Chapter Text
Nobody has seen Connie in about… 8 months, which would be concerning in any other situation except it was Connie, the ghost.
Ghosts can go invisible.
Connie was still there with them, just not visibly, when asked, her excuses would range from “I don’t feel like being seen” to “fuck social norms I want to be an abstract concept.” It wasn't the weirdest or the most unusual.
When Connie was still a holiday toon she would seek out of her basement-room and hang out in the upper floors while invisible, it was her way of isolation while not being bored, nobody knew she was there unless she wanted them to.
So Gigi wasn't worried for the first few months, but when it just continued Gigi started to worry, because Connie was no longer a holiday toon, she shouldn't feel the need to isolate like the other holiday toons when it wasn't their season.
Around the 3 month mark of Connie's disappearing act, Connie was still a quite popular gossip topic, Sprout would get really uncomfortable at any mention of her, he would attempt to change the topic or go silent.
Around the 5 month mark, everytime someone asked she would just leave, it wasn't like anyone could see her, thus if they wanted Connie around they had to suck it up and worry in silence and gossip about it.
Connie was the main topic of many of Teagan's tea parties, eventually it started to fade, many toons decided to tuck it in the back of their mind and continue on with their lives.
Brightney hard-scheduled a spot for checking on Connie in her daily schedule, the bookclub not being the closest to Connie but knowing her enough to worry more than others.
The more Gigi thought about it, most of the mains acted quite awkward around Connie, Vee, Astro and Sprout all had different levels of discomfort around her.
When asked about their opinions Vee would just ignore the question, Sprout would stammer and stutter or until he gave up and skipped the question, and Astro would just smile like he knew shit and move on with his day.
But when it came to interacting with her they all tried to avoid her like the plague, Sprout would make excuses that could make anyone laugh with how obvious they were. When they couldn't avoid her their behaviors ranged from Vee just staring at Connie and muttering things to Astro smiling and offering her his extra blanket.
Honestly it was weird and awkward, but towards the 7 month mark Sprout stopped avoiding her, instead becoming what everyone would describe as a ‘mother hen’. The moment he knew where she was he wouldn't leave, always in the same room with her.
So when breakfast came around and Connie sluggishly floated in and everybody paused their breakfast to get a good look at her, everybody assessed her appearance quietly.
Sprout choked on his breakfast and started coughing loudly, distantly everyone could hear Vee's fans working double speed, trying to avoid her from overheating, Gigi swore she could smell smoke.
Connie shifted uncomfortably at the doorway at their shocked and confused stares. "Can you stop that? It's creepy.” She growled quietly while crossing her arms across her chest. Slowly she floated to her usual seat next to Gigi, slumping at the table.
Her once tidy, long, lively, brilliant bright teal hair now lay limply around her shoulders, she must've cut it sometime during her disappearance, it was messy and stuck out in every direction, some sections seemed to be curly.
Her face used to be pale but now Gigi's pretty sure that pale isn't strong enough to describe what Connie's face looked like, her eyes had deep black circles around them, and Gigi made the mental connection to a panda.
The rest of her face was as white as the walls with barely any color on them. Her outfit was wrinkled and had many stains on it, the light blue scarf she usually wore around her neck was warped around her left arm like a makeshift armwarmer.
The teal belt was also gone, leaving her oversized shirt to drown her. The shoulderless sleeves were nowhere to be seen, leaving her arms exposed to the cold of gardenview, Gigi could see the way she shivered with each breath she took, it was too cold for the poor disheveled woman.
Wordlessly Gigi removed her blue sweater and passed it to Connie, she nodded gratefully and slid it on, the sleeves to no one’s surprise drowned out her hands, Connie looked so small with Gigi's hoodie.
Gigi sat there awkwardly with only her undershirt and short shorts. “Thanks girl.” She rasped out and leaned to steal Gigi's precious body heat. “No problem.” Gigi quietly nudged an emty food tray towards her before going back to her food, Connie would have to go get her food.
“It's nice to see you again.” Gigi whispered, Connie's sharp ears twitched, a sign that she heard what she said. Gigi smiled softly as Connie nudged Gigi gently, a silent ‘thanks’.
Throughout breakfast Gigi kept glancing at Connie, everybody did actually, everybody was curious what changed, what brought the sudden shift to invisibility and what brought her back to them.
Eventually, to nobody's surprise, it was Glisten to voice everyone's curiosity. Sadly he lacked the art of tact in his words lately, not to say that he usually had tact but that day it was very noticeable.
“So what changed, why are you back to being visible?” He leaned elegantly on the table, arching his back in a way only he could, his elbow right in front of Connie's face, on top of her untouched and empty food tray.
She stared forward numbly, then sluggishly blinked up at him, her hands sat in her lap while her posture straightened. She tensed up when the question finally registered in her brain. Gigi couldn't decipher the expression on her face but she wasn't feeling anything positive for sure.
Her eyes fixed themselves to a crumb on the table, her expression filled with many intangible emotions. “Hello? Are you okay in there?" He leaned even closer to her and snapped his fingers, not too close to her face but not too far.
Gigi stood up and shoved him away. “dude- not cool.” she hissed. “what?” he shot back. “I'm just curious!” gigi gestured towards Connie. “as you can see- she's obviously not in a state to be investigated.”
glisten huffed, unwilling to yield. Gigi glared at him. Gigi glanced at Connie to check if she was ok, Connie spared gigi one look before popping her visibility and most likely leaving. “You can talk to her later, when she's feeling better.”
Over the course of the week Connie's eyebags grew, and Gigi's protectiveness continued to rise, the moment they would wander into a room everybody was walking on eggshells. She barely came out of her room to eat, only making an appearance for breakfast and dinner.
but whenever she was out of her room Gigi was by her side, daring them to approach Connie while she was still looking like the walking dead. (haha.)
Tensions were high around her, many were a bit snappish towards their behavior, believing Connie was being dramatic and that Gigi was enabling her. At the end of the week someone was going to have to break and talk it out, they couldn't go on like this.
Nobody expected Astro to be the one to break. At dinner he walked up to their table and slammed down a bundle of …something. “For your sleep.” He said plainly, his eyebags almost matching hers.
Connie slowly lifted her head to make eye contact. “...What?” She said, as if she couldn't believe his act of kindness. He leaned down to whisper into her sharp pierced ears.
Gigi could see the exact second Connie realised something, something that triggered her fear, the exact second where Astro hit a nerve, a dangerous one at that. Moon boy was as good as dead, and Gigi wouldn't even need to intervene.
Connie slowly, creeplily, turned to stare at him. If looks could kill Astro would be dead a thousand times. She pulled him closer to her face with his blanket and started to growl out something before closing her mouth and re-thinking it.
Gigi could see the fear she was trying to smother out, bubbling under the surface, it sparked in her eyes. Eventually Connie settled on a simple “...Why?”
She looked so terrified at that moment, as if Astro would stab her if she wasn't careful enough, Gigi could barely hold herself back from pushing Astro away, but only because it seemed like he was attempting to help.
Quietly he answered her, his voice barely above silence, Gigi strained her ears to hear, only managing to catch the words ‘dream’ and ‘yours’, not enough information to kick him away from their table and ruin his reputation.
Just as fast as she grabbed him she released the poor moon, he patted his blanket, attempting to smooth out the wrinkles she caused before simply going back to his table, a small but proud smile on his blue face.
Slowly, comically, Connie turned to Gigi. “I am seriously thinking of disappearing again.” She said menacingly, Gigi hoped with all her heart that she was joking.
“Girl, if you disappear again you'll have to take me with you!” Gigi elbowed Connie jokingly and giggled, attempting to lighten the mood. The moment felt too heavy, too serious, she couldn't have her friend disappearing again, she needed her.
And Connie smiled shallowly, actually, the more Gigi stared, the more it looked like a grimace. She matched her best friend's expression when she realised she only made Connie's concerns worse.
Bassie sat down next to Connie on a random bench, it was a random hallway, she was lucky to even find Connie. “hi.” Bassie greeted softly. Connie said nothing.
The silence was tense on Bassie's side, because it felt like Connie was ignoring her. “hi.” Connie parroted back, same pitch, same voice, it was her own voice talking back to her. “connie!” bassie squawked in shock.
In all of their years knowing each other Connie never parotted her voice, at least not to her face, bassie knew it wasn't supposed to be an insult or a way to make fun of toons but it made her feel… replaceable, because Connie could use her voice.
Connie giggled, an eerie sound coming from her after what she'd just done. Bassie couldn't tell if Connie was being creepy on purpose or it was just her Halloween toon instincts taking over.
they faded back into a comfortable silence, Connie's eyelids drooping as she leaned backwards on the bench. “Connie?” Bassie fidgeted with her handles, a question she'd wanted to ask for a while finally having the right time.
Connie hummed, a signal she was listening. ”whats it like being replaced?” Connie showed no change in body language. Bassie started worrying she crossed a line as connie stayed silent.
“...it's… just as bad as it sounds.” Connie slung a hand around Bassie's shoulder, pulling her closer. “Don't worry! there are much worse things out there!”
Bassie shrunk in on herself. “That's not really comforting.” Connie released her, suddenly shrinking in oh herself too. “right... yeah…”
Bassie observed Connie for a while, the way her eyes were sunken and eyelids heavy, the way she kept pressing her hands together in a way that looked like they hurt, it seemed like Connie was nervous about something.
“What's wrong?” she eventually asked, Connie flinched as if remembering she wasn't alone. “...I'm scared.” Bassie scooted closer to Connie, ready to comfort her. “of what?” Connie bit her lip and cracked her knuckles nervously.
when bassie realised that connie wasn't going to tell her she thought of a different solution. “Do you have anyone that makes you feel less scared?” Connie nodded her head mutely.
“Go talk to them?” Connie seemed to consider it before getting up and floating away, she waved goodbye at bassie before turning the corner.
Gigi was awoken by a knock at her door, she groggily sat up and answered the door to find Connie, with a grave expression on her face (haha). “I want to talk for a bit.” Gigi immediately sobered up.
“What's up girl?” she moved to the side to let Connie in. Connie sat on Gigi's bed and sighed, Gigi could stop herself from internally panicking, Connie was never serious, always joking and making jabs, whatever it was she wanted to talk about was heavy.
She took a few moments to find her words while Gigi panicked internally and sat down next to her. “...I need you to not ask questions.” The ghost eventually settled on.
They fidgeted nervously as Gigi mauled over her answer in her head. What could possibly be so important? Something that made her best friend act so differently, she wouldn't tell anyone, wouldn't even dream about it, but the implications still scared her. “Sure, what's up?” She replied tightly.
Connie opened her mouth, then closed it again. A bunch of random noises came out, as if she couldn't formulate a sentence to express what she was feeling. Gigi was about to try and guess before Connie gave up and started sobbing.
A stream of incoherent words finally broke out of Connie's mouth, Gigi couldn't understand a word, but what she could understand was that her best friend was distressed, and scared of something.
Whatever it was Connie had come to her for help and protection, it meant Connie trusted Gigi enough to protect her.
Gigi always felt like Connie was keeping her at arms length, and maybe she was but Gigi couldn't bring herself to care, she was devoted to Connie until the day the sun exploded, no matter how much or little Connie wanted to inform her.
she would be there, her trusted best friend and guard dog, waiting for when she would be ready, it could be never and gigi was ok with it, she would follow Connie to the end of the world.
Gigi was ok with being the background bestfriend, the one who wasn't told anything but still stuck around, she was ok with staying on Connie's backburner until she would crisp up and die, as long as she got to help Connie feel better.
as long as Connie would smile back at her, with her beautiful happy smile.
Connie’s sleep schedule was more fucked up than the shape Gardenview was in, she woke up when the cries stared and feel asleep when they stopped, she only left her room twice a day for food, even then, she tried to be back in her room as soon as possible.
She dreaded having to leave, what if she came back and they were gone? What if someone found them while she was out?
But she had to keep up appearances, socializing with her fellow toons. So what if she was running on 3 hours of sleep and stolen caffeine? So what if most of her conversations were one sided and she never had the energy to even answer?
At least she was visible, her deterioration on show for everyone to see, like a car crash slowed down and stretched out for months on end. Connie felt like her entire world revolved around the two little bundles in her room.
Staying away for too long caused her so much anxiety, there were moments where her hands would shake and her breath would tremble, and she would immediately leave, bolting back to the safety of her room.
But like many toons, they couldn't keep up their facade for long, every car had to crash and break eventually, every star had faded out or will, a misplaced sentence destroying their career.
“Connie?” Ginger reached out to the pale ghost, she turned around, eyes unfocused and red, her face blotchy and slightly purple. “What's wrong?” she held her hands tightly to her chest, her body language fairly closed off.
She and Connie weren't the closest toons out there, but they weren't on bad terms, quite the opposite, they understood each other in many ways. Both being holiday toons, at least connie used to be.
Ginger was quite observant, she knew every tick, every facial expression, every secret codeword Connie would use, but after her transition to a normal toon, her mannerisms changed, her body language more closed off.
She distanced herself from the holiday toons, becoming more closed off and harder to reach, but Ginger knew her way around the ghost, she knew when she was hiding something, and ever since she became a full-year-toon she was hiding something.
Ginger knew that when Connie felt any kind of negative emotion, she would feel better after being squished and smushed like mashed potatoes. Hesitantly she pried her own fists open and opened her arms as an invitation.
The ghost immediately collapsed into her embrace, Ginger squished her tightly, distantly she could hear one of their ribcages groan. “...Ginger?” Connie rubbed at her own face, attempting to conceal the tear marks. Ginger hummed in response, showing that she was in fact very much there.
“God, I'm so so so-” Connie squirmed slightly, attempting to get her hands into a more comfortable position. “-Tired!” Connie weakly slammed her fists against Ginger’s chest.
Ginger held her as the ghost finally released all the pent up tears and frustration she couldn't fully let out. Gently Ginger lowered them both to the floor, letting her cry and scream as much as she needed to.
Eventually she calmed down, Ginger took a few moments to realize she fell asleep in her arms, the poor ghost was exhausted.
Ginger took a few seconds to observe the ghost, scanning her ragged appearance, from her messy mane to what looked like faded stains on her white shoulderless gloves.
Ginger lowered her face towards Connie's face, from afar it might've looked like she was leaning down to kiss Connie, but in reality she was checking Connie's breathing, letting her cold breath brush over her cheeks.
Once she was satisfied with the results she effortlessly picked her up and carried her bridal style to her room, she was spared more than a few questioning glances but didn't care, she had a ghost to take care of.
She attempted to open the door with her shoulder before realising that the door handle needed to be turned, she glared at it for a solid second before attempting to use her knee to open the door, after that failure she decided to give up and kick the door open while attempting to not wake the sleeping ghost in her arms.
She put Connie down in her bed and tucked her in before heading towards the door. Right before she could exit the dark room someone started crying, like a sleeper agent Connie sat up and floated to the other side of the room.
Ginger stood paralyzed as Connie's glow illuminated two sleeping newborns, Connie checked the crying one before cradling it and shushing it quietly, it calmed down and she put it back into its makeshift cradle before floating back into her bed.
Ginger stayed frozen for a few moments before bolting out of the room, closing the door behind her carefully.
Outside stood Shrimpo, “I HATE ROMANCE-” her eye twitched, Ginger wasn't a naturally shy toon, she just didn't want to come off as rude and mean. But no one other than the nuisance was round.
She slapped her hand onto his mouth, shushing him. “Connie is sleeping, and if you scream next to her door I will make sure your next run is the last.” Now, she wasn't a violent toon, but she had her limits when it came to her friends.
Before Ginger could find the right opportunity to talk about the newborns with Connie, Christmas ended and she was dragged back to slumber.
Connie napped, a lot. She fell asleep on top of any toon that was around and willing to lend their body heat, Astro knew she commonly had nightmares, but it just seemed to get worse. He had helped her last time, why couldn't he do it again?
He stared off into the distance as he thought of ways he could influence her dreams, falling asleep didn't seem to be the problem, but when it happened.
“Moon man!” Speak of the devil and she will appear, or in this case think of the devil. “Could you…” From her voice he already knew she was about to ask for a dream, he needed the focus part of his brain to work.
“You want a dream don't you?” He asked expertly. She nodded nervously. “I want…” The words seemed to get stuck in her mouth, stuck between her teeth, needing a toothpick to get even a part of them out.
She took a deep breath, which puffed up her cheeks. She looked quite adorable and young like that. From Astros viewpoint she acted like a young child asking for seconds. She released the air in her lungs before attempting to get the words out again.
“I want a dream where I kill the founders.” He tried to conceal his flinch, but from the look in her eyes she caught it. “You don't have to give it to me-” he put the edge of his star-hand on her lips. He needed to think.
He knew most of her nightmares had the founders in them, but he mostly tried to avoid them, he didn't want to see what her twisted mind came up with. Delilah and Arthur weren't bad people, but they weren't the best of the best either.
Giving her a safe place to let out all her fear and frustration at them could do wonders, maybe even stop the nightmares. “i'll do it.” He nodded firmly, determination washing over him.
Right before the moon made its appearance in the sky, he headed towards her room, unsurprisingly, she was already halfway to dreamland, he activated his powers and entered the dream.
Despite what many toons believed, he didn't control everything in dreams, just the main premise, the toon themselves were the one controlling the colors, the place, and some of their actions, whether it was subconsciously or not.
The room was dark, a single white light lighting up a medical operations table. On top was Connie, she was strapped to the table, her wrists stiff at her sides.
Her breathing was heavy, but he could see that the panic was slowly being taken over by the knowledge of a fault in the rope tying her to the table.
Out of the darkness walked out what looked like Delilah, but she was completely different from what he remembered her like, her hair was messy and damp at some parts. Her clothes ragged and almost black with how stained they were, their original colors barely visible.
Connie and Astro’s eyes locked onto what she was holding. A syringe, filled with dark black liquid. She stabbed it into Connie's arm, the ghost struggled, panic spilling out of her, her mouth open in a silent scream.
Her back arched and her wrists popped, most likely dislocated, the ghost kept on screaming silently, her voice unheard by Astro and Delilah.
While Connie struggled Delilah was leaning over her, shaking, and repeating the same pitiful sentence. “I’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorr-” Astro couldn't breath, he ran up to the medical bed and hid behind it, the hands under his blanket moving up to untie Connie.
He fumbled with the rope, his fingers shaking and refusing to listen to his commands, the moment she registered her rope falling away from her left wrist she swung, hitting Delilah square in the face.
She fell backward on her ass, and suddenly Connie was on top of her, punching her again and again and again, until she lost consciousness.
And Connie bolted down the nearest door, he followed her in the unfamiliar hallway, they had to be in some sort of twisted version of Gardenview pre-shutdown. He followed wordlessly as they made their way down the hallway.
But as they were about to cross the threshold into a new room the dream dissolved, leaving Astro in the ‘void’ for a solid few moments before they were back, back in the starting room.
This time he untied Connie faster.
This time Connie had bolted away, not even attempting to kill Delilah, just flying out as fast as she could into the hallway. Connie may have not noticed it, or just preferred to ignore it, but the walls seemed to be bleeding, deep, red human blood.
He gasped and walked faster.
The room that dissolved last time now stayed steady, it was dimly lit by a computer, couching over the computer was Arthur, a hand holding his head up and another typing on the keyboard. Connie attempted to sneak past but got seen.
The moment Arthur locked eyes with her the dream dissolved, his eyes shining with something Astro couldn't describe with words. Seeing the way Connie saw the founders scared him, they were never that bad.
He ran towards her the moment he could, and untied the rope immediately. But Connie didn't move, didn't even attempt to run as the rope fell off her wrist. Delilah noticed, and bent over Connie to re-tie the rope.
Connie made no attempts to escape.
Astro felt like he was going to cry, this wasn't what Delilah or Arthur were like, they weren't abusive- never! they never laid a hand on him unless they needed to pick him up!
He grabbed at the sharp metal legs of the medical table, it dug into the palms of his hands, and he shook like a leaf while rocking back and forth on the floor next to Connie and Delilah. He sobbed as Connie started to struggle, her muscles tensing and relaxing too quick for it to be healthy.
She was having a seizure and he was doing nothing, he was supposed to bring the toons good dreams, not get stuck reliving a nightmare next to them. He sobbed and rocked back and forth faster.
The dream faded again, but this time Connie was in the void with him. “Give me a weapon." she requested as the dream faded back into existence, he didn't even have the time to ask her about what was going on.
Quickly he summoned the only weapon he knew, a kitchen knife. He cut the rope off with one shaky movement before shoving it into Connie’s hand.
And Connie swung, she stabbed Delilah right through the heart, before pulling it back out and freeing herself. The hallway wasn't only bleeding this time around, but the walls were lined with eyes, eyes that followed her every movement.
And then they reached Arthur, when he spotted her he shoved himself out of his desk chair, letting it roll away. “Where did you get that knife?” He didn't sound as scared as one should be in a situation like this.
He sounded more disappointed and angry than fearful, Astro really didn't like Connie’s version of Delilah and Arthur, they were unstable on Delilah's side and abusive on Arthur’s.
He quickly grabbed her wrists, making her drop the knife. He pinned her to the wall with a loud ‘thunk’. “Go back to the table.” Connie’s eyes glossed over, and she seemed to actually consider it.
She shakily nodded, and that seemed to be enough for Arthur, as he released her and sat back down in his desk chair, both Connie and Astro could see the way he was watching her from the reflection on the screen.
Connie rubbed her raw and bloody wrists, slight disdain written on her face, she turned away, back towards the hallway. Before she could even reach the hallway he shoved a new knife into her hand.
Her nightmare Delilah and Arthur had to die, they were monsters, the absolute worst of the worst. “Why are you still here?” Arthur growled out, his posture straightening. Connie froze, clearly familiar with what that body language meant.
Arthur’s patience ran out, he took a pen out of his pocket, with the way Connie's eyes fixated on it it might as well have been a gun. The moment he was close enough Connie cut his throat open.
Astro closed his eyes.
He couldn't help but agree with Connie about killing her nightmares.
When breakfast finally arrived Astro came in early, the first one to sit down for breakfast, he made it even before Dyle and Dandy. He wanted to make sure he was there when Connie arrived, even if she was usually one of the last toons to arrive.
They had to talk about the murderous tendencies she put on display last night, even if she tried to avoid him he needed to get her story before deciding if she was dangerous. Almost every single one of them thought about hurting their creators at one point or another.
But asking to kill them, to see them again, was not something any of them wanted truly.
“Youre up early.” Vee noted as she sat down across from him, in Sprout’s usual spot. He hummed and rocked slightly. “...Did you give someone a good dream?” She asked, a small grin on her screen.
He gave her a non-conferming shrug, he wanted to wait for the others to arrive before venting, Connie's mind was so much darker than anyone would expect, he could admit that he was a bit more than just shaken.
Sprout and Shelly came in together, chatting about a thing or another, but the moment they sat down the conversation shifted and Astro could see the moment Shelly realised Sprout was no longer listening.
She seemed to wilt at the loss of attention, as if she was a flower deprived of sustenance.
Their appearance caused him to miss Connie's arrival. “I'll be right back.” He said and pushed himself away from Sprout and Vee's fighting-over-the-lemon thing they were doing, their friendship consisting of constant banter and sparring. Vee's antenna ended up in Sprout's hand while the lemon was in her ‘mouth’.
He walked over to Connie's table, ready to give her a speech about letting out emotions but how blaming everything on one (Or two) people isn't going to solve all her problems but before he could even start she let her own rant spill.
“I’m sorry Astro I shouldn't have asked you fo-” she grabbed his blanket and sank to her ‘knees’ tone pleading and desperate. A wave of overprotectiveness washed over him as it struck him how young Delilah made her. She was at most 19, and mentally must've been shifting all the time between teenager and young adult.
“If you ever need help killing someone again, you know where to find me.” He said simply. It was not what he meant, not what he wanted to discuss, but he could give her the entire spiel later, right now she just needed comfort.
It sounded like he was offering his servuses as a hitman, which was not what he meant at all, but he would take it rather than kicking when she was down like some unnamed shrimp.
She stared at him with shock and awe. From behind her Gigi sent him a bewildered expression, the hint of anger that she had in her eyes dissipated, as if asking ‘What the freak???’ Later he would chuckle when he realised that she was offended that Connie didn't ask for her help to kill someone.
“Next time you better have an actual weapon, a measly kitchen knife isn't a weapon, Moon man!” She shot back the moment she gathered her bearings and dusted herself off, he nodded and left back towards his table, realising his tablemates had already left to do their daily chores.
He sighed, he was used to the packed schedules, but it still hurt a bit to eat alone.
“Did I do something wrong?” Looey managed to catch Connie before she returned to her room, itching to talk to her. “What?” She said she had no clue what he meant. “You’ve been ignoring me- But it's ok- I'm sorry for whatever I did- And if I can't fix it- Or make it up to you- I will find a way!”
Connie turned to fully face them. “Looey what- no! You did nothing wrong-” she reached and grabbed their shoulders. “Are you sure?” He embraced her. They both shook as they hugged each other tightly.
“Yes- im just having a bit of a rough patch- like Poppy had, remember?” Looey nodded slightly. “But poppy-” “Ignore that part.” She said quickly. “Ok.” He nuzzled into her shoulder.
“...I hope your rough patch ends soon.” They whispered.
Connie stared forward, not knowing how to respond to Looey's wish, she knew it wouldn't end soon, but the sentiment was nice.