Chapter Text
Each timed jump synced up with the tempo of the music, each time sending the piñata flying into the air, performing a flip or two before she landed back on the tightrope perfectly. When her hooves hit the rope, Yatta would glance over to the benches, where Blot, Looey, and their Toon handlers were watching them. They were reciting their latest act that had been being teased all around Gardenview. The children who visited Gardenview often were looking forward to the new performance from the circus trio, and the three of them had been doing their all to perfect it.
Blot watched as Yatta took her turn in the spotlight, rehearsing her acrobatics that she was going to be performing for the next few weeks. Next to him was Looey, leaning against him after tiring himself out from his own practice performance. On his other side were their Toon Handlers Brian, Loretta, and Yuri, who were tasked with taking care of them and helping their practice.
“Yatta, good job... Come take a break for a bit, we’ll continue soon.” Yuri called out to the piñata, pausing the music playing on the boombox. Yatta turned to look at her Toon Handler before she hopped off of the tightrope and scampered over to the group in the audience, smiling. She stood in front of her two friends.
“TA-DA! How was… THAT!” Yatta asked, bouncing up and down excitedly.
“It was great, Yatta! Better than the last time, and that one was also super good!” Looey cheered. Blot nodded at his friend's words.
".yeooL ,dias lleW .deerga ,mhM" Blot said, turning to face Yatta “.hguone noos ecnamrofrep ruo rof deraperp eb annog er'ew taht erus m'I .ereht tuo taerg gniod er'uoY”
“AWWW! THANKS, BLOT!!!” Yatta responded, still bounding around “What about YOUR acts?! Are they also doing good!?”
“.mih ekam I emit hcae regnol rof demrof gniyats si .rJ tolB tub ,tey kni htiw yltcefrep gnihtyna emim yllaer t'nac I .retteb tib a eb dluoc eniM” Blot shook his head, looking down at the puddle of ink that was starting to form at his feet. He felt Looey elbow his side, looking back up at the balloon animal.
“C’mon, Blot, it’ll be fine. You’re gonna have this all figured out soon enough! If it makes you feel better, I’m worried that the kids won’t be entertained by me, ahahaha…” Looey’s laughing trailed off until he was staring at the floor awkwardly. Yatta quickly rammed into Looey, forcing him into a hug.
“BLEHHH! AS IF! THEY LOVE YOU, LOOEY!” She yelled, snuggling against Looey. Looey was surprised about the sudden embrace before he smiled, letting out a small gasp when the hug got tighter.
“Haha- Yeah- Yatta you’re hugging me a bit too tight…!”
“Oh whoopsies. Sorry.”
“Hey now, don’t hurt each other. Looey, are you alright there?” The trio turned to look at Loretta, who had been talking with the other Toon Handlers a moment ago.
“Ah, I’m okay! Don’t worry, Miss Lottie!” Looey reassured his handler.
“That’s great!” She smiled “Can you three watch each other for a moment? Me and Yuri and Brian are just going to be outside to talk about something for a bit, okay?”
“Ooooh! WHAT are you guys gonna talk about?!” Yatta sped over to them, looking up at her own handler with wide energetic eyes. Yuri couldn’t match her energy, opting to keep her eyes fixed on something in the distance.
“Please don’t worry about it, Yatta… It’s nothing bad, we’re simply going to be talking about some possible acts you three could perform. Come get us if anything happens please…" She said, Yatta nodded along with her words before jumping back into the ring, rushing back over to her tightrope and scrambled onto it, taking a moment to balance herself.
“YOU GOT IT!” She yelled with a smile.
Blot watched as their handlers walked out of the circus room, leaving the trio alone. He waved as they left, though they didn’t see him. He looked back over to his friends. Yatta was practicing her act again, and Looey was searching around for his juggling pins, which he must’ve misplaced for the gazillionth time this week. Blot found the pins right where Looey had been sitting only a few seconds before. He grabbed them and stepped into the ring to give the pins to him.
“Hey, HEY GUYS!” Yatta called out to them from atop her tightrope “CAN YOU TURN ON THE MUSIC AGAIN!?”
“Oh yeah, I’ll get that, Yatta.” Looey put the pins that Blot had just given him. Blot sighed.
"...feirg dooG"
Looey hopped out of the ring, going over the boombox. He fidgeted with it for a good while, trying to figure out how to turn the music back on. Eventually, after a lot of trial and error, the music started ringing throughout the ring. Looey turned to give Yatta a thumbs up, and she shot him a smile before beginning her performance.
Blot watched on as his friend did her acrobatics. One, two, three, four, five, backflip, summersault. It was going perfectly, just how Yatta had done it only minutes before. Blot clapped watching her, though he didn’t make much noise due to his many layers of gloves he had on.
She went on like this for a good while, performing stunts that Blot knew he would probably never be able to do. Sometimes, she’d glance down at the ink Toon, shooting him a wink before returning to her act. It never seemed to take her attention off of her acrobatics.
Until it did.
Yatta looked to Blot before performing a double backflip, a move that she had struggled with for an unbelievably long time. With her focus on Blot instead of acing the move, her landing was far from graceful. It was almost hard to tell what had occurred from how fast everything had happened. She wriggled hitting the tightrope, before bouncing off of it and falling to the ground. Her head hit the floor first, one of her horns breaking off with a sickening crunch. She had tried to break her fall with her arms, but those cracked alongside her neck. Her mangled form laid on the ground for a moment before the Ichor began to pool around her. Blot took a second to register what had just happened to the piñata, before screaming her name and running to her side.
Blot desperately grabbed onto her side, staring at each part of her that was twisted unnaturally or snapped. Even if she was known for being flexible, this was far beyond her limits. Blot frantically started yelling for the Toon handlers, but they were nowhere in the darkening room. Neither was Looey, the balloon animal seemingly having disappeared while Blot was focused on Yatta.
The room only got darker as Blot miserably tried to help his once lively friend until it was completely black around him, excluding Yatta’s crumpled form in front of him.
“Hey Blot! BLOT!” A familiar voice yelled out, echoing around the ink splotch. Blot looked up, frantically turning to search behind him on the off chance that Yatta was still alright, or that Looey had come back with help.
“Aha, SILLY BLOT!” The voice was coming from directly behind him. He quickly turned back around to face Yatta, who was now staring at him with blood red eyes and her sharp teeth bared. This wasn’t Yatta anymore.
“I’M RIGHT HERE!”
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Blot woke up back in his room, terrified by the dream. He was struggling to get a good breath in, both due to his fear and the fact that something heavy was laid on his chest. Looking down, he saw Looey on top of him, face buried in his chest and arms wrapped around his neck. Blot remembered that Looey had asked if he could sleep with Blot for the night, and he had done just that. His eyes were already open, though he wasn’t staring at anything in particular. The balloon animal only looked up when he felt something cool drip onto his snout. Blot hadn’t even noticed that he started crying.
“Huh…? Blot…? Why are you crying?” He scooted up a bit to get a better look at Blot. The latter took a shaky breath.
"...niaga eramthgin a tsuj saw tI .yrros..." He sniffled, trying and failing to stop more tears from running down his face. Looey sat up somewhat quickly, putting one of his rubber paws on Blot’s face and the other on his chest.
“Oh geez, again? Blot, you know that Yatta… What happened to her wasn’t your fault! No one could’ve seen it coming, and Dandy and Dyle are doing their best to find a way to return everyone back to normal!” He said cheerfully, though his voiced wavered a bit. Looey’s ears started to droop a bit, putting his snout into the crook of Blot’s neck.
“...I miss Yatta… I miss her so much…” Blot heard him mumble in the darkness, “Do you really think that they’re gonna be able to find a cure or something…?”
Blot didn’t immediately respond, opting to just wrap his arms around Looey and pull him a little closer. They didn’t move from that position for a good while, the only noises in the room being two pairs of unsteady breathing. Eventually, he came up on a response that he deemed comforting enough.
" .ti fo erus m'I ...yllautneve gnihtemos tuo erugif ll'yehT" He said quietly, placing a gloved hand on his friend’s arm.
“...mhm…” Looey shifted a bit, looking up at Blot, “...I think we should go talk with Astro in the morning.”
"?emoc woH ?huH" The mime tilted his head. Looey gave him a small smirk.
“How come? What do you mean! We’re gonna go talk with him to see if he can help with your nightmares, yeah?”
"...uoy knahT .os sseug I .hO"
“No need to thank me about it! It’s regular friend courtesy, y’know? You would do the same thing for me if I needed help, right?”
".thgir..."