A small short filler to separate everything. I'm having debates on whether or not I should start Ophelia's Creation day thing next chapter as Part 1. But that's not something y'all need to worry about. Just enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 38: Return to the Dollar Store
" This is absolutely ridiculous, Ophelia! RIDICULOUS!"
Dot looked at Ophelia sharply with an annoyed glare. The siblings and their nanny were out on the streets of Burbank. Ophelia had her arms folded and brow raised, unimpressed by the youngest's outburst and the pouts the boys were giving her.
" Yeah! Who accompanies somebody on a shopping trip for their own creation party", Yakko huffed.
Ophelia sighed," I can't just let you three walk around Burbank on your own", she reasoned.
The Warners had been very against her accompanying them on this short-notice shopping trip. Originally, the siblings were supposed to wait for Bugs to arrive but somewhere along the line, they got impatient.
" We're on a time-crunch nanny dearest", Dot said pulling out a cuckoo clock from her hammerspace," We can't wait on Bugs".
" Dot's right. We need to buy your party decorations and then threaten- I mean negotiate with our very special friend the baker downtown", Yakko said charmingly.
Ophelia frowned at the slip up but went on to ignore it. It was just the Warners being the Warners, she guessed.
" Cheer up, Ophelia", Wakko said clutching her hand," At least we're doing something besides destroying studio property or Plotz's new car".
" I would've preferred that over this", Ophelia muttered," And what do you three have against cars?".
" C'mon our grumpy mama bear. WE'VE GOT SHOPPING TO DO", Dot cheered.
Ophelia sighed in defeat. She had no idea why the Warners were so adamant on throwing her a creation day party. Not even Betty was ever this hyped about her creation day and the toonette had been her best friend for past of a century.
" Alright. You three have a list of things right?", Ophelia asked.
" Of course we do", Yakko said with a smile," Wakko, hand her list".
The middle Warner handed his nanny a scroll of paper. Ophelia's eyes widened as the paper rolled out, down towards her feet and then a little further.
" Uh hmph, okay. Not what I was expecting but... I was still kinda expecting", Ophelia said thoughtfully," How do you three plan to buy... all of this?".
" Like what we always do. Use Plotz's credit card", Yakko said flicking the card into existence before Ophelia snatched it out of his hand," Hey!".
" Not that I 'don't' don't approve of your methods of buying expensive items by using the account of a man I find personally unappealing but... don't these things have a limit?", Ophelia asked.
" You have a point there", Yakko said taking the card back," And if the failed order of that jacuzzi I wanted not pull through, that technically means we have reached its limit. Huh, who would've thought", he said gazing at it before pocketing it in his hammerspace.
" Looks like to me like we've hit a rough spot. No birthday party then", Ophelia said triumphantly.
" Maybe we should get you some glasses, our dear nanny. It's not over yet. We have a Plan B", Dot said tugging at Ophelia's hand as they walked on through the streets.
A man walking past had let out a small whistle as he glanced at Ophelia but fell straight into a portable hole while he wasn't looking where he was walking. A snicker from Yakko had said enough.
" Plan B for Bugs Bunny", Ophelia asked.
" More like Plan W for Wakko Warner", Yakko said as Wakko handed him back his portable hole," Plan D is where we get Bugs involved. But we won't be heading in that direction because I have faith in my little brother's skills. Wakko?".
" Yeah?", Wakko said turning to Yakko.
" What's the name of that store you bought the entire stock from back during filming?", Yakko asked.
" You mean Mike's Dollar Store?", Wakko said curiously.
" Uh huh. Wanna take a trip there and show off your skills, baby brother?", Yakko said with a grin.
Wakko returned the grin with one of his own," TO THE DOLLAR STORE!", he announced.
" Okay, I don't quite get this. Why a dollar store?", Ophelia asked as they walked into the large store.
" Because it's cheap and convenient. Plus it's a great callback to our old shorts from Animaniacs", Dot explained.
" Well more of a callback for Wakko since he went solo for that short", Yakko explained.
" You had your own solo shorts", Ophelia said surprised.
" Yep and one of them happens to be the Author's favourite", Wakko said proudly.
" I will never understand that girl's love for Potty Emergency", Yakko muttered exasperated.
" You're just jealous she liked 'Babblin' Bijou' and 'Potty Emergency' better than 'Sir Yaksalot' for that episode", Dot said snickering.
" Alright stop your bickering. The Author loves you three equally", Ophelia said rolling her eyes fondly," Now what's this skill Wakko has that Yakko's been throwing around until we got to the pagebreak".
Yakko smiled," There's no easy way to explain it so you'll just have to watch", he explained," The key is to make sure the cashier is a lazy bum of a teenager who's only here to get his parents off his back and has a low attention span. Bonus if he's been smoking pot five minutes ago and can't tell five from five hundred".
Ophelia blinked," We're not robbing the store, are we?", she asked.
" No no. We're not robbing the store. We're paying for our stuff. Heck, we'll even pay in cash", Yakko said confidently.
" Even if we did get everything on this ridiculous list, it still gonna look really pricey", Ophelia said skeptically.
" Hey, do you trust us?", Yakko asked.
" I do but what you're doing is making me question it", Ophelia said cringing.
Yakko smiled," Just relax. Wakko's got this. Now the one benefit of you being here is that you get to pick out what colour and style you want the item to be", he said.
" What if I don't want anything?", Ophelia said stubbornly.
" Then we leave the girly decision making to Dot. But don't blame me when your party is overflowed with the colour pink", Yakko replied.
Dot huffed," Have ye no faith in me, big brother?", she asked.
" Yes", Yakko replied bluntly.
Ophelia sighed," Why are you three so adamant on me having a party anyway? I know you love parties but even Bugs says this is a bit much for you", she asked.
" 'Cause it's not just a creation party. It's your goodbye party from us", Wakko explained.
" My Goodbye Party?", Ophelia said confused.
" You're leaving for ToonTown after your birthday", Dot said," We thought this would be a great excuse for a grand goodbye", she added.
Ophelia tilted her head," You three do know I'm coming back, right?", she said softly.
" Of course we do", the Warners said simultaneously, though Yakko's sounded much weaker than his siblings.
" Then there really is no reason for a party", Ophelia replied.
" Except for the fact it's your creation day", Dot said.
" There's that too but I already said I didn't want to celebrate it", Ophelia said.
" Can't we just do this for you to show our love and appreciation?", Yakko asked.
Ophelia's lips parted as if she were about to argue but opted against it. She merely smiled and slipped a small little smile onto her face.
" Fine, have it your way", Ophelia said exasperated in a fond way," Those rose banners look cute".
Dot grinned," I knew you'd see things our way!", she said happily," Now we need something to go with those banners...".
" Alright sibs, it seems we got everything on the list!", Yakko said voice dripping with satisfaction.
The cart was filled with different supplies, to the point where it created a near toppling tower. Ophelia eyed everything as it swayed precariously.
" I still don't know how we're going to afford all of this", Ophelia said trying to glare at the top of the mountain of things.
" That's why we said: we'll leave it to Wakko", Yakko said grinning," You've never really seen Wakko in action. This'll be a great taste for you to imagine what our cartoons were kinda like", he explained.
" And you're sure this will work?", Ophelia asked.
" This isn't the first time we've done it", Dot said quickly.
" Exactly. So Wakko, time to do your thing", Yakko said as Wakko straightened up and headed over to the cashier.
Wakko eyed the cashier before him. It was older teen, face covered badly with acne and bags were evident under his red eyes. A cigarette dangled from his mouth dangerously, the butts falling onto his pants, burning wholes through them. The teen made no reaction of the ruining of his pants.
' Definitely stoned', Wakko thought in a small amount of disappointment. But alas, at least this would work in his favour.
" S'cuse me?", Wakko said cheerfully as he gazed up at the teen.
The teen's eyes moved down to stare at Wakko," Can I 'elp you?", he asked.
Wakko smiled innocently up at the unwitting teen cashier, looking as if he were not about to stir up a lot of trouble.
" Everything in this store costs a dollar, right?", he asked blinking innocently.
Ophelia blinked in amazement as she stared at the Warners who had piles and piles of bags in a little red wagon as they walked through the streets of Burbank, passing by several surprised and envious humans.
It had been ten minutes since they left the store and Ophelia had yet to speak again after the whole ordeal.
Then a small giggle escaped their nanny's lips.
" Did we seriously just buy everything for a dollar?", Ophelia said shocked but amused.
" Yep! That's our Wakko", Dot said proudly.
" Well, the first time I did it, it was accidental", Wakko said embarrassed.
" But you still did something that sent Uncle Daffy losing his breath for ten minutes straight, so it was pretty spectacular, baby brother", Yakko said as he affectionately ruffled his brother's hair under his cap.
" Must've done Bugs proud that day, huh", Ophelia said cheekily.
" I did everyone proud. But mostly Uncle Daffy and Foghorn. They take me shopping once in a while because of it" Wakko said happily," They were really impressed".
" And I'm extremely impressed as well", Ophelia said placing a small kiss on Wakko's forehead," This reminds me of someone I used to work with. His name was Chuckles. Chuckles the Hyena. Swell guy. He always 'knew a guy' who could get him free stuff or things on sale. Chuckles would drop by some days with some brand spanking trinket and all we could get outta him was that ' he knew a guy!'", she said laughing fondly.
" He does sound pretty swell. And... someone I could get along with! Where is he now?", Yakko asked.
" Six feet under in ToonTown's cemetery", Ophelia said quietly," He died back in the Thinner War", she added.
Wakko frowned," We're sorry", he said sadly.
Ophelia sent him a small smile," It's fine, sweetie", she said reassuringly," He died helping innocent people. And that's the best way any toon like him would want to go", she said fondly.
" Do you miss him?", Dot asked.
" Yes but not as much. He was one of the few friends I had from my studio. He made very happy and comfortable. Plus he and Bugs got along swimmingly... extremely swimmingly... hilariously swimmingly", she said chuckling," Oh he and Bugs were a zany nightmare together", she added with a small laugh.
" Sounds like they were friends to me", Yakko said smiling.
" They probably hung out even if I wasn't around. I wouldn't be surprised. They had one core thing in common and that was they liked messing with Trickster... a lot", Ophelia said giggling," Oh the incidents and the threats that occurred afterwards...".
They reached the studio and casually walked towards the water tower. Ophelia eyed the tower of things again and spoke up.
" Y'know, I was never really excited for my creation day. But seeing everything that we've bought I may... or may not... feel just a tad bit excited for it", Ophelia admitted.
The ear-piercing squeal Dot had let out had surprised Ophelia, along with the crushing hugs the siblings wrapped her in.
" We knew you'd come around!", Dot said excitedly," C'mon, let's get this decorating thing started! We can have Bugs sort out the cake! This is gonna be the best creation day party EVER!", she squealed.
" ... And there goes my hearing", Ophelia said but smiled nonetheless," And while we do that. Let me tell you three the story of how Bugs and Chuckles decided Trickster would look better with hot pink fur...".
End of Chapter 38
In case I don't get part 1 out by Wednesday (and let's face it, I probably won't). I just wanted to say Happy (Almost) New Year everybody. And may your new year treat you hopefully, slightly better than the previous year. Have a good day/night everyone!