Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The night outside was still. He could see it, through the torn mesh of his open and rusted windows, his melancholy view of outside. The first cool winds of autumn brought with them the song of the crickets and the faint rustling of falling leaves. Both the sounds and gentle draft alike drifted into his room, and, breathing deeply, he caught the scent of pine on the breeze. Trees stood solemnly against the navy sky; they were backlit by the full moon and her many stars. He stared at her face with an aching familiarity.

There had been many nights he spent like this. Being a toon, as he was, he was confined to the walls of gardenview. How much he ached to be able to stretch his arms beyond the mesh of the window, to lay on the soft and dewy grass, stare up at the trees, and bask under the light of the moon. For all the reading he had done on astronomy, he had never had the chance to truly stargaze. The only view he had even gotten of the stars was from the inside of his room, and quite the limited view that was.

Odd was it, that the toon most known for having control of others’ dreams would be the one to hardly get much rest at all? He often found sleep impossible to come by during the night — for it was the time his thoughts were most loud. Maybe it was due to the silence of the outside world at the latest hours, or perhaps because of the darkness of his room trapping him inside of himself. Whatever the reason, Astro had found himself restless time and time again. Each time his mind would overwhelm him, he would open up his window to breath in the cool air. It would clear his mind to watch the gentle swaying branches and the glowing and ever-smiling moon. Sometimes he would doze off with his head pressed up against the window. On those nights, he always slept the best.

This morning, he had woken up from a particularly hard night. There had been quite a violent thunderstorm all the way from early dusk to late dawn. It hadn’t been the quiet type that lulls you gently to sleep, but instead a storm that stung Astro’s ears with sharp pattering of rain and deafening thunder. He didn’t often pull the curtain to cover his window. This night, he did. When he had stumbled out of his room for breakfast, there were thick bags already forming under his eyes and a small tremor in his step. He hadn’t even the energy to change out of his pajamas (though, for Astro, that wasn’t exactly something uncommon); he did make sure to slip on his blanket before leaving his room, though.

He, as usual, was late to get out of bed. He heard the chatter of the other toons come echoing down the long cyan hall leading away from his sleeping quarters and towards the cafeteria. The scent of fresh buttered pancakes wafted towards him as well - Sprout and Cosmo must have prepared another one of their delicious breakfasts this morning! On heavy legs, he slowly made his way towards the source of the smell.

The first toon in the cafeteria to take notice of his especially haggard appearance was Sprout.

“Hey, uh, Astro-“ He had said, in his usual brusk tone of voice, “have you been making sure to sleep well recently?”

Astro responded through a yawn. “… I’ve been sleeping.”

“That’s not an answer to my question.”

“the storm kept me up…” He admitted softly.

“Astro..” Sprout sounded exasperated. “This is the third night in a row you’ve hardly gotten any sleep.”

“…”

“Listen. We are a team. To help others, you have to help yourself first. If it’s too much stress to be making sure everybody else has good dreams every single night, that’s fine! You shouldn’t be losing sleep over other people-“

“no, no, it’s not that… I’m managing the dreams just fine.” Astro moved his hand in a dismissive gesture from under his blanket, “I’m just.. worried.”

“Abooutt..??” Sprout questioned.

Astro fell silent, debating what to say. “…nothing.”

“I’m- we are all here for you. Whatever you’re worried about, if it’s bothering you enough to lose sleep- you need to tell us. Trust me, it’ll be better once you talk about it-“

From across the other side of the room, Vee rolled her eyes dramatically. “Sprout. If he obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to hound him. Yeah. He’s worried. Probably about Dandy. God knows that’s the only person he actually talks to now a-days. Who cares. Leave him alone, for christ’s sake.”

Sprout shot her back a death glare. “do you always have to involve yourself in conversations you aren’t a part of?”

Vee held his gaze. “Do you always have to badger information out of toons like a bad lawyer?”

Astro flinched back as the two began to bicker. As much as he appreciated Sprout for his attempt at being helpful (and Vee for saving him from an awkward conversation), he wished for nothing more than an end to their constant arguments. Somehow hearing them go back and forth made him feel exponentially more tired than just minutes before. Perhaps he would take his tray and go to eat in the library instead. It was blissfully silent in there, just as he preferred, and he liked the old book smell that lingered inside as well.

It had been a while since he had spent time in the old walls of the library. It was probably his favorite part of the entire building, save for the planetarium, of course. The architecture there was discordant with that of most other rooms in gardenview. Intricately carved pillars, ceilings that stretched far above your head, marble floors, long wooden bookshelves that spanned for yards — it looked like something out of the 19th century. Despite this, it always felt cozy in there, likely due to the warm lighting, book smell, and abundance of comfortable seating.

When he stepped inside the library, it was just as quiet as he expected. There were only 4 other toons sharing the space with him. Brightney, Razzle, and Dazzle were sat at a short table near the library’s entrance talking about what they had been reading recently. He considered sitting near them, but he doubted his tired eyes could handle looking at Brightney for too long without getting a headache. The fourth toon in the library was sat much further back. She was alone in a beanbag chair, gnawing on a chocolate chip pancake and pouring over a book on dinosaurs.

Shelly. Despite being a main like himself, Astro had never spoken very much to her. She seemed kind; she had bright eyes and a wide smile. Her hands and knees were always smeared with dirt. Her arms and legs were dotted with freckles and unexplained bruises. The skin on her hands was rough and calloused, like a dinosaur’s. When she spoke, her voice was energetic and always just a little bit too loud (that fact made him wonder how she found herself in a place as quiet as a library).

Astro had settled himself in the beanbag chair next to Shelly’s. She looked over to him with an expression of pleasant surprise.

“Oh! Astro?” She spoke, loudly at first, but than quickly quieting herself to fit the settling. Her words came out muffled around the food in her mouth.

“ ‘morning, shelly. I thought I’d eat here today… the cafeteria was very loud. I hope that’s alright with you…?”

“Yes! yes, I- of course it’s alright! Thank you for sitting here! I was just reading- have you ever heard of a carnotaurus before?”

“hm? no, I can’t say I have.”

“WOW! Well let me tell you about them! So- basically, it’s this huuuge meat eating predator, like 20 feet long with super sharp teeth and little horns on its head-“ She pauses from speaking to smile widely, revealing her own rather pointed canines, and gestures two horns on either side of her head with her hands, “its name actually means “meat-eating bull”, cool, right?”

Astro’s eyes spark in recognition, “ah, wait, carnotaurus… like the constellation, Taurus, the bull…!”

Shelly’s eyes light up and her jaw drops in an over dramatized expression of shock. “YES! Yes, yes! Exactly like that!”

“so, you said that the carnotaurus was a predator..” Astro whispered as he picked up an apple from his food tray and began to eat.

“YEAH!” Shelly spoke through another bite of her quickly disappearing pancake, “they kinda look like a T-Rex- well, only kinda..they aren’t very closely related. They have super short arms- like really short - even shorter than a T-Rex’s arms! Wayyy shorter, actually, wait, let me show you-“ She flipped through the pages of the dinosaur book rested on her lap rapidly. Eventually she stopped on a page with a detailed illustration of a carnotaurus and lifted it to be right in front of Astro’s face for him to see.

“hmm..” Astro examined it closely. “… I can definitely see how it looks like a bull.”

“YEAH!” Shelly returned the book to her lap, giving herself a chance to look at the picture. “I think they look super cute with their little horns and little arms!”

“maybe if you ignore the sharp teeth..”

She went silent for a couple moments to flit through the pages of her book. Astro watched with a soft smile as he finished up the last of his breakfast. Just as he shifted in his chair to get up and throw away the scraps of his meal, Shelly stopped him.

“hey- wait! I just wanted to say thanks. For listening to me ramble.”

Astro looked back at her with a gentle confusion. “well… of course, shelly. why wouldn’t I listen?”

Before Shelly had a chance at a response, Astro had already stepped away.

Chapter Text

Astro could hear the muffled sound of children laughing from outside the walls of the employees only lounge he was rested in. As much as he loved all of the kids that would visit Gardenview, they were, admittedly, extremely noisy. He was very thankful for Gardenview opening its doors to the public at 12 pm, he didn’t think he’d be able to handle all of the sound any earlier in the morning.

The room he found himself in looked very similar to a teachers only lounge in a school: an ever-ticking clock nested above the locked door, off white walls accented by several motivational posters, a cheap popcorn ceiling, and (of course) a coffee machine that only handlers were allowed to use (though he had caught Shelly’s handler sharing coffee with toons before). Toons weren’t
really supposed to be in here during their working hours. They were meant to be outside interacting with children, like they were made to do. Luckily, the handlers knew Astro well, and would make an exception allowing him to rest here when he felt overwhelmed. He was deeply grateful for their kindness.

There was a click sound from the white wooden door — a key going into a lock, and a handle twisting open. In stepped a short man with pale skin, a round face, and a nervous expression. He ran a hand through his messy black hair in a fruitless attempt to tidy. Astro recognized it as Austin, his handler.

“Astro, are you doing alright?”

“hm?” Astro said sleepily.

“Sprout told me to check on you. He said that you hadn’t slept well last night.”

He couldn’t help but feel the smallest bit annoyed at Sprout for telling his handler about their talk that morning. He didn’t need to have every person in the whole building interrogating him about his feelings! “I’m alright.”

“… you look exhausted.”

“hm.” Astro hummed in response, laying his head on the table and squinting his eyes closed.

“I came in here to say that I asked Mr.Walton if you could get a day off today.”

Astro’s eyes quickly opened again, startled. “what?”

“uhm, I hope that’s alright with you. You can go back to your room and rest now, if you’d like. It doesn’t do anyone any good if you’re hardly keeping your eyes open when talking with the kids.”

“…thank you mr.russo… this means a lot.” Astro pulled himself to his feet, blanket trailing behind him. He rubbed tiredness from his eyes as he made his way towards his room.

It was weird to see his room with bright sunlight streaming in through the window. He was only there during dawn and dusk, before and after gardenview had opened itself to the public. The window was still mostly obscured by the curtains he had drawn over it from the night before. Even still, the whole room was ablaze with warm light. It reflected off of the glow in the dark stars that dotted his ceiling: they almost shone like real stars.

Almost the second he had slipped off his slippers, he had already collapsed onto his bed. His eyes slid closed. Before he knew it, he was dreaming.

Astro, much to other’s surprise, did not have control over his own dreams. He had tried the art of lucid dreaming before; he didn’t take much of a liking to it. He was content to walk the dreams he was given, whatever they were.

Today, his dreams brought him to gardenview. Not a place that he recognized (the locations and geometry of dreams are often fuzzy), but by the looks of the cyan and somewhat claustrophobic walls it looked to be in one of the back hallways near the toon’s rooms. The corridor was long and dimly lit. There wasn’t the usual sound of laughter and chatter that seemed so omnipresent throughout the building. No, it was near completely silent. For Astro, this would normally help him to feel at peace. Not this silence. This silence was heavy and humid, much like the stale air that hung motionless and clouded Astro’s lungs. A thin layer of fog crowded his feet. It parted as he began to walk the only direction he knew to walk; forward.

The longer he walked, the more the oppressive silence began to let up. It was replaced by another sound. So distant, so far away as to barely be discernible. It was almost like.. ripping? Tearing? The thought of the carnotaurus wormed its way into Astro’s skull. He could imagine the monster’s sharp teeth rending through soft flesh. He took another step forward.

He could see it now; a shape in the gloom. It was crouched over something. The once hardly audible sound now drilled through his ears until they felt like they bled. It was animalistic. Grunting, panting. The wet sounds of ichor splattering across the ground. He could not run, he could not go back the way he had come. When he tried, his legs would seize up and lock him frozen in place. The creature before him was huge. It must have been twice his height, at least.

As he continued, inevitably, forward, he could finally make out the edges of its shape. A long, curved spine with claw-like ribs flaring out in all directions. Strong hind legs that dripped with black ichor and speckles of pink gristle. Small, useless arms hung in front of the torso. Beneath was a corpse; it was much too mangled to discern who it once might have been.

With his next step forward, Astro felt something strange beneath his foot.

Fabric. Soft, and wet with ichor.

He recognized the blue minky of his nightcap almost immediately.

And then, he was awake.

Chapter Text

For every day of the past week, Astro’s life had been the same. He would wake up to fetch his food from the cafeteria before going to eat in the library with Shelly. He had learned a lot about her from their conversations. She was a cancer, her favorite color was orange, she seemed to have a different favorite dinosaur each day (it tended to always be whichever one she had been reading about most recently), she had recently taken up sewing, she had expansive collection of fossils gifted to her by the children… she tended to ramble on for quite a while about her interests. Astro didn’t mind, though. He much preferred to listen than to talk.

After breakfast, he would spend his time interacting with fans in the lobby and planetarium. Ignoring the loud noise, this was one of his favorite parts of the day. He loved receiving letters gifts from excited children. The best gift, though, was watching how their faces lit up when they saw him. He couldn’t help but notice how much more children crowded around him than around Shelly. When he could, he’d stay close to her, encouraging the kids to go and talk to her as well as him.

Then came the part of each day Astro dreaded most: live shows. Hosted on Vee’s stage, the toons would perform live renditions of popular episodes of Dandy’s World for an audience. He never understood how little the others worried about getting in front of hundreds of people to act. Just the thought of that sea of glittering eyes staring up at him expectantly, waiting for him to mess up… god, it made him feel dizzy. Shelly noticed his unease, though. She was so much more observant than he gave her credit for. He would feel an entirely different kind of dizzy when she would take his hand and tell him to take deep breaths and that “everything is gonna be okay, I promise!”. “You’ve got this,” she’d tell him, “I believe in you! You’re gonna do great!”. She would give him two thumbs up and a big smile as he would walk out on stage.

Slowly, one by one, the children would go back home in their cars and buses and leave gardenview empty once again. Sprout and Cosmo would prepare a delicious dinner with the help of Sam for all of the toons to enjoy. Each evening, Astro would eat his meal in Dandy’s room. It was a place of comfort to him. It felt like home almost as much as his own bed. Lately, though, it was difficult not to notice the change in Dandy’s demeanor. He used to be energetic. Hopeful, optimistic, always with the biggest smile plastered across his face. When he laughed, it was loud and contagious. Now, he seemed almost more tired than Astro. He had tried to give Dandy good dreams, but getting into his head was like trying to see through black ichor. He wished he had the words to comfort Dandy, or at least ask him what was wrong. Instead, the two would sit in silence and eat in the warmth of eachother’s company. Then Arthur would come in to tell them it was time for lights out, and that would be that. Astro would return to his room, stare out his window for as long as his energy would allow, and retire to bed.

For every night of the past week, Astro had the same nightmare.

Every. Single. Night.

No matter how much he willed it away, he would awaken in his slumber to that darkened hallway with an all-too-familiar monster waiting for him at the end.

Every time, the dream would last a little longer.

Every time, the dim lights of the hall would get a little brighter. The fog would clear up just the tiniest bit.

Every time, he would get a clearer view of the monster at the end of the corridor.

He knew who it was, of course. He knew ever since the first dream. How couldn’t he? He recognized her face. He recognized her face, even when it was smeared with his blood. Dripping his viscera onto the hardwood floors.

Every time he woke up, he would push the dream to the back of his mind. There was no use dwelling on it. He had other things to worry about.

Today was no different from the days before it. He woke up, ate breakfast with Shelly (trying his best to ignore the way his heart caught in his throat when she smiled at him), read stories to the children, and struggled through a live reenactment of “Astro in… Stage fright!” (quite the accurate title). He walked with Shelly to the cafeteria after the day was over. Sprout and Cosmo had prepared pasta for dinner, his favorite.

Tray in hand, he started to walk towards Dandy’s room. It was just like always. He had memorized every hallway and doorway leading to his room, but tonight, the corridors seemed to stretch on for much longer than they ever should have.

Eventually, inevitably, he got to the entrance. Just as he was about to open it, he noticed a dark pool under his feet. It stained the hardwoods black as it slowly spread out from under the door.

“dandy…?” He spoke, quietly, urgently, “… it’s astro. may I come in?”

Complete radio silence. He pulled an arm from under his blanket to softly wrap at the door.

“are you hurt? would you like me to call mr.arthur…?”

He heard it; a gentle scratching, perhaps from the corner of Dandy’s room.

His hand hit the cold metal of the door handle. He sighed, and twisted it open.

Chapter Text

He saw inside what a part of him always expected him to see —

The disfigured husk sat in that room looked familiar, in more than just its resemblance to that twisted version of Shelly he always saw in his nightmares. It, like Shelly, dripped with ichor: not like the ichor that dripped from a wound, but as if the very flesh of the monster was oversaturated with the fluid and leaking onto the floor. Dimly colored flower petals circled its head like a halo. Or perhaps, more accurately, like the mane of a lion. The thing was certainly the size of one; even resting on the ground its head was still only inches away from the ceiling of its room. Two large claws (the size of Astro’s entire head, at least) sprouted from the front and scratched clear lines into the hardwood. They cut through the planks like a knife through soft butter. Like a knife through warm flesh.

The figure was completely still (except for the gentle scraping of claw against floorboard). Its back was turned to Astro. Its head was facing the wall. The vacant, wide, red eyes facing forward on its skull stared absently ahead with a savage intensity. He knew that look well - it was the same look his nightmare Shelly always wore on her face.

It took him a while to process the sight before him as something real. Sure, Dandy had been acting strangely lately — quiet, distant… but this, this was something else entirely.

When it finally caught up to him, he ran. He prayed that the Dandy beast had not seen him.

He wasn’t sure where to run, at first. He could go to Delilah, of course, she knew all about the strange biology of Toons. Of all people, she’d be the one who’d be able to understand best what had happened to Dandy. But she was cruel. What if she decided it would be best to decommission Dandy? Replace him with a newly crafted, identical version of himself?

He could go to his handler, Austin. But what could he do against a creature like that? He was barely out of high school himself. He didn’t deserve to have to deal with a situation such as this.

Maybe it would be most wise to go to the big man himself - Arthur Walton. So that is where he went.

He was completely out of stamina by the time he ran, panting, heaving, into Arthur’s office. It was secluded from the other rooms in the building. A wide, open, jolly space decorated colorfully. A tall window reaching up to the ceiling was positioned behind his desk; the fast disappearing bloodred light of the sunset outside cast eerie shadows upon the walls. Sure enough, he was there, filling out paperwork with a smile on his face.

“Hello Astro!” He would say in his jovial way, “Is anything the matter? Remember, if you’re feeling odd, you should go to Delilah-“

The hardly heard him. Panicked words started to flow out of Astro’s mouth. He tried to explain what had happened- the scratching noises from Dandy’s door, the monster he had seen inside, Ichor splattered everywhere and oozing from the doorway-

It was hard to remember what happened next. There was completely bedlam; Arthur had walked to Dandy’s room, hurried along by the still-exhausted Astro, and thrown up after opening the door. The staff were called to evacuate. Save for Delilah, who had gotten into a heated argument with Arthur. Astro hadn’t listened. The stress and running had made him exhausted. After the majority Gardenview workers were out of the building and safe, Astro was escorted to a small children’s party room on the opposite side of the establishment from Dandy’s room. The other toons were crowded in after him; they looked confused, more than anything. Most had not the slightest idea what had happened.

Astro was sat on a long rectangular plastic table. He had been in rooms like this before; children would rent a room to host their birthday party in, and the toons would come in and sing to them as they’d blow out the candles on their cake. It had never been this claustrophobic in one, though. One room was never meant to hold this many toons. He kept an eye out for one toon in particular, though, and he found her standing awkwardly in the furthest corner from the door with a rattled expression on her face. Standing up, he pushed his way gently past the others to go and speak with her.

“hi,” She started. It wasn’t like herself to speak so quietly.

“…hello.”

She was silent.

“do.. you know what happened?” Astro questioned gently.

Shelly did not respond. Instead, she looked at him in his eyes, hardly suppressing the tears that welled in the corners of her eyes.

Finally, she nodded her head ever so slightly. Her eyes were unfocused. They gazed right past him, into some distant point in the horizon.

“I saw it.” She spoke suddenly.

“hm?”

With much effort, Shelly focused her eyes on Astro again. “I saw it. Right- right after we had finished our shows for the day. You had left already- you had finished all of the performing you needed to do for the day. But… but me and Dandy still had one more to go. It was his favorite.. “Dandy in Showtime Panic!” She gave a small laugh before continuing.

“I- uhm, had also finished all of my shows for the day, I-I don’t have a part in showtime panic, but I always like to be there to cheer on the- uh, people who are still performing, as you know…” she spoke.

“He got on stage, and started as usual. He was killing it! I mean, he’s the star of the show for a reason. But, afterwards, I wanted to- to congratulate him, as I always do! He looked frantic. I don’t- I don’t know why. I tried to talk to him. His eyes- Astro, Astro- his eyes were… crazy. They looked pink, almost. It could have been a trick of the light, I’m not sure, but I’m certain something was wrong.”

“And- and I saw the way he walked off of the stage. He was practically stumbling over his own feet. He was moving so- erratically? I’m not sure, I don’t know. Something was wrong. I know it was.” She looked down and away from Astro. Her gaze drifted to the hem of her skirt. She started to toy with the fabric.

“I followed-“ She swallowed hard, “I followed him out of the auditorium. He didn’t go to the cafeteria. He went straight to his room. I needed to know if he was okay. I knocked on the door. There-there wasn’t an answer.” She laughed again humorlessly, “and so I left.”

“I tried to tell the others about- that- the way.. his eyes. The way he looked at me walking off the stage. I told them that something was very, very wrong.” Her voice fell quiet. “They didn’t listen to me. They didn’t listen, Astro. I told them. I told them- I said that Dandy was going insane! They brushed it off- they hardly even acknowledged I had said anything at all.”

Astro listened quietly as Shelly gave her report of what had happened.

“is that… all you saw?” Astro questioned delicately.

“no.” She shook her head, “I didn’t know what to do with myself after that. I couldn’t forget that- that look in his eyes. Astro, I knew something was wrong.”

“and I beleive you, shelly.” He interjected.

“I- thank you.” She responded, “…thank you. After I had tried to tell the others, I thought I should walk back and try to knock on Dandy’s door again. Maybe- maybe he just didn’t hear me the first time. And- as I was walking there, I saw you, frantic, run past me in the hallway. You looked terrified- I mean, you bolted right past me without even noticing I was there- so of course I was curious. I know, I know it was stupid. But I kept walking to Dandy’s room. I- I didn’t even make it to the doorway. I got to the hall- y’know, where all the Toon’s rooms are. He- Astro, he was there. It was Dandy. His eyes were fully red now.” Her voice faltered and her legs began to shake. Astro pulled an arm out from his blanket and placed it on her shoulder in an attempt to support her.

“it’s alright… you don’t need to continue.” He spoke softly to her.

“He saw me, Astro- he looked straight through me and he didn’t recognize me at all. There was nothing behind those eyes of his.” Shelly’s voice was fast, her words spilling over each other.

“it’s alright. It’ll be okay. We are safe now, in here. I promise. Delilah will take care of everything.” Astro murmured slowly.

“…I’m worried about Dandy.” Shelly whimpered.

“me too.” Astro spoke solemnly.

It seemed like the only Toons in all of Gardenview that knew the full story of what had happened were Shelly, Astro, and Dandy himself. Glisten was gossiping about his hypotheses about what had gone down as if they were fact; other toons around him listened eagerly to his gossip. Vee and Sprout were back to arguing again; Vee was complaining about being stuffed into this little kid’s party room for practically no reason, while Sprout argued that “we are here for safety precautions” and “we should trust the staff to do what they need to do to keep us safe”. Astro thought, cynically, that if the staff really did what they needed to do to keep them safe than Dandy wouldn’t have turned into a feral mangled monster while no one was watching.

Astro sat in that crowded room silently with Shelly for what felt like hours. He hated nothing more than being in a room full of people all loudly talking at the same time! Eventually, Arthur (with a hard to read expression on his face) opened the door and told the toons that they were free to go back to their rooms. He said that there was a situation near the hallway that the mains sleep in, but that all had been cleaned up and it was now safe. He did mention that, unfortunately, Dandy would have to be away for a little while due to “heath issues” ; no toon reacted to this news except for Vee, who gave an eye roll and muttered “that sounds pretty fortunate to me..”, and Sprout, who nudged Vee in the shoulder and told her how insensitive that was. He offered to help aid in Dandy’s recovery from whatever illness he had. This idea was very quickly shut down by Arthur. He said that this was “serious” and far beyond Sprout’s ability: Delilah would be able to fix up Dandy in no time by herself.

As the toons filed out of the room to go back to their beds for sleep, Arthur pulled Astro aside to speak to him. He crouched down to meet Astro at his level.

“Heya Astro, bud! How’re ya holdin’ up?” He spoke, giving Astro a hard pat on the shoulder that made his body shake.

“I’m… alright, Arthur.”

Arthur’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Do you think you could keep the whole.. Dandy.. situation… quiet? I don’t think it’d be good for your pals to hear all the details about what happened back there.” He waved a hand in a vague gesture towards the other toons.

“yes sir.”

He gave 2 over dramatic thumbs up. “Alright! Just… I’ll keep you updated on the situation, okay? Please try to keep everyone safe. We don’t want this happening again.” His voice hardened unusually at his last sentence.

Astro could do nothing but nod his head in agreement as he watched Arthur walk away and back towards his office.