Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Astro sat in the dark, surrounded by the glow of dim stars. His arms held two pairs of knitting needles, slowly weaving the smokey threads of a dream together. He wove together a cozy scene of a library, books spread around the tables, quiet whispers popping up every so often. A group of kids sat on the ground, attentively looking at the subject of the dream.

Brightney. Astro quite enjoyed her book club, but the librarian seemed to be stressed lately. Astro hoped this little dream would help soothe her, calm her nerves. It was the least he could do, after all, for the great discussions the two of them would have about the library books.

Astro paused as he felt a tug on his threads. What was that? That has never happened before… Wait. There it is again. What was that tugging? Astro was confused, but also starting to get concerned as he realized the setting of the dream was beginning to slip away from him.

The bookshelves began to tumble, scattered pages forming some sort of paper tornado. The walls danced around, the rugs standing up on one end to join along in some surreal conga line. The chairs began to tango, serenading each other as they screeched a tune that was unintelligible, grating to the ears. Table legs grew tap-dancing shoes, following the crowd with a TIP TAP TAP! Noise, chaos, and disorder were everywhere. The previous calm scene had devolved into entropy, into nature’s natural state.

Astro opened his eyes, finding himself on the same couch he was resting on before. But still, the tugging sensation persisted. And it was coming from… below?

Astro sat up on the couch, his arms clutching onto his blanket to try and keep it close. He looked down, only to see… Shrimpo? Why was Shrimpo chewing on his blanket?

Astro slowly crept a hand out, holding onto the fabric that wasn’t yet in Shrimpo’s mouth, and yanked . The fabric flew up into the air, out of Shrimpo’s mouth, but consequently also tossed Shrimpo into the air as well.

Astro caught Shrimpo before he could slam down onto the floor, freezing for a moment as his heart raced. Stars, that was close. That would’ve been a nasty fall.

“Shrimpo..? Are you okay?” He asked, his eyebrow furrowed in concern and his mouth set in a deep frown. When there was no answer, Astro tried to shake Shrimpo, but that only elicited a grumbly mumble. 

…Shrimpo was clearly half-asleep. Astro could tell. He sighed. He supposed he had been neglecting to check on whether the shrimp was sleeping properly or not.

Well, at least Shrimpo had come to him now, even if he wasn’t fully aware. Now, Astro could make sure the shrimp actually rested. He was sure Brightney wouldn’t mind if he switched muses today.

Astro laid back down, wrapping Shrimpo in the blanket with him. Keeping him warm would likely help him fall asleep. After all, warmth was often comforting, was it not?

“Let’s get some rest,” Astro murmured softly, his eyes closing once more. “Sweet dreams…”

Chapter Text

Teagan bustled about in the kitchen, multiple kettles waiting. Each had a different type of tea on, one for each toon coming to her tea party today. Tieguanyin for Tisha, Tienchi flower tea for Flutter, black tea for Poppy’s bubble tea, and Junshan Yinzhen for Glisten. Teagan had tried her best to match the teas to each toon’s taste; she would not settle for something as low quality as a tea bag . Teagan was a woman of taste, and she was determined to have her tea parties reflect that.

She hummed a tune as she swayed in front of the stove, stirring the tapioca pearls in the pot every so often. The radio on the counter seemed to sway along as jazz danced in the air. It was almost time to take them out, and she knew any minute now-

BRRRIIIIIIIINGGGGG!

Ah! There goes the timer! Teagan turned the heat off and took the pot aside, resting it on a mat. She set the timer back for another 30 minutes. Hm, now what could she do? She already got sweets from Cosmo, the teas were ready to be boiled, the tapioca pearls were resting… What else was left?

Tug .

Huh? What was that?

Tug .

Curious. There it was again! Teagan’s boa began to slip down, and she barely caught it before it slipped off completely. She stared down at the offending creature, ready to scold them, expecting it to be Pebble, but, to her surprise, it was…

“Shrimpo?!” She exclaimed in surprise, watching the boy nibble on her poor boa. “Shrimpo, I thought I told you my boa isn’t food!”

She lifted her boa up, but it seemed the shrimp was determined to hold on. In fact, despite being in the air, he was managing to get more of her poor boa into his mouth! Teagan was at a complete loss. Why-

Oh, wait, did Shrimpo eat breakfast today? Teagan didn’t remember seeing him at all this morning… Could he be hungry? Maybe that was why he was nibbling at her boa now. Oh, poor thing, he must be starving!

But that didn’t mean Teagan could let him eat her boa–it wasn’t food! She plopped Shrimpo down, only to place two arms around his stomach and try to force the boa out.

She heard a loud gagging noise, the rest of her boa spewing onto the floor. Wait- how did Shrimpo possibly get half of her boa into his mouth? Teagan couldn’t help but feel a little impressed, but mostly, concerned. Oh dear, she was going to have to get this washed… good thing she could always get a spare boa before the tea party.

She sighed, turning Shrimpo around in her arms so he could face her. He seemed very grumpy–maybe Teagan’s guess was right. She leveled him with a disapproving stare, getting ready to scold him, but she couldn’t help but feel pity for him. How hungry could he be to the point where he’d want to eat her boa?

“Shrimpo, you know my boa isn’t edible,” Teagan began, a pained look on her face, “but I could get you something to eat if you come to my tea party today? You don’t have to talk to anyone, but I need to make sure you’ve eaten, alright?”

Shrimpo only grumbled, turning his face away, but at least he didn’t run away screaming, so that’s good, Teagan supposed.

She put Shrimpo atop the counter to keep a better eye on him. She went to the cabinet where she kept her tea leaves, taking out the one labeled “Gunpowder Tea”. Looks like her tea party will have one more guest today.

Chapter Text

Eggson rocked in his rocking chair. Easter was always so wonderful, the one time he felt like he had enough energy to do anything! But today, he was not running around with those youngsters in the lower floors, not going around hunting for eggs, but sitting with Flyte, telling one of his stories again.

“Back in my day, I was the only person that cared about the egg hunts!” Eggson exclaimed, thumping a fist to his chest.

Flyte sighed, murmuring a soft “I know you were, Eggson…”

“But there were always those who would come and challenge my crown! After all, as the reigning egg hunt champion for many years, taking my crown would’ve been a mighty achievement!” He continued on, pretending he didn’t hear Flyte’s comment. “They never succeeded, though. I was too good! After egg hunting for as many years as I have, I already knew all the secrets! The eggs were basically whispering in my ear to find them!”

“Mhm, sure they were, Eggson.”

“...And that’s why you should never back down from a challenge! No matter how many threats you face-”

“Uhm… Eggson?”

“-your own might will power you through, if you only-”

“ Eggson.”

“-believe in it. That reminds me of another story, actually-”

“Eggson!”

“Hm? What is it, Flyte?” Eggson asked quizzically. Flyte rarely ever interrupts his storytelling. What could be so wrong for him to-

“There’s a shrimp chomping on your cane.”

Eggson looked down. His cane was, indeed, being chewed on by a shrimp. Specifically, a shrimp shaped toon. One that Eggson knew very well.

“Ah, drats! You whippersnapper! How many times have I told you not to gnaw on my cane?! This is the eighth time this week! And it’s only Thursday! ” Eggson angrily scolded, trying to snatch his cane back from the boy.

But the shrimp was quicker. He scrambled back, and began running off with Eggson’s cane! Eggson watched, dumbfounded, as the shrimp slowly grew smaller in the distance.

“Uhh… Eggson? Do you want me to go get your cane for you?”

“No, Flyte,” Eggson sighed, “I can get them myself.”

He pulled out the trusty running shoes he always kept on his eggson ( Hah! Get it? ). “Good thing I have these! I may not be in my prime, but this old egg can still move!”

Eggson began to run towards the direction he last saw the shrimp go towards. It didn’t take long; Shrimpo was very slow, after all. ( The fact Shrimpo was slower than even him at his old age was a little concerning, but Eggson wasn’t going to pay much attention to that right now. )

He grabbed the cane back from Shrimpo’s mouth, hitting the shrimp on the head again, exactly on the same spot. Eggson wasn’t too worried about hurting Shrimpo; the boy had a thick skull, thicker than most. It had dented his cane to the point it was crooked in the spot that always hit Shrimpo’s head.

“I say back , you rascal! Grandpa can’t afford to keep chasing you for his cane! I’ll have to tell Rodger about this, you know!”

But the Shrimp didn’t seem to care much for the scolding at all. In fact, the imp looked rather bored! Eventually, Eggson stopped hitting the shrimp and sighed tiredly.

“Listen, boy. There are better ways to use that energy than making me chase you around for my cane! You should find yourself a nice hobby!” 

Eggson could only hope Shrimpo would take his advice. But he knew that, tomorrow, he should expect to be chasing the shrimp around again. Well, at least Shrimpo was helping him exercise...

Chapter Text

Another day, another run. Specifically, another Dandy run. Today, Bassie, Rodger, Shrimpo, Toodles, Glisten, and… PEBBLE(??? THEY TOOK HIS DOG DOWN HERE?) were going down to the depths below. Dandy, frankly, didn’t see why his friends insisted on doing these types of runs. All he asked was for them to spare a few tapes every once in a while, was that so much to ask for? He didn’t see why they wanted to anger him so badly. What was the point? Did they all have a death wish?

Luckily for him, it seemed that Shrimpo was in an… agreeable mood today–at least, for Dandy. Every time Dandy’s shop had risen, more often than not, Shrimpo would spare him a few tapes. It aggravated the other toons, but he was happy Shrimpo was acting tame-ish for once, even if it was (probably) only to get a rise out of the other toons.

But Dandy noticed a peculiar pattern. Shrimpo only bought when he sold candy or protein bars, sometimes buying out all three items he’d have on display–and whenever the shrimp bought something, he’d use it up immediately! (To the chagrin of many of the toons in the elevator.)

It confused Dandy immensely, but Shrimpo was probably just doing it for maximum annoyance. The short toon sure liked to cause problems, after all. Plus, business was business, so Dandy couldn’t really complain about what Shrimpo did with his wares. For all he cared, Shrimpo could’ve scattered whatever he bought on the elevator floor right after buying it, and Dandy wouldn’t have batted an eye. (Tisha would probably kill him though, if she was in the elevator.)

Honestly, Dandy was surprised Shrimpo survived as many floors as he had. He had fully expected the shrimp to die before the elevator even reached the fifth floor. Despite the odds, he still saw Shrimpo every time he popped up from the ground. Dandy bet there was no way the shrimp would be the last one standing, though. Even Shrimpo couldn’t pull off a miracle like that.

But frankly, Dandy was out of protein bars–and running dangerously low on candies–from the amount of times Shrimpo would buy them. (No seriously. It’s floor 43. It’s been hours. One, how in the gosh darn is Shrimpo alive, and two , how come the other toons haven’t asked to go back up yet? Glisten and HIS DOG were dead, and the rest of them were in varying stages of injury! )

…Maybe skipping on the candies for a while would be good. The other toons might appreciate it. Maybe they would finally buy from him instead of trying to ignore his existence! Well, tempting them didn’t work on the earlier floors, but now that they were so far below, and looking kind of desperate, maybe they’d cave if he offered a few heals…

Okay, were these toons stupid, or just infuriatingly stubborn? He’s given them three chances to buy a medkit, and yet, none of them–except for Shrimpo, bless his hate-filled heart for buying one–bought anything. Bassie died on the last floor to god-knows-what. If only she had listened to his warnings and bought something from him.

But he could see Shrimpo getting antsier with each floor he popped up from the floor. Until he popped up this floor. As soon as his platform stopped, he heard a scream and felt a sharp pain. He stumbled back, trying his damnedest to not fall over from the sudden change in weight.

He opened his eyes, only to see the shrimp biting one of his petals! It was like the stupid shrimp was trying to rip it off!

“ %$#&! Shrimpo! What the %$#& are you doing?! That %$#&-ing hurts! ” Dandy surprised even himself with the expletives spilling from his mouth. Thank Delilah they had an in-built censor. Wouldn’t want the kids to learn from his bad example!

“Shrimpo, stop! Don’t you know how long it takes to fix that, you idiot?! Get off of me!” Dandy grabbed Shrimpo by the waist, throwing the shrimp off of him. Unfortunately, that also ripped the petal the shrimp was chewing out as well…

Dandy clutched at the wound, ichor spilling out of his hand. He’d need to go get this fixed… Dandy wasn’t coming back to this run any time soon… He’ll just get their bodies after they die.

He slammed the lever down, leaving without even selling a thing.

Chapter Text

Rodger stared, dumbfounded, at Shrimpo as Dandy’s little lift lowered. Did Shrimpo really just… eat one of Dandy’s petals? He almost wanted to deny it, but Shrimpo’s ichor-stained mouth was evidence enough. Shrimpo really had bitten off one of Dandy’s petals and swallowed it.

He was frozen in shock, not even noticing Toodles tapping him in order to tell him to stop covering her eyes and ears. It wasn’t until she slapped him with all her tiny might that he finally let go.

“My apologies, Toodles, but you should probably keep your eyes closed for now,” Rodger said, letting her go and walking up to Shrimpo. He crouched down, grabbing the shrimp by the face and a handkerchief out of his pocket. He rubbed at Shrimpo’s face, trying to get as much of the ichor off his mouth as possible. It wouldn’t do for Toodles to see such a gruesome sight.

“Shrimpo, why did you attack Dandy? And why did you eat one of his petals? Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” Rodger rapid-fired questions, his eye narrowed in concern. “Here, I have a protein bar from the last floor. You can have it.”

He offered the protein bar forward. He saw Shrimpo’s eyes focus on it, but he didn’t know why the shrimp wasn’t taking it. Rodger saw the amount of candies Shrimpo had been eating, so-

CHOMP.

Rodger quickly pulled his arm back just before Shrimpo’s mouth closed, the protein bar clattering on the ground. Rodger sighed. Shrimpo confused him so much.

Toodles ran over to the both of them, picking up the protein bar. “Silly Shrimpo! You’re supposed to take it with your hands! Not your mouth!”

She thrust the protein bar into Shrimpo’s hands, right in time for the elevator doors to open.

DING DONG!

Floor 44.

“Stay close to me,” Rodger warned the two toons, “I don’t want either of you wandering off and getting hurt.”

“ Rodger that!” Toodles exclaimed, while Shrimpo merely huffed in annoyance.

Rodger led them around the floor, hiding from twisteds and doing whatever machine was safe to do. He even let Toodles work on one when he found two machines next to each other, but he had absolutely forbidden Shrimpo from touching any. He didn’t need him to clog it and alert every twisted to their location.

Rodger was just happy there weren’t any twisted Mains on this floor, even if that meant he missed out on research. It would’ve been certain death if they had to deal with them.

Rodger was on the last machine, Toodles on watch for any twisteds coming near, when-

SHATTER.

Rodger startled, his hands falling away from the valve. He turned to look around, only to realize: Shrimpo was gone. His heart began to race. He knew Glisten wasn’t on this floor, so that noise meant only one other thing:

Shrimpo had opened his twisted’s false capsule.

Shrimpo grabbed Toodles’ hand and ran. He had to find Shrimpo and make sure the shrimp was okay. Thank the stars it wasn’t a blackout floor.

Rodger found Shrimpo with his twisted at the center of the floor, but to his surprise, the twisted wasn’t attacking. His twisted self was simply staring at the shrimp, as shocked as Rodger himself was, as Shrimpo had the twisted’s arm halfway in his mouth. (How did he even fit that in there?!)

CRUNCH.

A terrible screech erupted from the twisted, its eye staring at the stump where half of its arm used to be. Its eye glowed with a menacing red light, but it completely missed, going off in some random direction. Rodger watched with a mix of horror and morbid interest. Does this mean, without his arm to direct the beam, his twisted version couldn’t aim properly? How interesting. Rodger would have to keep that in mind for when he updated his research papers.

But the twisted’s screech had attracted more twisteds to them. Not only that, but while Rodger had been watching the macabre scene, Toodles had apparently been working on the last machine. (Which was right behind him. Really?)

He could hear the alarm for the elevator blaring. They needed to go. Rodger grabbed the two smaller toons into his arms and began to run, desperately hoping the three of them could make it.

But as he got closer to the elevator, he could see twisted Goob running up from behind. They were so close, but he could see Goob’s hand coming up, reading to be thrown.

Rodger couldn’t let it end here. He had to get Shrimpo and Toodles out of here. He threw the two smaller toons into the elevator, right in time as he felt Goob’s arms wrap around his waist. He saw the elevator door close as he got dragged back. 

“RODGER!”

Well… at least his two kids could live a little longer. And at least they wouldn’t have to watch him die. Rodger was fine with that.

Chapter Text

Shrimpo was frozen. The elevator door was closed. Rodger wasn’t in the elevator. Toodles was clinging to his side, crying. His stomach hurt–not the kind of hurt that came from eating something bad, but the kind of hurt that came with hunger.

Shrimpo was still hungry. So. Very. Hungry .

He’d been hungry for a while, but no matter what he ate, he couldn’t seem to ever feel full . He started skipping meals with the other tools a while ago. If regular food wasn’t going to help, then what was the point in dealing with the exhaustion that came with dealing with the other toons? Then, he tried eating things that… shouldn’t be edible by normal , logical standards, but that hadn’t helped at all.

He didn’t mean to bite Dandy, but his hunger pangs were getting worse. Then, Rodger had stuck out his arm at Shrimpo, holding out a protein bar, and Shrimpo had bitten without thinking. And then, twisted Rodger had done the same, and there was nothing to stop Shrimpo.

And yet, that arm had done more for his hunger than all that candy ever had. But Shrimpo was still hungry.

Oh. The elevator was open. Shrimpo dragged Toodles out, his head in a daze. Rodger was dead. What now? Was there a point in going on? Could the two of them really keep going?

But purposely dying to a twisted would be too painful. Shrimpo would know. Shrimpo didn’t want to subject Toodles to that kind of pain. But Dandy wasn’t going to come back for them–not after what Shrimpo did to him–so what choice did Shrimpo really have?

“HEY. TOODLES,” Shrimpo began, “WE SHOULD SPLIT UP. YOU’LL GET THINGS DONE FASTER THAT WAY.”

Before Toodles could respond, Shrimpo ran off. Shrimpo felt a little bad for leaving the little girl by herself, but… his hunger pangs were getting more painful. Shrimpo was about to make a horrible decision, he could feel it. He didn’t want to drag Toodles into his problems. And… if Toodles ended up dying, Shrimpo didn’t want to see that either. Despite the times he terrorized Toodles for fun, he couldn’t bring himself to actually hurt the kid.

Shrimpo’s stomach was stabbing him. He really wanted something to eat. Now.

…If eating twisted Rodger’s arm helped soothe his hunger pains a bit, then… would eating a whole twisted make him finally feel full? Maybe he could try. But… he didn’t want to try it on a twisted that could overpower him. 

Shrimpo could search around. He could probably find… somebody to eat.

Shrimpo began to wander around. He wasn’t really looking for anything, per se. Whatever came to him would come by itself.

Shrimpo heard a soft pitter-patter behind him. A twisted was following him. Perfect. Now, Shrimpo just had to lead them somewhere secluded–somewhere where he wouldn’t get jumped by another twisted.

Shrimpo ran over to a corner, turning to see- oh. It was himself. He was… Weak. Injured. An easy source of nutrients. It wouldn’t be too hard to just… kill him. Eat him. Feast on him.

Shrimpo waited for the other shrimp to get closer. Then, he lunged. His twisted self struggled, of course, but Shrimpo grabbed his head and slammed it back into the ground. Shrimpo kept slamming it, over and over and over and over , until the body stopped shaking.

…it was time to eat.

Where should Shrimpo start? The head? The tail? Maybe the arms? Or would the legs be better? Maybe Shrimpo should go straight for the torso. Hm. The head was the biggest part. If Shrimpo really wanted to sate his hunger, going for the head would be best.

Shrimpo lowered his head down and began to bite. The flesh was… oddly soft and easy to tear. It tasted of shrimp (Of course it did, Shrimpo was a shrimp), hints of metal and a dash of seawater.

Crunch.

Squelch.

Chomp.

Snap.

By the time Shrimpo was done, barely any meat was left on the bone. Pity, but at least his hunger was… mostly sated. He could eat a bit more, but he was fine for now.

A shrill scream.

Shrimpo turned his head to see Toodles looking on in horror. Shrimpo tilted his head. Why did she look so scared? Was something wrong? Did one of the twisteds hurt her? If one of them did, Shrimpo would go hunt them down, even if it meant getting hurt!

He took a step closer, wanting to try and comfort her, in his own way, but she began to run away. Was there something behind him? He turned again to go check, but as he turned, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

His mouth was completely stained with ichor, dripping down slowly to the floor beneath him. His arms were similarly stained, from the effort he had put into tearing the meat from the bone.

Stars, Shrimpo… Shrimpo looked like a monster. No wonder Toodles ran away from him.

Blare.

The alarm for the elevator sounded, but Shrimpo didn’t dare move. He deserved to stay here. What had he done? No, he deserved to rot on this floor, deserved to die here.

Shrimpo would stay here forever.