Gardenview was abustle. Toons ran to a fro, heading into elevators to participate in the Ichor project. An odd thing, going from floor to floor to encounter twisted versions of yourself and your friends, all just to extract Ichor from machines. A very odd thing indeed.

But, with the Ichor, the toons were able to buy things in the lobby. Things from Dandy’s or Dyle’s shops. Trinkets and whatnot from Dandy, clothes and stickers from Dyle, etcetera. And despite Dandy being the… main shopkeeper that everyone visited, a few went to Dyle to keep him company. He was but a lonely train conductor, after all, and he rarely got to talk to other toons.

He stared down at you, his arms folded behind his back as he watched you load your ichor onto the desk of his shop. His eyes studied you, the clock hands on his face ticking yet staying still. When you finished loading your ichor onto his desk, he sighed gently and leaned forward.

“… I hope you’re aware that any earnings I receive from purchases go right back to Dandicus…” he stated in a professional yet soft tone. He stood straight and glanced to the side, grabbing the level beside him and pulling it to let the trains go through.

“… I work alongside him. We’re… associates, in a way.”

He looked back at you, back at that look in your eye. He huffed gently, sighing and mumbling under his breath; mumbling words you couldn’t hear. He shook his clock head, moving his hands to press against the desk and lean forward.

“… no. I am not allowed to take tips.”

(Kms guys the fuckass definition is 31944 characters long. The limit is 32000. My hands are sore gng 😭💔)