Needless to say, I was still fuming. Even after a few hours of work to occupy my time, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. Plotz should have told me that he was planning on giving out private information. He was a hypocrite. Why make me sign a contract and swear me to secrecy and then all of a sudden go telling some random stranger that hadn't even got the job yet? It was a farce! I understood that he needed to be informed of the toons, if he was going to be in charge of everything then that kind of included the secrecy. But I was not company property. I was not a toon. I didn't belong to anyone. And I certainly didn't have to be welcoming to that prick.
He was too comfortable with it all. He was around my age, or at least what my age should be, and he was acting like he did this kind of thing all the time. It wasn't normal. When I found out about toons I was terrified, and even the second time I met them I was still ready for a breakdown. No one just walks into a toon full of flipping cartoon characters and just shakes their hands with a smile and acts like he's won the award for best actor. Sure, now I would but that's after two years of getting to know them and having them save my life multiple times. Him, Jared whatever, just wasn't right. None of this was right.
"I sink ve are done for zer day." Dr. S announced, sliding some papers into his desk.
"Oh, okay then." I replied without really taking much notice of what he said, "What do you think of the new boss? Doesn't he seem a little… passive about the whole thing?"
He sighed, "Isn't zat a good thing? He can keep a cool head in a new situation."
"Well when you put it like that, sure; but this isn't some funding problem, this is a full on conspiracy, something that no one is meant to be calm about."
"Vud you rather someone who vas completely unavare of zer situation und panic?" he challenged.
"No but… Hey I thought you were just as unhappy about this at the rest of us?"
"Zat's true und after all my service to zer studio I vood have at least liked a varning. Ja the system vas unorthodox und sudden… But, Mr. Richards has made a very good first impression und does look rather promising."
No. 'Mr. Richards' made a terrible first impression. Why? Because his first impression was just too good. I couldn't wrap my head around it. "I still don't trust him."
"Zats natural, after everything you're bound to have trust issues."
"They're not issues." I insisted.
"Talia, accept it. Zer last new arrival zat came along proved a threat to your family, of course you're scared zat it'll happen again."
"But how can I trust someone I know nothing about and yet they know all about me? A little unfair don't you think? And the same goes for you too, no doubt he's seen background checks on everyone."
"Ja… But, I'm sure zere vere reasons. Und you're in good hands viv me, you und your family are safe."
He was treading carefully and I appreciated it. "I'm just not happy with this and don't plan to put up with it. And as soon as Mr. Plotz comes back, I'll tell him so."
Dr. S chuckled, "He von't like zat."
I had to give a half smile, "Yeah well, he doesn't like me. Full stop."
He couldn't exactly argue with that, as much as me may try so that he could psychologically build my confidence or whatever he was trying to do. I felt a little better knowing that Dr. S was on my side about Plotz being irresponsible and rushed, and being so arrogant as not to inform anyone of his choices. However, I wasn't happy about him being so accepting to that Jared guy. No, it wasn't right, I didn't trust him one bit. Suddenly I remembered my promise to Flynn about no more secrets… He was not going to be happy about this…
Dr. S mumbled a goodbye and left me to myself. It was at least another two hours until I had to get my siblings from school, so I figured there wasn't much for me to do but go home. There was no way I was waiting around for the smarmy new guy to come in here. I didn't doubt he was lurking the corridors leering into other peoples business to see what else he could get. In a way, coming to the studio had been my way of having some security. Now it was infected. I tried to brush it aside as I headed out into the car park. After all, he if was going to be the new CEO, then that meant that like Plotz he was going to be too busy to bother the rest of us. Hopefully it would be like nothing had changed.
"Talia!"
My skin crawled. So much for nothing changing. Just as I was about to leave the building, that over-confident voice called out to me, "Yes? Mr. Richards?"
He smiled as he joined me, "It's Jared, remember?"
"Of course, how could I forget?" I said sarcastically, "So you wanted something? A birth certificate? DNA sample? You already have everything else there is to know about me."
"No, I'm actually here to say I'm sorry. When I first came here I really had no idea how much there was to this place and I definitely didn't mean to upset anyone. Plotz kind of just dumped all of this on me and I've kind of had to adapt really quickly. You know what that's like, right?"
"Exactly how long have you been here? Doesn't it take, I don't know, qualifications, to take over a company like this?"
"Two years experience, a degree in business/finance, an internship and the family having something hanging over Plotz to speed things along?" he offered with an irritating smirk.
"How old are you again?"
He nodded like he understood it was a valid question, "Twenty-three."
I scoffed, "Wow, it really is all about who you know."
"Look who's talking." He suddenly back peddled, "Okay, as I was saying; knowing about the toons was kind of 'company policy' but the employees business is their business. Plotz had no right to give me so much information without consent."
"No, he didn't. Just like you don't have the right to act so familiar towards me. You may know about my condition, but you don't know me. Just like you don't know the toons either."
He nodded, "Again, very true, but I want to. They're a lot more… real, then I thought they'd be. Or, well, you know what I mean, right?" Hmmm, maybe he had a late reaction to things. But I still wasn't buying it.
I regarded him for a moment, "You know, I'm not sure if it's refreshing or worrying for someone in your position to completely ignore the most reliable thing here."
"And what's that?" he challenged.
"Reality."
He smiled, "That's kind of generic. I always figured that reality depended on an individuals perspective." That was a brilliant answer. It irritated me. He continued by holding out a hand, "Why don't we start over? Jared Richards, nice to meet you."
I didn't take it. "Talia. Nice talking to you."
I left him in the door way looking deflated, "Can I ask why you're always the first to run off in a conversation?"
Turning around momentarily, I flashed him a fake smile, "Because I'm a flipping people person…"
He may have been apologising, which I kind of appreciated, but it still didn't ease my trust for him. From experience, people who knew too much too soon just caused trouble. Yet at the same time, he just seemed like too much of a tool to be a threat. Right now, I didn't care. I just wanted to get home. After a quick check to see if I was being watched, which I presumed I wasn't, I got into my car and buckled up. However, just as I was about to put my keys into the ignition, they had vanished.
I searched my pockets and bag but there was no sign of them. Now I know I put them away and I didn't take them out during work so they weren't in the office. Really? This is what was happening now? And so far this was the highlight of my day… Says a lot doesn't it? Suddenly, my fingers brushed against something in my bag that felt a bit odd. I pulled it out and found that it was an rust coloured rubber ball. Behind me, a rhythmic ching-ching-ching of metal against wood made itself known. I didn't even have to look behind me, it's fallen victim to this trick enough times to know what was going on. I just held out my hand expectantly.
"Give me my keys…"
"Why the attitude, kiddo? You said not to show up while you're driving." Yakko pointed out, removing the keys from his paddleball.
I wasn't in the mood for his games, "No sibs with you?"
"Nah, they're dropping in on yours. I figured you and I could have a moment alone…"
"Oh really? And why's that?"
My answer was given to me in the form of a whistle shrieking in my ear and him changing into an army helmet and camouflage jacket, "Training time, cadet! Onward march!"
"Yakko, tell me again why we're out here?" I asked with a little fatigue as we finally stopped walking through the middle of the wooded toon lot.
"Well you didn't want anyone else finding out, right? Well what's more hidden than a conspiracy?"
"And you're sure I won't hurt anyone here?"
"Positive."
I folded my arms sarcastically, "Then why are you hiding up in a tree instead of standing down here with me?"
He smirked down at me from his perch high over my head, "Uuuuuhhhhh-Compensation?"
I jumped and just managed to grab his tail to hoist him back to the ground, "Gee, you're support is overwhelming…"
"That's what I'm here for!"
Sure he was… Geez I just wanted to learn the trick so that I didn't ever have to use it, "Come on then, coach, how's it done?"
"Alright, braniac, how do you think it works?" he arched an eyebrow, "You're clearly the expert around here."
I huffed and tried to find the words, "I don't know… Abracadabra? Uh, just focus on something happening and wait for it to be real?"
He plucked a dart from the air and tossed it, hitting the far right of a target pinned to a tree, "Not too far from the bull's-eye there, kiddo."
"Don't sound too surprised."
"Why would I be surprised? You still got it wrong." He smirked, "That's your problem, you wait for things to happen, or at least just hope that something happens. Instead, just expect it."
"Expect it?" that really gave me nothing to go on.
He furrowed his brow in thought, "Uuuuuhhhhh-Say I heard you use the phrase 'it's tipping it down'. The context and the word 'tipping' would bring a water bucket hovering over your head to mind. And if I was bored and wanted it to happen, I'd just look and expect the bucket to be there…"
I was about to question his choice of situation when a noticed he kept glancing upwards and I clicked exactly what he was doing. My head tilted up just in time to see a bucket starting to sway above me. I ducked my head and raised a hand to give me some shelter from the upcoming shower, but instead the water simply splashed down around my feet. Taken by surprise, I looked back up to see an umbrella in my hand… Did I do that? Yakko continued his lesson as if he'd planned the whole thing. What am I saying? Of course he did…
"… then you would do something that you would expect to shelter you in some way, the toon reflex does the rest. Bada-Bing Bada-Boom." He nodded matter-of-factly, "But you loose points for posture."
Ignoring that comment and the momentary rush of self-pride that I'd managed to do something right, even if once again it was by total accident; I gave him a sceptical look, "It all seems a bit out-there still. None of this seems very technical."
He folded his arms, "You're talking to a toon, kiddo, technically this little exchange shouldn't be happening."
That was an excellent point… "So what you're saying is: I doubt it too much, that's why it doesn't work when I want it to?"
"You? Doubting something? Where'd you get that idea from?" he asked sarcastically, "But that's my theory, sure."
Theory. So this was just his interpretation of it. In other words: unreliable. Perfect. It didn't even make sense. So basically if I just stopped thinking about the inner workings of it and just went with it, then it would work better. Expect it and it will happen. Okay, that didn't sound too hard. It was the same as focusing on what I wanted to happen only just demanding it work right away instead of waiting for it. Simple enough, even if it still made no sense.
"But what about turning it off?" I asked, "The only reason I want to figure out how to control it is so that I won't use it by accident. Or at all really."
For a second, he looked disappointed, "Why wouldn't you want to use it?"
It really hit me who I was talking to here, or rather what I was talking to. A toon. Of course to him having these abilities was the best thing in the world and the fact that he was able to get away with it on a daily basis just made it all the more fun. By telling him I didn't want it, of course he was going to take it as a personal insult. I didn't hate him, I didn't hate toons and I certainly didn't hate what they did. But I sure as hell hated it inside of me. It was too unpredictable, it was a danger to myself and my siblings and it had turned me into something the studio felt it had control over. By taking charge and finding out how these abilities ticked, then I'd be able to repress them and try and have a half-way normal life.
Yakko leant nonchalantly against a tree trunk and shrugged, "Besides kiddo, you can't 'turn it off', as you put it." He used his fingers for air quotes. "Think about it; what do toons react to most? Humour. Someone makes a joke and we've gotta react to it in some way, even if it's not that noticeable. Sorry, kiddo, either like it or… Well there's your options."
"Seriously? So I'm just playing victim to anyone with a funny bone?"
"As entertaining as that would be; no." he shook his head, "That's the tricks of the trade; you get to pick your reaction."
"And how do I do that?" I huffed, my head starting to spin. This was all so much of a paradox and kept contradicting itself! How was I meant to handle this?
He smirked, "What, you want me to think of everything? You come up with something and then…" he moved his hands to indicate that I should finish the sentence.
I sighed, "Expect it?"
"Now you're getting it!"
No. No I really wasn't. But was that stopping him? Hell no. I didn't know why, but he suddenly assumed that I would be ready for more practical work. None of it made any sense! Apparently jumping instantly from place, or toon-speed as he put it, wasn't just about thinking of where you want to go. You had to picture yourself there and expect it to happen; but you had to make sure go for it quickly before anything else had a chance to pop into your head. Just like changing clothes wasn't about picturing an outfit because details just took too much time; it was just taking a look at what the event was and just letting your subconscious chose for you. According to him there was also a lot more that I'd be able to do, but we'd save that for another day. Lucky me…
And so we began. And I was hopeless… I tried to summon something as simple as an apple and nothing happened until my seventh attempt and all that appeared was the outline, eighth try was just the colour and ninth was just the outline with colour but still wasn't three dimensional. It was really like putting a cartoon together. I could make different aspects to it, but not enough at once to make it real. Clothe changes wasn't so bad, I guess. But that was a lot simpler. After I figured out that these toon tricks worked kind of like an animation studio, I just had to picture altering the tone and shade and then my top would change colour. Changing the actual outfit on the other hand, I didn't feel comfortable practicing in front of anyone due to fearing the worse… Toon speed was the hardest. Yakko tried to get me to jump from one part of the toon lot to the other just by picturing it. But how the tell was I meant to do that when the part I was trying to picture looked exactly the same as where I was right now? The amount of times he sped off to meet me at the aimed destination but found me walking at my own pace instead.
"Enjoying the scenery?" he asked from a branch just out of my reach.
I tried to catch my breath, "Sure, why not?"
"Fancy another try?"
"What's the point? We've been at this for ages and all I can do is turn my shirt from blue to purple and that's not that much of a big deal. Apples are basically holograms that blow away in the wind and as for this, let's just say I've got my exercise for the day." I exasperated, my wrist was really starting to hurt too but I didn't want to moan about that too, "Face it, I'm a lost cause here."
He smirked and then back flipped onto the ground, "Give yourself some credit kiddo, you're not lost, I know exactly where we are."
Puns… That's just what I wanted to hear right now, "Funny."
"And it's just your first real go at trying, Rome wasn't built in a day." He snapped his fingers, "Maybe it was built in a night instead, let's try this again later!"
My head was starting to swim, "Or maybe another day?"
"We've just started, slacker!" he rolled his eyes, "Come on, race you back to the car park!"
"Seriously, Yakko, I can't." why was the imprint stinging so much?
He gave me a playful shove on the shoulder which made me stumble more than it should have, "Congratulations, you used a word that isn't in the English language. I should know, I've sung every single one of them!"
It hurt so much, I couldn't stand properly, "No… I'm serious… agh!"
I grunted in agony as a burning pain enflamed in my right wrist and spread through my arm. The imprint was the darkest of jet I'd ever seen it, laying on a swollen bed of crimson skin. My veins around the area were raised unnaturally and a lot darker than usual. I blinked back a tear, triggered from the torturing sensation. Suddenly the flames shot through to the rest of my body. It only lasted for a fraction of a second, but it was enough to make me cry out and drop to my knees. I started coughing and heaving uncontrollably, my hand clasped over my mouth.
"You know I've heard of these sudden allergies to air." Yakko quipped, suddenly at my side and placing a hand on my shoulder, "Apparently they're not fun…"
To be honest, I could barely hear him over my spluttering. For what seemed like forever I was stuck like that, my wrist feeling like it had been coated in so much ice that it burned. Something foul tasting was forced behind my teeth and I had no choice but to cough it into my hand. Then, just as if it had never happened, the pain and spluttering stopped. I was left shivering in shock and unable to get up just yet. Slowly, my fingers uncurled from my lips and I examined what I had spat up.
I flinched at the sight. There, splattered along my palm and fingers was a thin, watery, black substance. My fingertip and thumb rubbed together. There was no mistaking what it was. Ink. I was getting ever closer to a full panic attack by this point. Yakko moved my arm so that he could get a better look. A single eyebrow arched and he titled his head.
"I'm guessing this wasn't part of your plans for the day?"
Was he asking a genuine question or just trying to lighten the mood and keep me calm? I didn't really care. I took a few shuddering breaths before attempting to speak. "Help me…" I rasped, my throat sore and tight.
He gave a half smirk and wiped away the ink with a handkerchief from his pocket before binding it around my wrist which was starting to inflame again, "I think you've known me long enough to know that I'm not going anywhere, kiddo." He supported my elbow and helped me to my feet, "We on the other hand are making tracks."
I still couldn't breathe properly and I felt like I was going to collapse again, "Where…?"
"What the heck is going on down here? It's like a warzone, what are you, a young Tom and Jerry?" yelled a familiar, elderly voice.
Yakko rolled his eyes, "Does that answer your question?"
I didn't care if we were going to Slappy's house, my house or the frigging White House, I just needed to be inside some walls. Walls meant security. Security meant safety. Safety meant that I didn't have to feel so sick and dizzy anymore. What was wrong with me? Why did it hurt so much? Why did this have to happen to me? I was trying to control it wasn't I? I was making an effort! So what the hell was happening to me now?
The burning pain was building up again and I had to kneel down again. Slappy had joined us and was trying to help me up again. It wasn't working though. I could feel myself becoming more of a dad weight by the second as my entire arm was red and scorched from agony. It suddenly shot right through my spine and wrapped around my mind. And that was the last thing I felt before it all went dark and numb. Blackness pouring into my vision like… ink…
A/N:
Yikes that isn't good. Poor Talia, she tries to ignore it and it happens anyway, she tries to use it and it nearly kills her! Don't forget to review! XD
Hope you like this chapter and please review! Now I'm going out of town for a few days on Saturday and won't be back till Tuesday so I won't be updating until then sorry, and I'm sorry for leaving you on a cliff-hanger! I'm evil, hehehe! XD So if I don't reply to any PM's or reviews, you know why but I'll get back to you asap, I promise! Love you, buh-bye!
