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In the warm atmosphere of the Gardenview Library, the scent of vanilla-aging paper lingered in the air. A curious ammonite toon grazed the various books with her gloved hand, blissfully swiping away at the pages as the hours slipped away. Her favorite form to pass time- reading! The words littered across the paper spoke to Shelly like a spell, or like a moth to a lantern. Seemingly finding herself settled between multiple books that she finished herself, and unexpectedly— each and every one was about prehistoric plants and animals. It was so odd none of her friends seemed to also take time to marvel at the specimen. Well, except for Finn— his fixation of aquatic animals bleeding into the prehistoric category.
But still, it was quite outlandish only Shelly took her time to learn a thing or two about them. Who was she kidding—what toon wouldn’t find a T- Rex awesome? Just look at it! Those jaws! It’s rather unfortunate that she always failed to persuade them into even acknowledging the primeval creatures.
It was just hard enough to even get their attention…
She cleared her throat, swallowing an overwhelming pressure she hadn’t even noticed was there before as she unknowingly held the page tighter, wrinkles beginning to form and taut. Releasing her breath in a long, silent sigh— as well as the pages, a soft crackle sounded as it struggled to take back its original, flat shape. It was fine, Shelly was sure they wanted to listen, and they were probably just busy.
She smoothed out the paper as she calmed herself, finding her sense of comfort in lies even she knew weren’t true. Her sad attempts at flattening the page only seemed to make it worse. She continued reading, this time with a newfound sense of doubt shrouding the stale enjoyment she once basked in.
As the ammonite fossil was trapped in her book reading trance, only stopping to adjust her glasses or flip the page, she couldn’t bother to even look up. Or notice the tall, poised, robot-like toon scrutinizing her from afar. Her antennae twitched, taking notice of the abrupt change in the paleontologist’s demeanor.
Pushing herself off the wall she once leaned on, she sauntered towards Shelly. It was rather unusual Vee had been in the library, considering she allegedly ‘knew everything.’ Well, her reasoning wasn’t to feed her CPU futile information, it was to simply get a book on astronomy for Astro— he’d requested it. Of course, Vee couldn’t say no! The problem was, since she had never visited the library nor considered it, so consequently she was unaware on the whereabouts of where his astronomy book could be. Surely, she could ask Shelly…
Vee was now towering over the fossil after nearly tripping on an old publication about trilobites. It was shocking Shelly hadn’t seen— nor heard any of the racket beside her (Even with Vee seething and cursing under her breath.) It was only when Vee cleared her mechanical throat, Shelly recoiled slightly in surprise, and her eyes quickly looked upwards to the television towering over her. Her gaze spoke a silent ‘Why are you here?’ The anmmonite’s eyebrows rather scrunched in confusion. After an uncomfortable silence, Vee finally declared her motive for her sudden arrival.
“Where are the astronomy books?” She dryly questioned, her microphone tail flicking behind her. Shelly’s eyes darted around. As if Shelly and Vee weren’t the only toons there—for a moment she wondered if Vee was talking to someone else. She tried to find her wordings blindly, struggling to give her the exact location.
“Class QB, in the 500’s to 200’s—” She blurted, instead of giving Vee any normal explanation like ‘over there’ with a pointed finger. For a moment, she forgot she had visited the library so often, that sentence wouldn’t make sense to any other toon. (asides Brightney, of course!) Thus, Vee tilted her head in confusion, slightly furrowing her eyebrows. Shelly was about to open her mouth to speak again, but the television cut her off.
“Just show me them,” The host stated, her antennae twitching once more. Shelly nodded, swallowing an uncomfortable feeling boiling in her throat as she set her book down. Adjusting her bow and gameshow suit, Vee waited expectantly while Shelly stood up. Her gaze hit the gameshow host’s observant eyes, and as easily daunted as she was, she blinked away. After a moment of staring at the floor that felt like hours but was only a few seconds, Shelly began to slowly walk to her destination, expecting Vee to follow behind. They walked in silence, but with Shelly silence was out of question— the paleontologists throat was already itching to spark a conversation. Though with Vee, a stable conversation felt impossible. But it was worth a try.
“So, how come you’ve.. decided to visit the library all of a sudden..?” She started after clearing her throat, her eyes meeting Vee’s gaze once more— this time with sweet eagerness that was hard to look away from. The mechanical toon arched a brow, urging Shelly to go on. So she did. “Don’t you know.. everything..?” She spoke, remembering a sour interaction they once had. Thinking about it was one of the reasons she didn’t speak with Vee often.
Just like Shelly, Vee also recalled the interaction they had. She mentioned how she knew everything about dinosaurs when the fossil tried to enlighten her on the subject. Vee remembered that look on her face, like she had said something wrong. If anything, she thought Shelly would be impressed! For the rest of the day, Vee spent most of it zoning out, wondering what had made her so.. unhappy. Similar to how she was spaced out at the moment, it took a small tap on the shoulder to remind her where she even was. Shelly had sworn the other main had malfunctioned for a moment. Suddenly, she began to speak up again like she wasn’t just lost in thought.
“Somewhat correct, I know almost everything. I am not here to process information though,” Vee commenced, her eyes snapping back to the articles in front of her once they reached their end purpose. “It’s for Astro. He requested I’d go get a book on astronomy for him.” She articulated, her eyes scanning over the various science documents.
Shelly nodded and let out the quietest, ‘oh, okay,’ that was just as about as a pin being dropped, and a small, forced tug at the corners of her lips that she wasn’t sure she’d consider a smile. Despite that, It didn’t matter anyways, since Vee wasn’t looking. Just like that, a bitter silence filled the library once more. Once Vee had decided on a dissemination on neutron stars, her attention shifted to Shelly, who noticed and had looked around again as if the host had an entire audience behind the ammonite. All she could do was force an awkward smile, waiting for Vee to eventually speak up.
“Thanks,” The woman finally stated, in the most monotonous voice possible. Shelly played a smile on her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She turned away, once out of sight, letting her eyes drop to the ground. Her pupils suddenly felt heavy, like something was bringing them down. She felt that same pungent, burning feeling she had in the back of her throat, like earlier, this time she wasn’t sure why. But it was late. She had to put the books away. She began to make her way over to where she was previously, but she was stopped in her tracks once she heard a mechanical voice call out.
“Say, Shelly,” Vee began—with the same flat tone— yet there was an underlying feeling of eagerness behind it. Shelly paused, dragging her pupils off her shoes, and turning around, presenting a new content look on her face. “One of the updates I’ve had.. it’s overwritten some of my data,” She went on, and the ammonite raised an eyebrow attentively, spurring her to go on.
“And well, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind.. reminding me, on a few things.” The host said, she’d remember getting a ton of questions installed for her gameshow, and it set aside all her precursory understanding on anything she hadn’t found use of in a long time, which included prehistoric life. “I.. need it for one of my gameshows, which specializes in that category.” (since Jurassic Park was a big hit at the time.)
The ammonite’s dry, unadorned smile was immediately replaced with a beaming, dazzling one, so radiant it could start a fire. Her tail, it was wagging uncontrollably— like it had a sentient mind of its own. Her voice, bubbly, nearly cracked, her joy boiling over any kind of emotion she had let loiter before. It was obvious what Vee’s intentions were.
“I wouldn’t mind!” the fossil nearly squealed, the corners of her eyes scrunched in enthusiasm. What she said was a very drastic understatement. One could only guess the copious amount of speaking the host endured that day.
Weeks went by. Shelly continued to jog Vee’s memory on the aspect of the primitive beings. When the day finally came of Vee’s prehistoric themed gameshow, the ammonite was a special guest. Not a contestant— rather an assistant, or the host’s right-hand woman. She smiled brightly for the crowd, nervous—yet generous. and Vee did the same.
The paleontologist watched as the crowd boomed in a mixture of excitement and exhilaration. Vee’s hand held Shelly’s, raising both their arms in the air, while her other spun the microphone, and brought it to her screen, introducing the other main to the roaring audience. Vee noticed Shelly basking in the newfound attention, and the two exchanged a fleeting, warm gaze. The rest of the show was a blur of stirring questions, cheers, and buzzers.
Vee and Shelly met backstage, once the show was over. Even though they were both equally as tired, Shelly was bursting with gratitude, and Vee could only stare in awe due to never seeing the main in a way she hadn’t ever seen before. She sat down on one of the beanbags, and watched while Shelly span around in joy.
“Did you see the crowd?? They were- they seemed so happy!” She beamed, and Vee nodded, fumbling with her tail and smiling tenderly. The other toon plopped down on the beanbag beside her, letting gravity carry her down. It was Shelly’s first time experiencing something like that— ever. “Thanks, Vee..” Shelly spoke, looking up at the ceiling, as if they were stars. The room filled with a silence— not an uncomfortable one, but rather, a warm, gentle silence. The one you would find to cherish.
“Anytime, Shelly..”
She murmured as she shared a softened, fond gaze with the ammonite, letting the mellow quietude lull the two into an unmoving tranquility.
.
Vee stared blankly, a large poster of Shelly staring back at her. Her smile greeted Vee’s sight
But it wasn't comforting, it wasn’t sweet, it was pitiful. All it was a subtle reminder of how this was the only trace of her partner Vee had. She let out a distorted, dry garble resembling a cry, tears beginning to prick at her mechanical eyes.
Shakily sliding down towards the ground, she clutched her side. She choked out a choked sob, her side beginning to leak out the grotesque black liquid that seemed to stain everything.
She despised it. Despised it all. Vee would never be able to find comfort in her cheerful, euphonious laugh that sounded too ethereal. She wouldn’t be able to bask in the moments they cherished together. It was all gone. Shelly was gone.
It was like the poster was mocking her. Shelly’s arms stretched out, like a hug the television would never be able to embrace. Out of reach, just like the real Shelly.
Even as a machine, nothing stopped her from weeping until she couldn’t anymore. Her lover was nothing now but a contorted, grotesque shell of her former self.
Her body trembled and she curled up, despite the large wound on her side. She could only wrap her hands around herself and tense up, her voicebox continuing to let out those miserable sobs. All she could do was imagine the Shelly she once loved, holding her close, and not letting go.
Her eyes drifted past her legs folded in front of her, and it fell on something.
It was a publication on trilobites.