Bassie's World - Chapter Twenty-Three

Instructions

[ Astro, 8:23 AM, Astro's Floor ] My room was noiseless, except for the incessant drumming of the air conditioning. A sensation of the unpleasant kind led me to hum softly to myself, as if I was trying to keep my own company. I looked down at my lap which was enveloped by the trademark bluish-purple cloak it always was. You could just barely see the black edges of my tight shorts peering out from beneath it. Until you reached my feet, dressed with very snug socks, the rest of my body below my blanket was bare. I wasn’t expecting to see anybody today. Usually, I’d be wondering if Vee would come around, but I haven’t seen her for three or four whole days. It appeared to me like she was either mad at me, or Bassie was mad at her, and therefore, couldn’t see me. It was also plausible to assume that she could have just been busy, and wanted to get her work for Bassie over with. There was a time Vee and I were really close. I mean, we’d talk at least once a day during those days. We had a ton of inside jokes, usually at my expense, and I looked forward to meeting her every day. But then she started to visit less often, and acted like nothing had happened. I felt burdened, like I was desperately trying to hold together our friendship. And I was failing. I could never get a hold of her, she’d always have to approach me first. She'd always have a conversation ready so I couldn’t discuss the issue with her. But I didn’t like to think about that very much. I had zoned out, and furthermore never saw the child in front of me. “Oh, hello, Toodles,” I said to her after a small panic. “Hello,” she repeated back to me. Usually, she was oh-so energetic, barely able to respond without giggles. I had the immediate awareness that something was wrong with her. “What would you like to say to me?” “It’s about the dreams.” About a few weeks ago, she had dreams about an odd alternate version of Gardenview where Dandy was the main character, and all of the Holiday Toons were out at the same time. Stuff that isn’t possible. From what Sprout told me during our information exchange, it IS possible that that was how Gardenview was in the past, before something changed and Bassie somehow became the leader of us all. I always did think it was odd that the Easter Main was less Easter-y than the main Main. I had never said it to her face, though. I didn’t know if she’d be offended by being compared to Dandy. The Dandy that acts like we’re best friends without ever even getting a proper introduction to me. Everything about this place is straight up weird. “Did you get another one?” I asked her hopefully. If there were more dreams, that meant more info to go off of. What Vee always says about gaining more information is the more, the merrier. I don’t think she made up that saying, though. “Uh, no.” “Oh… then, what happened?” “Well, if you have questions, I’ll answer them.” Toodles sat down next to me. “I want to be more useful to you.” “Thanks, but… why do you want to help out all of the sudden? Beforehand, you were very restrictive about the details you gave me.” She lowered her brows, looking angry. “Because Rodger won’t let me help him!” she wailed. “That means that I have to help you.” “Alright, if you want to. But, Toodles, I don’t have any questions for you, I’m sorry. Would you like to talk to me about Rodger instead?” I I know that a while ago, Sprout told me I should go back to Toodles to see if she became more willing to explain, but I never got around to doing it. I did have a lot of questions, but I felt that clearing up her issues with the Toon who was essentially her dad was more necessary. “Well, I took his journal, and he got super duper mad. I just wanted to take a peek, but it wasn’t like I could read most of it anyways. Uh, I cried, cause, y’know, the yelling and stuff. It was so unexpected! He got, like, SO weird about it, and just stopped letting me help him out. Whether it was chores, a case, or errands, he would never let me do it for him. And that’s how I spend a lot of my time! Doing things for him! So now, I’m super bored, and feel super bad. I thought maybe answering your questions would make me feel better about myself, so I came here!" I bowed my head, staring at my socks. “Toodles… your worth does not depend on if you help Rodger or not.” I shifted my head upright and faced her with an eager smile. “For a change, why don’t you play with some Toons? For example, Gigi or Connie… aren’t you friends with them?” “They aren’t good at playing! I can only play with Gourdy or Pebble!” “Pebble? Like, a rock?” I had a feeling she was saying that word as a name, but I had no idea who it was. Maybe it was a pet rock she had created for herself? And Gourdy, well, he’s only around for one singular month. Toodles grimaced. “Ack. No!! Sorry, Pebble is from my dreams… I remember playing around with him when he was around. He was Dandy’s cute little dog! +