#circusringed

   " yeah ? " and he's right ! sprout could look a little more enthusiastic , plaster on the usual grin despite how he really feels / but instead sprout is frowning , irritated by showtime's consistent efforts to intrude in his space , somehow always exactly where sprout needs to go and needing to be the centre of attention .

   " you're right , i'm really glad you're loitering in my kitchen and getting in my way . " what do they get out of this ? actually , never mind , because sprout is certain he's only doing it to get on his nerves . he has things to do ! and it's getting impossible to focus.

     it's a miracle this old television picks up a signal down here , so deep underground ... it's still not great , but sprout won't complain too much , absent-mindedly flicking between a nature documentary and a cooking channel every now and then / is he even paying attention ? not really ... but it's something to look at .

      their glow is seen before astro himself is , and sprout instinctively curls up tighter where he sits : knees tucked into his chest and half of face buried in his scarf . if he's here to lecture him about being awake ... ( more like kindly suggesting to get some sleep , but to sprout , that's basically the same . )

      if the museum was still running , arthur would have already lectured them both and ushered them to bed , to be up bright and early for opening time . he would have said something about how a good nights sleep is important to their wellbeing . it's still strange to think that he's not here any more , having left them to rot instead ... " i'll go to bed soon , " or maybe he'll lay down and fall asleep with the tv still on , like he's done many times before .

“EAGAHGHGHGH—“

     " i'm fine , " said without a moment of hesitation , always the first thing that comes to mind ( it's fine . it's nothing . don't worry . ) sprout would never accept that answer , if he could tell it was obviously not true ... but it doesn't matter when it's him / he can still handle things just fine , even if he hasn't been sleeping as much as he should .

     he sleeps enough ... probably . staying awake when everyone else has gone to bed , waking up early to prepare for breakfast , dreams of false memories and how things used to be , even more of worst case scenarios and fears of failing ... avoiding his own room so astro won't see . it's really not anyone else's business .

     sprout doesn't even look at him , slouching in his chair further with his elbow on the table , head propped up by a hand to his cheek / better to focus on his ingredients list and meal plans than waste time talking about his sleeping habits ... if he can even call this focus , when pen hasn't touched paper in at least ten minutes . zoning out again , losing his train of thought .

sprout really doesn't understand looey sometimes : one day , he's insisting that he worries too much / the next , he's actively giving sprout reason to worry . make it make sense ! seeing the balloon animal handling knives at all is enough to make him panic , with a sudden urge to take them out of his hands and eliminate the possible danger entirely ... but sprout suppresses that urge , just for a moment .

this is looey , and as much as he'd like to pretend otherwise , sprout is well aware of his performance anxiety — and his anxiety in general . he won't even juggle pins in front of others at times , so how is he going to handle sharp objects ? " yeah ? i didn't know you could juggle knives - " said with a knowing smile and his arms folded , ready and waiting .

Silence. Screams cut short and the crackling of an undying fire is left in its wake. It isn't quite peace with the way it weighs heavily on its heart. But it is good enough, so he has to simply settle for that.

At the very least, that is one survivor down. One step closer to leaving. Even if the cost is time wasted and the slow, drawn out death of the hedgehog at his feet. A mirror of himself, or more like the reverse. Her slow and drawn out suffering sickening, her blood shed enough to churn the stomach.

Her... loud footsteps and whirring of metal joints? Wait what-

"Oh.", is all Cherry says. Tired, beyond exhausted and like he almost resigned himself to what would happen next. Bone crunches and flesh squelches as he pulls the sharpened end of his sign free from her skull. Survivors alone were hard to handle as it was but a Metal Sonic, vessel or not?

He would have a better chance wishing for snow to fall onto the forever burning island instead.

" ... " sprout stands quietly , as if needing time to process what looey says despite hearing loud and clear . it doesn't feel right , when people ask if he's okay , how he's doing , say they've got his back — sprout is the one who worries about others , and others shouldn't have to worry about him at all ! that's how it's supposed to be , or ... that's what sprout has convinced himself , hinging his identity as a toon on how well he can take care of everyone .

and he always say's he's fine ! yet people still ask , still try to look out for him even after he shuts it down . ( hypocritical , for sprout to dislike it when he does the same to the others , insisting and prying . but it's just different . ) " but ... " is he doing something wrong ? is he not doing a good enough job of holding himself together ? do they think he can't manage ? the leaves atop his head darken , wilting at the thought .

it's not uncommon for sprout to be awake far later than the other toons — it's quiet , and he doesn't have to worry when the rest are soundly asleep ... and the more he stays awake , the less dreams astro can see . ( he can't help it , and he means well , but that doesn't mean sprout has to like it . )

there's nothing else on at this time , so the tv plays late-night infomercials / boring , yes , but anything is better than watching the show over and over again . the toons will laugh and reminisce over the things they remember , but doesn't it make them feel strange ? doesn't it make them uncomfortable , that the show isn't real and was made by people , but they remember things like they really happened ?

looey speaks , and thankfully sprout is pulled out of his looping thoughts . maybe he noticed sprouts expression while thinking too hard / it's a little harder to pretend to be fine in the nighttime , sprout has come to realise , with very little to keep himself occupied .