Chapter Text
The walk there was rough; the rocky road was far. Poppy and Boxten switched places from time to time, switching between pulling the red trolley and resting in it.
The humid weather came in slowly, but it sure as hell was persistent! The weather turned from the gloomy yet cool skies raining heavily, to an unexpected sandstorm– to the sun laughing in their toon faces. What the hell??
The toons usually had running practices in Gardenview from time to time, but compared to this? Those tests were nothing!
Not to mention, there was also this super annoying mosquito that tried to drink Poppy’s “blood” but passed out from the strange mix of ichor and bubble water.. Huh.
“How... many miles left?” A dehydrated Poppy asked, coughing.
“We’re almost there, Poppy. Just another few meters, I think…—” A tired Boxten replied, struggling to pull on the red trolley.
“Anyways, it’s your turn…” Boxten added.
Poppy disappointedly got off her spot on the red trolley, her knees feeling as if there were hard, rigid boulders attached, dragging her feet down and making it so it was damn near impossible to make a move.
Still, she walked as Boxten rested.
Until..
Poppy, who could barely see at this point, spotted a strange shadow. It was wide but slimmed down on the top, and had a flag… Isn’t this kind of the shape of a circus tent?
“Boxten, look..!” Poppy turned her back very barely and patted Boxten’s shoulder with the small amount of strength she had left. She pointed to the circus in the distance, and shaked Boxten.
Boxten, who was sleeping through all the heat, struggled up as he was shaked by Poppy and squinted his eyes.
“H-huh..?”
“Oh, yay..!!”
They both tiredly gave themselves a small pat on the back, and walked into the backstage– ready to meet their friends. They only knew that RND was there, but were excited in hopes of meeting some other toons after a long week of barely surviving through small scraps of food at the dump.
As they went in, they felt the soft cool wind of the backstage’s AC blow into their direction… How relaxing… It felt so refreshing, after the ages of humidity outside. They felt like stray cats after a heatwave being taken into a safe home…
“Aaahh… This is the life, Boxten!” Poppy said, as she fell onto the rug, nearly passing out– nuzzling her face onto the cool rug.
Boxten struggled to pick her up, as he looked around the backstage area’s tools and masks… He walked up to the red curtains in the front, seemingly being the front stage where the performers were doing their work.
He pulled he and Poppy's red trolley to the front, and put Poppy down there to rest…
“I hope she has good dreams… Even after our argument.” He thought, patting his friend on the head and adjusting her bow.
Then, he unwinded his head, letting out his ballerinas to rest as well. He carefully put his palm out on the top of his head, slowly letting each wooden ballerina on and off.
“You girls be careful, alright? Don’t break anything!” He told them like the father figure he was.
The three nodded, and he smiled back in glee.
He then rotated his head to the read, soft curtains and peeked from backstage to see the ongoing performance. Luckily for him, it was just starting!
Razzle and Dazzle were the ringmasters of the Circus, it seemed— the front of the Circus, the main heads. One by one, they introduced the toons of the act.
Boxten couldn’t really hear them announce the toons from the back, but he could see their silhouettes move. A juggler, a globe walker, and an acrobat… Woah. It truly was amazing seeing them do their separate roles, the movement paired so well with each other, and the teamwork was phenomenal.
Suddenly, Boxten felt something hop onto his head.
Bounce!
Bounce!
Bounce!
The three ballerinas also wanted to see all the action, seeing Boxten so glued to the performance.
“Alright, alright!”
As the four viewed the performance, Boxten thanked them.
“You know.. If it weren’t for you three, we would’ve never come here and find the other toons here. Thank you guys…”
“This is kind of corny, sorry…” Boxten giggled.
The three ballerinas who were on his head all patted Boxten— Boxten didn’t know what they meant by that, but he smiled.