Chapter Text
Gardenview… closed?
It was done? It was all really over…?
It wasn't like Bassie didn’t imagine it sometimes. To be without the pressure… that constant, looming need to perform and perform well, or else. It was in equal parts a dream and a nightmare.
Now what?
She sat in the faux garden of the larger of the two Easter Floors, entirely silent with nothing but the distant sound of Cocoa’s rushed chatter above her. The other Easter toons were up there with her in the egg-painting station. She could hear the nervousness in how Cocoa spoke, didn't need to make out any of the words to know what she was saying.
‘Chin up, guys! I'm sure everything will blow over soon!’
‘It’ll be okay! We’ll get through this together!’
‘Just you wait - Gardenview’ll reopen bigger and better than ever!’
Cocoa was there uplifting her fellow toons while the worthless Easter main sat on her ass doing nothing.
A voice in her head whispered to Bassie.
For a brief moment, she felt her shoulders tense, fingers curling tight around one of her handles and giving it a borderline painful twist. She winced at her own action, smoothing down the handle and exhaling slowly, closing her eyes.
Why did she have to think like that? She should be up there… with them. She should have everything together. She was a main. She was the Easter main and those were her friends. It should be her duty, her instinct, to comfort and support them.
Instead, here they all came down the steps to check on her.
She wasn't looking behind her, but she knew that's what they were doing. They'd be walking up slowly, concerned expressions painted across their faces. Because she was fragile and prone to breaking, they had take care of her.
“Bassie…?” Flyte spoke up from somewhere behind her.
So lost in her own thoughts, Bassie wasn't even aware of how tense her jaw was until she tried to speak. A nervous little chuckle escaped as she spoke, “a-ha… yes…?”
She shifted from her spot, offering a wobbly little smile to her friends. If they weren't looking at her with concern before, they certainly were now.
His brow furrowed as he spoke, tilting his head at her, “we were thinking… since things aren't exactly normal right now, maybe we could-”
“Go see everyone!” Cocoa didn't mean to interject out of rudeness. She was practically vibrating in place, her words coming out fast and high. She was rarely nervous, but this was clearly grating on her. “Kind of like… a little mini-holiday! We can hang out without it needing to be Easter, you know? Doesn't that sound fun!”
Eggson nodded along, extending a hand in offering, “it might do us well to socialize a bit. If you feel up to it, we’d love it if you'd come too.”
Bassie felt her heart squeeze.
They were treating her like some scared, stupid animal. Probably because that's all she was.
No. She blinked at the thought, feeling a familiar, creeping dread under her skin from the unwanted thought scratching at the back of her brain. She laughed again, idly tucking a few flowers neatly into place within her basket. “Haha… that- sounds like a great idea! Yes, of course. Let’s go…!”
She was trying to sound like Cocoa positive and assured. Confident, bold, inspirational… everything a main should be. Or, a good main, anyway.
Taking Eggson’s hand and moving on autopilot toward those great, intimidating elevator doors, she didn't even fully process the idea that they were about to go see everyone else. All the non-holiday toons… or, would the other holiday toons be out, anyway? She supposed it wasn't out of the question. They weren't physically restricted to their floors anymore now that Gardenview wasn't operational.
While she was certainly nervous at the prospect of seeing the others… well, it could be interesting to see the other holiday toons, right…? She hadn't really gotten much chance to speak at length with any of them, though she knew of them and had at least become familiarized in passing.
Flyte seemed eager about all this. He had his sister to look forward to and promptly excused himself to go find her. It did spark a real moment of warmth within Bassie to see the two reunite… there was certainly a unique kind of cruelty to Gardenview keeping families separated for most of the year, wasn't there? And it wasn't like Flyte and Flutter could freely hang out during Easter anyway with all the work they had to do.
It went without saying, but the energy of the lobby certainly was… off. Toons milled about almost aimlessly, at least the ones that had bothered to leave their rooms today. It was strange now that everyone’s purpose, the explicit reason they were created, was all ripped away and now no one was sure what to do.
There was an involuntary twist in Bassie’s gut as she saw Cocoa immediately gravitate to the center of the room. Already, she was making them smile. Toodles chased her about and it was drawing genuine laughs from the other toons around.
Eggson sat down on one of the lobby benches to watch, quick to engage in conversation with a tired-looking Brightney. She smiled at the antics of the chocolate bunny toon and seemed to relax easily into the conversation with Eggson. He was always good at that - easing people’s minds and being a steady source of support.
Bassie wanted to go over there. To do… to say anything. But her feet froze to the ground when she tried. Eggson had waved at her, a friendly invitation to join the conversation. But if she went over there, she'd just be intruding, riding the coattails of her fellow Easter toon’s socialization. And so, she just waved back politely before turning on heel.
How pathetic it was that she couldn't even take a nice invitation without messing it up.
She looked around for people she knew, desperate to find some kind of easy in to socialize or just a way to look busy. Wandering farther from the lobby, she nodded politely and waved to a few toons passed in the halls. The others did not seem terribly surprised to see the Easter group out. Apparently, the Halloween Toons had already been out for a bit before returning to their floors. No sign of the Christmas Toons though- according to Goob and Scraps, at least.
How odd… well, maybe they were still just reeling from, well, everything.
Bassie sighed softly and trudged on. If she was walking, at least it may be assumed by others she had a destination in mind. It made her heart hammer with shame how badly she was in her own head.
Eggson and Brightney were probably making fun of her right now.
She shook her head at the thought. No. No, they wouldn't do that. She knew them - they were kind toons! They liked her.
She didn't deserve it.
The thoughts flowed passively through her mind, a whisper on the breeze that she couldn't lock out no matter how hard she tried. It drove her nuts. Why did her stupid brain always have to think these things?
Her stomach growled.
Maybe she was hungry. That had to be it, she was just… tired, stressed, and hungry. Eating would help, surely. Taking a deep breath, she turned toward where she knew the kitchen was.
If Bassie was lucky, the kitchen would be empty. She wasn't, of course, she never was, but at least it seemed only Cosmo was there at the moment.
Tapping her knuckles lightly against the doorframe to announce her presence, Bassie called out a soft, “Cosmo…? May I come in?”
“Huh? Oh! Hello, yeah, come in!” Cosmo seemed slightly startled to see the Easter toon, but greeted her warmly nonetheless. “It's good to see you!”
“Right… ha, and you too…!” Bassie chirped, meaning the sentiment genuinely but already concerned she was messing this up somehow. “Not often we get to…”
“Yeah, it really isn't,” Cosmo seemed to falter slightly on that note, his eyes somewhere far away before he snapped back to it. “But, hey, it's kind of nice- a bit of a silver lining. All things considered.”
“Mhm…” Bassie fidgeted slightly, “I sort of… lose track time sometimes, when it's not Easter, you know…? I kind of wonder- what do I even do, haha!”
It wasn't really funny, but she laughed anyway.
“Yeah… I can't imagine what that's like,” Cosmo’s expression softened at that, the same flicker of distance in his gaze again. His hands fidgeted a little, “Bassie… you- didn't happen to see any of the other holiday toons around today, did you?”
There was an edge of hope in his voice when he spoke, and it finally hit Bassie. Ginger. That was his cousin’s name, right? The Christmas cookie toon? She tilted her head some, humming a low note as she carefully plucked an apple from the bowl on the counter, “no… I haven't, I'm sorry. I heard that the Halloween toons came out earlier, but…”
Cosmo’s expression fell slightly, “that's what I heard too.”
There was a short beat of silence before Cosmo spoke again, “sorry, I've just been kind of worried about my cousin, you know? With everything going on… I thought Ginger would've visited by now.”
Bassie nodded at that, fidgeting with the food in her hands as she thought, “I'm sure… it's a- a strange time for everyone. I'm sure she's thinking about you too…”
She did her best to comfort him.
If Cocoa was here, she'd have done better.
“Yeah… yeah, you're right!” Cosmo smiled.
It was probably out of pity.
He sighed a little bit and waved his hand, “I'm sure she’ll be up to visit soon! I don't know how often you guys have gotten to hang out before, but I think you'd like her!”
“R-really?” Bassie felt her mind reeling with a familiar spiral of terrible whispers nagging at her brain. She pulled it together as best she could, laughing again, “I would love to meet her - or, I mean, spend more time with her…! And you- all the toons, really.”
Cosmo didn't call out any of her stumbling if he noticed (he definitely noticed). He seemed to brighten up a bit, “we’ll definitely hang out more! I'd love to see the Easter floor… and you can come bake with us sometime if you want.”
“Mhm,” Bassie genuinely perked up at that, feeling a flicker of hope in her chest at the proposal to make friends. “I'd like that very much.”
“Perfect! You know, Sprout had the idea to go looking for her and the other Christmas toons soon,” Cosmo nodded thoughtfully, “so, we’ll go down there and find her… or, maybe he will on his own. I'm sure it'd be fine, but it's just in his nature to worry.”
Cosmo seemed unbothered, or at least accepting of the idea. Even Bassie knew how overprotective and cautious the other main could be when it came to keeping his friends safe. It made sense Sprout may want to go check out the Christmas floor alone… even though things were surely fine there.
Sprout was the type to stick his neck out for his fellow toons. He was a main who cared deeply for his friends, and got things done because of it.
That protective, take-charge attitude was what made him a good main, unlike Bassie.
“I can do it…!” Bassie blurted out without thinking.
“Huh?” Even Cosmo seemed a little surprised at that, blinking curiously at the sudden declaration.
“Ahaha- ha… I mean,” Bassie sputtered a little as her brain caught up with her mouth, “I can go check. I haven't… I'm sure Sprout is very busy, and… you're really worried about Ginger. It wouldn't be any trouble for me to go check on the winter floors now…”
'I can do it. I'm a main too. I’m capable. Please, trust me. Please.' She wanted to cry.
“You would do that?” Cosmo smiled at the offer, clearly he was concerned about his cousin. “Gosh, I'm sure everything is fine, but… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried.”
He glanced back at the oven, squinting slightly at the timer before turning back to her, “if you give me an hour, I can come with you!”
Sprout, a REAL main, would go alone.
“N-no worries,” Bassie waved her hands and smiled. “It's not a problem at all, I can take care of it! I'll check on her, and tell her you're worried… then I'll be right back! Quick as… a, ah, jackrabbit…?”
Terrible finish to that sentence. She just wanted to sound confident.
Cosmo blinked but politely didn't point out how weird that was. Bassie was probably just jittery with all that was going on, and really who could blame her? He did feel a surge of relief at the offer though, “thanks, Bassie. Really, I appreciate it… I know it's probably silly of me to worry so much, but with everything going on... just, thank you. This means a lot to me.”
“Of course,” Bassie felt her chest swell with pride, a rush, the unbelievable high of feeling useful for once spurring her on. “I won't be long at all…!”
“I'll save you some brownies for when you get back!” Cosmo called out happily after her as she walked, for once, with absolute purpose.