🦐 Shrimpo (Before the AU)

Shrimpo is exactly what every Toon in Gardenview expects him to be: loud, hot-headed, stubborn, and perpetually irritated. He complains about almost everything, starts arguments over the smallest inconveniences, and rarely lets anyone get close enough to see what's beneath all that anger. Most Toons dismiss him as nothing more than the neighborhood bully, while others have simply grown used to his outbursts.

Despite his abrasive personality, his anger is strangely... consistent. It's familiar. Predictable. Everyone knows what to expect from Shrimpo, and in an odd way, that makes him easy to understand.

If he's yelling, he's okay.

If he's stomping around, he's being himself.

Anger isn't just an emotion for Shrimpo—it's become the foundation of who he is. Without realizing it, he uses it to keep everyone at arm's length and to avoid confronting emotions he's never learned how to process.

---

🖤 Shrimpo (After the AU)

After his emotional breakdown with Glisten, something changes.

At first, everyone assumes he's simply exhausted after finally letting years of bottled-up feelings spill out. But as hours become days, it becomes impossible to ignore that this isn't recovery.

Shrimpo never returns to normal.

The shouting stops.

The insults disappear.

His constant scowl is replaced by a small, tired smile that never quite reaches his eyes. He speaks softly, apologizes when he bumps into people, quietly follows instructions, and never argues anymore. He continues wearing Glisten's oversized pink sweater, almost as if taking it off never crosses his mind.

He isn't sad.

He isn't happy.

He barely seems to feel anything at all.

Conversations with him feel strangely one-sided. His responses are polite but short, often delayed by several seconds, as though he has to remember how to answer. He'll stare into space for long stretches of time, quietly observing the room without really looking at anyone. Sometimes he'll stand perfectly still for minutes on end, smiling faintly at nothing in particular.

The most unsettling part isn't that Shrimpo changed.

It's that he doesn't seem bothered by the change.

When asked if he's okay, he'll always give the same quiet answer:

> "I'm okay."

No frustration.

No sarcasm.

No irritation.

Just those two words, spoken with the same empty smile every time.

To the other Toons, this version of Shrimpo is far more unsettling than the angry one ever was. They never realized how much life was hidden inside his temper until it disappeared completely.

His anger is gone.

And with it, it feels like something essential quietly vanished too.