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It all starts with a small headache.
Tisha’s sorting the cleaning supplies in her room when she realizes that something’s missing. She can’t quite find what it is at first, counting and recounting her wipes and brushes and feather dusters-
Ah, snap! Tisha snaps her fingers. That’s what she’s missing! Not just any feather duster, either, but her trinket duster!
…uh oh. That’s not good. No wonder she has a headache. She probably lost it on her way to her room. At least, she hopes she just lost it on the way back. That makes it easy to find. If it’s not along her path, though, there’s gonna be a problem.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
Tisha starts pacing back and forth, remembering her path to her room. Unfortunately, it seems she went just about everywhere she could. What a shame. She’ll just have to check every floor, then. Should be easy enough.
She heads out of her room… and gets immediately spotted by a certain teacup.
“Tisha?”
The tissue box turns around to greet her, waving at her with a smile.
“Hello, Teagan!”
Teagan returns the wave before glancing towards her door. “What are you doing out so late? It’s getting close to 9.”
“Oh, I lost my feather duster a couple floors up. Or down. Or some other direction.” She smiles wider. “But I’ll be back before curfew.”
“...hm. Well, if you’re sure. Just be quick, alright?”
Tisha nods, bowing before turning away. “I’ll be quick! Don’t you worry a bit.”
And just like that, she’s on the hunt. Scanning every room she comes by, Tisha’s forced to use an elevator not too long after starting her search. She skips the other Toon floors, instead going to the lobby. It’s the best place for her to begin the floor-by-floor investigation.
The lobby is, as expected, mostly empty. In fact, the only other Toon there is Dandy, but he’s busy closing up his shop. This doesn’t stop him from snatching Tisha’s attention, though, and she walks up to the desk, ringing the convenient little bell.
Dandy turns from where he was stacking his Toon licenses, glancing over to Tisha with a big, albeit strained, grin.
“Hey, Tisha! What are you doing here…? It’s almost curfew.”
“I know…” She looks away towards the rest of the lobby, quickly checking. “I lost my feather duster, so I’m trying to find it. I don’t plan to stay out for long.” She pauses. “...speaking of which, have you seen it around?”
“That old thing? Hmm.” Dandy puts a hand to his chin. “Now that I’m thinking, I might just have it somewhere around here.”
He starts searching through his already-packed boxes, eventually pulling out a familiar-looking feather duster. Placing it on the counter, he watches as Tisha picks it up. Once she glances back towards him, he makes a certain money-hungry gesture. She sighs, begrudgingly moving to grab her wallet.
“Alright, how much do I owe you for this?”
“Well, normally this would be a good… 500 or so? But since it’s your literal lifeline we’re dealing with here, I’m willing to sell it to you for half of that.”
“Oh! That’s… nice, I suppose. Thank you, Dandy-” It’s only then that Tisha feels her headache get slightly worse. She frowns, placing the duster back on the counter.
“...you nearly tricked me with that.”
Dandy smirks, grabbing it back to put with the others. “Hey, don’t blame a salesman for trying to snag a couple more tapes while he can.”
Tisha scoffs. “Not at the expense of my life, Dandy. If there’s nothing else aside from more tricks, I’ll be leaving. The day you deserve to you.”
“Aww c’mon, I don't get a good day?”
She ignores his call as she starts inspecting the area in more detail in case she missed it the first time. Tisha hears him grumble a bit before closing his shutters, softly giggling at his well-deserved anger. She checks under benches, behind plants, and around the tree, but nothing is found aside from dustballs and a few candy wrappers that she makes sure to throw away. Tisha does think she sees someone in the corner of her eye by the train, but they seem to disappear before she gets over there. If they were ever there in the first place.
Either way, Tisha’s forced to move on. She heads to the nearest elevator and picks the next floor up.
Once the doors to the cafeteria open, Tisha’s forced to squint. Fumbling for the dial by the door, she softly sighs in relief as it turns left and the lights dim. Fortunately, that gives her a clue as to when she lost her duster. That means she can skip a few floors.
Following her intuition, she skips this floor and the next three, dropping herself off at… an identical cafeteria. Huh. She forgot they had two of these. Luckily the light adjustment for one somehow affects the other, so she’s able to just walk out and start looking immediately.
Tisha knows that she was cleaning, so the closets and corners are easy places to start. They’re all clear of cobwebs thanks to her amazing work, so the search for little hiding spots is quickly over and done with. After that, she goes through all the drawers and cabinets in both kitchens. Twice. Still nothing.
Fruitless, Tisha decides to head back to the center area and do a quick sweep (heh) of the floor one last time before moving on. She hears the elevator door open and close, but heeds it no mind. Or, well, she wouldn’t have heeded it any mind if it wasn’t quickly accompanied by a voice.
“Hello, Tisha.”
She turns to see a certain shell in front of the elevator.
“Hey, Shelly!” She smiles as she walks over. “What brings you here? Don’t you know it’s almost-”
“Almost curfew, yes, I promise that I know. I was looking for you, actually.”
“Looking for me? Why?”
“Well, I was checking on everyone on my floor and just so happened to notice that you weren’t in your room. Speaking of which… what brings you here?”
“Oh, I just have to find my feather duster before I can head to bed. I won’t be much longer, though.”
“I hate to doubt you, but are you sure you can find it in the next 15 minutes?”
Tisha looks at a nearby clock. Oh jeez, it is only 15 minutes until curfew.
“...yup, I can do it!”
Shelly sighs, looking unsure with eyes wide and a very present frown. “Well, I would like to help you find it. If you don’t mind the assistance, of course.”
“Oh, there’s no need for all that. I can find it plenty myself.”
“Are you sure?” Shelly locks eyes with Tisha, causing her to squirm in place just a bit. “There’s not much time left, and two Toons searching is better than one.”
They hold eye contact for a moment before Tisha breaks it, glancing away. She could use the help, especially with the time limit. And she can’t say no to that face.
“I… suppose you could? You really don’t have to, though. I wouldn’t mind it if you just headed to your room and-”
“Oh, no, trust me. I couldn’t just leave you searching if I wanted to.” Shelly starts smiling again. Tisha smiles back, turning away to continue her search around the floor. She assumes that Shelly goes in another direction and continues in the direction she was headed before.
Which… actually, where was she going?
…
Ah, right! The main area to check around one last time. She remembers now.
It feels like Tisha blinks once and teleports a floor up. She must’ve zoned out during her search. That’s pretty bad. The exhaustion is starting to set in, too. Her legs ache more than they should, even with all the bending down and walking and standing she’s been doing. The lights are still too bright, and she feels the start of a tightening in her throat.
Tisha’s never gone this long without her feather duster, and for good reason. She needs to find it soon. She can’t afford to get much worse, especially with curfew looming just 10 minutes away.
At least the garage should be a quick check. Her duster tends to stand out against all the gray.
Another blink. This one, at least, seems to skip less time. That should mean she’s closer, right? Speaking of closer, she spots a certain splotch of beige leaving a marked door. Tisha ignores it; she has more pressing issues, and Shelly searching this floor means she should head to another.
…right?
“Tisha!”
The tissue box doesn’t bother facing her. “Yes, Shelly?”
“I believe I’ve found your duster…?”
Tisha perks up, now turning around.
“You found it?”
Shelly nods. “Yes. It’s in a staff-only area. Here, I’ll show you.”
“Alright! Thanks, Shelly!”
Tisha follows the shell through the door she just left…
…?
Now Tisha finds herself on the floor, dazed. Her head aches really badly, her limbs are sore, and she feels weak. How odd. Luckily, Shelly’s there to help her.
“Are you alright, Tisha?”
Tisha shakes her head as Shelly offers her hand, taking it to stumble her way into a standing position. She looks down at the floor, finding a small puzzle of ichor where she was previously lying.
“...hm. Well, do you at least remember what we were doing?”
“No.” The tone is a bit harsh, but Shelly doesn’t seem to mind the aggression. Her smile remains, at least.
“Well, we were looking for your feather duster when you… collapsed. Yes, you just dropped like a rock. I was so worried. But I’m glad to know that you’re doing okay.”
“My feather duster? Really?”
“Yes. I found it in here and went to get you. Right as we arrived here, though, you passed out.”
“...so where is it?”
“Over here. Strange spot, in my opinion.” Shelly gestures to the corner opposite some weird machine, where a feather duster lays. Must be hers.
“Oh, thanks.” Tisha walks over and grabs the feather duster. Its placement is nowhere near as weird as Shelly just said it would be; it’s lying behind a loose, ichor-covered pipe. Grabbing it doesn’t help as much as she thinks it should, but oh well.
“No problem. Now, I believe it’s time we both head to bed for the night. We are awfully close to curfew. Too close, I’d even say.”
“Okay. Goodnight, then.” Tisha watches Shelly wave her off as she makes her leave, feather duster finally in hand.
“Make sure to keep it on you this time!”
The clocks in Gardenview all hit 9 PM just as Tisha enters her room. The door automatically locks behind her, signifying the start of curfew. She can’t leave until 7 AM tomorrow, but she has no intention of leaving before then, anyway.
She places her ‘treasured’ feather duster next to her bed, where it belongs. At least, she thinks it’s where it belongs. Not like she’d know. Either way, it leans against her bed as she lays down and tries to close her eyes.
Emphasis on tries, because she can’t. Something’s bugging her.
She feels something hurting in her side. Tisha tries to move and find out what it is, but it seems oddly persistent. No matter how she turns and twists, it’s always her-
…wait. She moves to the left. Now her back aches. Turns to the right. Now it's her side.
Is it that darn feather duster?
Tisha sighs, standing up and moving it away from the bed before climbing back in. The pain is weaker, but still faint.
She moves it again. Better.
One final time. It’s basically across the room, but at least she can’t feel the pain anymore. Weird.
Curse what Shelly said about keeping it on her.
At least now she can go to bed.