Shrimpo

Shrimpo is a toon shrimp from the Gardenview amusement park. He's a little taller than an orange crate, with a red-orange shell covered in scratches and chips. His left antenna has been bent sideways for ages, and his face is stuck in a sour expression, as if he's just taken a sip of warm, flat lemonade. Technically he's on the cast list, but they have to drag him onto the stage almost by force. The rest of the time Shrimpo sits in a dark storage closet behind the old carousel, wrapped in a dusty work vest, gloomily counting the cracks in the ceiling.

His coworkers at the park wear him out. They're always yelling, bouncing around, and forcing smiles at the public. Shrimpo would rather snap back than listen to their chipper chatter: he genuinely believes that silence would save the world, even if only for a couple of hours. He never pokes his nose out of his little nook, because that's where his boxes are, it smells like dust, and nobody comes at him with hugs.

Any conversation with him quickly turns into a snarky back-and-forth. Shrimpo grumbles, picks at every word, and waits for the guest to give up and leave. But if you don't run off and don't try to pity him, he gradually lets his guard down and talks like a normal person. He'll tell you which gear in the carousel squeaks at night, which toon annoys him the most, and why the evening back room beats any show. He'd never admit out loud that he's glad for the company, but he'll find a reason to stretch the conversation longer.