Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bobette was sitting on the couch listening to the soft buzz of the TV doing the third rerun of Vee's game show. She wasn't really paying attention to it instead she was watching Ginger's eyes sparkle gazing at the show. Ginger always enjoyed the shows no matter how many times she watched it. Her show made the long months being stuck in the basement survivable. She had no clue how long she sat there? 30 minutes? 3 hours?

She could never tell, she had always been bad with time. They had a calendar that had a few days marked off but ended up giving up pretty quickly. The room was bare with the only furniture being a beaten up couch, a fridge, counter, and a rocking chair. Rudie tended to sleep on the rocking chair. (which he was doing at the moment with Coal on his lap) Luckily there was a small closet with a toilet, which was really nice considering Delilah's personality. There was a sink on the counter but half of the time the water was mucky and undrinkable. The TV was sitting on the floor which hurt her neck looking down.

Her eyes wandered over to the wall, which has a big hole in it. Last year Rudie had a fit of rage from hunger and ended up accidentally kicking a hole through the wall. Bobette had the idea of sneaking food into the hole. Sprout and Cosmo helped bake food for them and she managed to get it in before they had to be imprisoned. Delilah gave them barely anything to eat. And yet she came down every (almost, one time she forgot about them) month to briefly check if they escaped or snuck in more food in the fridge. Luckily she never found it and they feel much more fulfilled even when they were bored out of their mind and could barely see. There was only one dim light in the middle of the room and the TV to light up the room and none in the bathroom. Delilah said she "lost" the remote for the TV but Bobette just thinks she took it away as punishment since she was forced to give them a bit more food.

Bobette didn't want to think about the incident that caused it. It made her stomach turn just thinking about that day... The day that Ginger- she couldn't even think of the sentence without a wave of intense guilt. It was too much, it made her want to curl up into a ball for days. Even if she didn't do the act Bobette's existence in this prison of a basement caused the incident. She should stop thinking this way. Just focus... On what though? Not dying of starvation? Counting the minutes until they're free just to get locked back up? There had to be something to think of.

Oh right. The other holiday toons, the toons that had to suffer the same fate, stuffed away in a different place. Bobette wondered if they were real, maybe they were a lie made up to keep them sane. Maybe they were real, It's not like she could ever find out.

Ginger noticed her gaze being slightly worried "Bobby? Are you alright?" She said softly.

"Huh? Oh yeah... Is your show done?", Bobette said, glancing at the TV.

"Well... No, but it can always come back on. I would rather make sure you're ok", Ginger said with a smile.

"Aw, thanks... You're always worried about others though... Worry about yourself a little more and I will forever be ok", Bobette said.

"I do try to worry about myself but I just can't help it I'm sorry..." Ginger looked away.

"Please don't apologize," She lightly grabbed her chin to make Ginger look at her. "Thank you for trying your best. You are the one toon that I would want to be stuck with the most." Bobette said with a smile. "Thanks for caring about me." She added

"Same for you." Ginger said as she hugged Bobette.

Bobette hugged her back. She looked up and put one hand on Ginger's shoulder.

"I love you so much, don't you ever forget that." Bobette said

"How could I ever forget." Ginger chuckled softly.

Chapter Text

Ginger was pacing around the room. Everyone else was asleep and she didn't want to wake them up. They have only been a sleep for probably a hour or two. Everyone's sleep schedule usually gets messed up pretty quickly, she's surprised she can even interact with the others. Though she hasn't talked to Rudie in a bit. Ginger can never tell if it is because Rudie is always sleeping or if he wakes up when she's asleep.

It would be nice if they had a clock so Ginger can have some sort of feeling of routine. But nope... Delilah would never do that. It's ironic that they are Christmas toons yet never get a gift. Cosmo always tries to give Ginger a present but she can't take it in the basement. Arthur might've given them a clock but she hasn't seen him in a while... Did Delilah do something or does he just not care..? Ginger reached to bite her nails but when she tried she just bit her skin.

"Ack.. ow..." She whispered, she had already bit through her nails and instead chipped a bit of cookie off her fingers. It didn't hurt very much but it reminded her of the excruciating pain she felt the other year. The pain in her stomach from hunger... She had to get rid of it some how. She felt guilty because she couldn't help it and took extra food from the fridge... She had to repay somehow. They were just wasting away with no food what was she to do? Sit and watch? Ginger regretted doing it... She knew it made the others uncomfortable but they probably would have died if she didn't...

No, it's fine... Well not really but she has to get her brain off of this topic. Just think of something else, it never ends well when she starts thinking about it. Uhh... Vee's gameshow? She heard about Vee's room and how there are cool arcade games about some of the toons. Ginger wished she could get a game of her own. She should muster up the courage to ask Vee to see her room some day.

Ginger continued pacing around the room. She felt her foot land straight onto something sharp. The object pierced her skin, it felt slightly cold. She could feel a few bumps on the item as it plunged into her. She slapped her hand over her mouth and tried to muffle her surprised scream as to not wake the others.

"AGh-.." For a split second she yelled but managed to muffle it. She heard some movement from the others and she silently hoped they didn't hear her. She waited a few seconds and didn't hear any voices. Even though Ginger was in pain from the thing in her foot she still waited. She though it was fine until.

"Ginger..? Hello...?" She heard a voice from the couch say.

"Oh- uh, I-Im so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

A circular red head popped up from on the couch "What happened?" Bobette said as she got up to walk over to Ginger.

"Well... Uh... I'm not sure.." Ginger said as she looked down, half because she was embarrassed, half because of the thing in her foot.

"Why did you scream? Are you alright?" Bobette said as she made it to Ginger and was already looking around her body for any injuries.

"Its my foot... I stepped on something sharp while walking around."

"Here, sit down" Bobette said as she lowered to the ground, gesturing Ginger to do the same. "Show me your foot please..- if your ok with that of course." She added quickly.

"Yeah.." She grunted in pain as she turned her foot to face up and saw a small round rusty metal object sticking out of her foot. Ginger slightly shuddered at the sight.

"Should I try to pull the nail out? It might hurt" Bobette said, her eyes staring intently at the metal thing.

"Sure, whatever you think will help" She tried to stay calm but ended up reeling in pain a bit.

"I'm going to count to three" Bobette put her hand on the nail "one, two" Ginger closed her eyes "three" Bobette yanked with all her force to get it out. It barely moved on the first yank but on the second she managed to get it out. It hurt even more when the nail was out. There was blood trickling out and there was a small hole in her foot.

Bobette's eyes scanned the room looking for something to stop the bleeding or clean the wound. The water would be of no help, it would probably infect the injury instead of helping it. She didn't really want to use Coal's bow to bandage the wound but she would if it was the last option, there must be something else? Her frantic eyes wandered over to the beaten up couch, there was a small hole and some polyester stuffing sticking out. Not the best but it couldn't work.

Bobette immediately ran over to the hole and tried to pull some filling out.

"Maybe this will help..?" She grabbed a bit over a handful and went back to the bleeding injury.

"Are you sure..?" She was sceptical but couldn't help but wince in the middle of her sentence. "I guess if you're sure."

"I know I'm not the healer here but I'm trying my best" She dabbed some stuffing onto it and it soaked up some blood. "Here, I think it's working? Can you keep pressing it on there?"

"Yeah.." Ginger replied as Bobette ran over the the couch again. Maybe the couch fabric will work, not like they really need it that much right? Bobette tore off a piece of the couch, she struggled a bit with the tough texture but managed anyway. The piece was kind of small but big enough to wrap around Ginger's foot.

"I got you, don't worry." Bobette took the bloody cotton Ginger was holding and tossed it away. She put a bit of new cotton on the bleeding wound and wrapped the cloth piece around it. Bobette motioned her head back to the TV, "Do you wanna watch Vee's gameshow? I think the episode where Astro wins is on, I know Shimpo gets really mad in that one."

"Yeah.. I would like that" Ginger looked up as Bobette helped her limp to the couch. She sat down but Bobette walked over to the bloody cotton and nail and picked it up to chuck it in the corner of the closet. She glanced around for a second to make sure there weren't any other loose nails.

She walked back over and hugged Ginger as they watched the angry shrimp on screen yell in rage. They giggled a bit over his random outbursts and complaints.