudent. Letting you in was a mistake. I almost wish it was Toodles” He mumbled the last parts under his breath, just loud enough for Gigi to hear.
She could feel Rodger’s rejection as it took physical form, not only through the stinging in her hand, but the feeling of her heart being ripped from its place. Torn out and discarded on the floor in favor of a project more important than her. Tears bubbled up in her eyes, misting her vision as she looked to the floor. Thinking she could be anything to him but a suspect was a delusion.
As Gigi regretfully made her way to the door, she stopped, remembering her initial reason for the visit. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see him back at work. There was little tell of their argument in his conduct, only his brow was amiss, still furrowed as it was when he yelled. He was business as usual, while she could only stand between the door and the desk, pleading for even a glance. For Rodger to acknowledge the way she felt, for him to care about her.
Carefully shuffling back over, she felt like walking on eggshells. The closer she crept, the sharper they got, until it was shattered panes of glass, each tearing fresh gashes into her feet, the bloody trail of desperation smearing onto his floors. Finally approaching the desk, she pulled her hand further into her sleeve, reaching into the inside pocket she’d sewn. Held there was the magnifying glass, kept pristine by a cloth she’d wrapped around carefully.
Setting it down onto the desk, she started her excuse, hoping to preserve what little dignity she had left. “I found, no, that’s stupid, I’m sorry. I stole this a while back, and when the handle broke, I tried fixing it. It’s totally sloppy, but this one’s your favorite and you probably want it back. I was gonna tell you this whole story of how I found it but there’s not really a point now, huh…” She tried to laugh at the last words, making light of her pitiful fumble. Her barely held facade was slipping by the moment, each word in her stream of consciousness less than the previous. “Yeah, that’s really all there is to say.” She paused for a second, Rodger was now switching from the eyeglass to her, an unreadable look in his eye. What he was searching for, Gigi was unsure. Inhaling heavily, she finished off her speech. “I’m…I’m really sorry.”
Rodger reached for the tool, and Gigi flinched instinctively. His pupil shot up to her quickly. His eyebrow jolted at her reaction, unwavering gaze softening to a new, remorseful expression. Glancing downward, he noticed how the fabric of her sleeve was scrunched, how she had balled up her fist in the moment. The same hand he’d whipped out of the way, in favor of his silly passion project. Dried up tears on her face were being replaced steadily, speeds picking up the longer she stayed. Turning back around, Gigi motioned to leave.
“Wait.” The request was gentle, his tone a one-eighty from before. It was almost like a question, the way his voice trailed off like he had more to say. Freezing on the spot, she remained silent. “Thank you. And, I’m sorry as well. I misjudged you. Jumping to conclusions is something no good detective, or toon, should do.” His apology was sincere. “If you would still be up to it, I’d value a second opinion on all this.” Gesturing down to the stacks of documents scattered across the desk, Gigi was quick, now standing over him again, her silence ominous. Unsure, Rodger turned in his chair, now facing the current mystery that was this girl. Rodger began an attempt to speak again, but was tackled into a tight hug.
Gigi pulled away after a moment, her arms that had been thrown around Rodger’s neck now pinning him against the chair back. She was straddling his lap, knees digging into the cushions of the seat. “So are you like…sure you’re not mad? About the magnifying glass.” She questioned him, suspicion in her expression.
Rodger’s head turned to the side, evidently flustered and amused. Chuckling, he replied. “I’m sure as can be.” That was a good enough answer for Gigi, and she moved back off of Rodger. However, before she could make her escape, she slowed to a halt.
“…Do you mind if I?” Rodger had placed both his hands behind Gigi, grazing her back just enough for her to feel. She nodded quickly, and he pulled her back into him. Now touching foreheads, they looked at each other. Rodger seemed to be searching, almost exploring her very soul. He’d never been so perplexed by another toon’s uniqueness. They were all so very cut and dry to him. But she broke that mold, playing the crook, the prankster, but also the compassionate, and surprisingly honest.
Gigi took the initiative to ram her head into Rodger’s, with a loud, CLINK! “Oh my gosh. I saw that in so many movies dude, I just wanted to try it and…” But to her own astonishment, he started laughing. So she did too. Rodger kicked off from the ground, attempting to launch them back from the spinny chair into the couch. The opposite was achieved, as they tumbled backwards onto each other, giggling uncontrollably now. Research could wait after all.