¡Racky!

Gardenview was quiet

It was a few hours after closing for the day, most staff had headed home already except for a few janitors and security guards.

The toons had been directed to their rooms as per usual, Astro however was roaming the halls.

He carefully navigated the building, remaining out of sight from the few staff around, until eventually he made it to the elevator. With a sigh of relief he selected Shelly’s floor and waited for the elevators decent, though, he didn’t let his guard down yet, he still had to make sure the place was empty and find shells-

You see, they had been wanting to meet up for a few nights now, but either one of them would always get caught and sent back to their room. To be fair it was usually Shelly but Astro was still going to be cautious.

Just then the elevator door opened with a rather loud noise declaring his arrival, if someone was there they definitely knew they weren’t alone now- So Astro quickly left the area, walking around swiftly but quietly, wanting to get away from the source of that sound and get a look around as quickly as possible but then-

“Astro!”

A voice cheered, though he couldn’t tell from where

“I almost thought you wouldn’t make it!” she added, the ammonite showing herself as she slid down from the skeleton display, rushing over to hug Astro

His face lit up seeing the toon “Shelly!“ Astro returned the hug, though after a moment though pulling away, which Shelly let him.

“How are you doing? Delilah give you any trouble about sneaking out?”

She shrugged, “She let me off with a warning, something about resting being important and following the schedules they give us-“

“-Rest *is* important Shells-“

“I know!! But like every toon stays up an hour or two later then they’d like us to sometimes its alright”

“But still, going to bed sooner and having free time in the morning is healthier”

“mhmm but how would i get to hangout if the morning staff is running around? Oh dang looks like we have to stay nightowls!” She replied playfully, nudging his arm with her elbow before walking over to a nearby bench. Astro rolled his eyes before following, taking off his blanket and placing it on Shelly before sitting down himself.

Astro was examining the fossil display as Shelly snuggled up in the blanket, though she quickly noticed his distant expression and tapped his shoulder, “How are you though? Everything still going good in the Astronomy museum?”

Astro blinked a few times, realizing he had kind of spaced out there- “I’d say its going good yeah, I’m alright and all the kids were all well behaved, nothing too interesting.” He muttered, then pointed at the dinosaur skeleton Shelly was climbing earlier “What’s that one called?”

Shelly immediately perked up at the question, “That’s the Brontosaurus!” She cheerfully replied, stopping herself from saying much more until Astro asked her to,

“You should tell me about it!” He leaned back on the bench, his gaze at the ceiling as he listened to the toon talk,

“Okay! Uhh The Brontosaurus was discovered in 1879, a professor at a college found it in the Morrison Formation Rocks in Wyoming, he thoughhhtt it was a new discovery so he called It the ‘Brontosaurus excelsus’ but they found out it wasn’t a new thing and its actually a part of the Apatosaurus family soon after!”

Astro thought for a moment “Apatosaurus family..? So like the Diplodocus..?” He recalled, glancing over at the toon again. Shelly had told him about it before and also he had seen it on a few informational posters around the floor, so the information was somewhat fresh on his mind to talk about.

Shellys eyes lit up at Astros comment “Yes! Exactly!” He smiled at that, seeing her so excited made him so happy, he loved being around her

“Do you know anything else interesting about it?” Astro inquired.

“Hmm well they’ve used other species bones in its displays before to help finish them because they couldn’t find all of its bones, not right away at least, its also believed they’ve never found a brontosaurus skull specifically-”

Astro perked up at the last bit “So that ones some other species skull?” He hesitantly asked, gesturing to Gardenview's biggest display.

“Oh- Nope! The one here in Gardenview is just a replica! That’s just what they *think* its skull would look like.” she informed him.

“Ohhh thats cool!” He exclaimed, then fell quiet again, not sure what else to ask about anymore.

... ... ...

It was quiet for a good minute, the two just enjoying being in each other’s presence again.

That was until Shelly broke the silence “You knoww I’ve told you so many facts about dinosaurs, but I don’t think *you’ve* ever talked to me about your interests!” She mentioned softly.

That was new.

“My interests?”Astro repeated.

“Yeah! Like, astronomy! Or I mean- whatever you think is cool to talk about!”

Huh.

He paused, trying to process what she meant.

“You..want me to talk about astronomy like I do to the kids?”

“Sure!!”

He let out a quiet laugh, the idea sounding a little silly to him. However Shelly looked at him a bit confused

“What?”

“I’m..just not sure I’m that great at talking about my interests” He admitted, but Shelly sure didn’t give up yet.

“Wellll, I mean, you don’t really know that until you try! It’s easy all you have to do is talk, and hey! We talk all the time! You got this!” She encouraged him, watching him with a very interested expression until finally he agreed.

“Well uh.. Geez where do I start?” He asked awkwardly, Shelly thought for a moment before offering an idea “You should tell me about Galaxys! I always thought those seemed cool.” She suggested, Astro was fine with that, sure wasn't his favorite thing ever but if Shelly was interested he didn't mind.

“Alright! So..” He went quiet for a moment, but Shelly waited for him, even offering him a small thumbs up in support after a moment. Which Astro just smiled at and looked away, trying to build up the courage to speak without losing his train of thought.

“So, there’s a lot of galaxy’s obviously, but we think there’s three main kinds, spiral, elliptical, and irregular.”

Shelly perked up, seeming very interested in the topic and happy Astro was finally talking :) Astro simply offered her a smile and continued on.

"You can tell what kind they are because of what they look like- I mean theres like math and science in that too but I wont bore you with that." He chuckled, thinking for a bit on how to describe they're looks when he got an idea!

"Here-" He started, scooting closer to Shelly and holding out a Hand, making one of his stars and manipulating it into a few shapes, until it displayed a swirling scene with a glowing dot in the middle. "Whoa" Shelly breathed, Astro just smiled back. "This is what a Spiral Galaxy looks like! Well- Its a spiral, surprise to no one" He muttered, with the flick of his hand the scene swearing into another Galaxy, this one seeming a bit more messy, though it froze for a second, Astro feeling like he was getting a little carried away already.

"Do you..wanna see more?" He asked, blushing a little from embarrassment. "-Yes!! Of course I do!! That was really cool- I had no idea you could do that, Astro!" Shelly said cheerfully, now snuggling into Astro's side as he continued the presentation, But not before wrapping his arms around Shelly and embracing her, letting her get comfortable first because he could sense she was getting tired.

After awhile, and after Shelly asking him to make a few dinosaur constellations. Shelly had Fallen asleep snuggled next to the toon, a content smile on her face as Astro made sure he had a nice dream set up for her. They stayed like that for awhile, but as the night progressed Astro knew he had to take his leave sooner or later. So he embraced her gently one more time before carrying her over to her floor's projector room, setting her onto a beanbag and replacing his blanket with one of the generic ones in there.

And then comes the sad part, leaving for the night. He stood there for just a moment longer before sighing "Goodnight Shelly." He whispered, then walked away, ready to get back to his room and get some rest himself, that was after making sure everyone else had good dreams too, unfortunately he had a rather long night ahead of him like usual, but he didn't mind too much. He got to hangout with Shelly again, and that made it worth it.

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(yay you read through it goodjob!)