Alright, next chapter is here! Prepare for exposition, boys, girls, and those in-between! Quite a lot will be explained…
Obligatory Disclaimer: Animaniacs does not belong to me; it belongs to Warner Bros. Entertainment. (But my characters do belong to me! ;) )
"Alright, I know you got a lotta questions. Just throw 'em at me."
"Yeah, uh, why do you look and sound like our brother here?" The oldest Warner asked.
"Knew that was gonna be the first one," Luna commented. She smirked. "Y'see, it's our family's power. Passed down from generation to generation. We can shapeshift and make illusions of anything we want. As you can see, we usually use our illusions to look like other people."
"Wait! Can I show 'em, Auntie? Can I, can I, can I?" Vixie excitedly asked, bouncing up and down.
She continued to smirk. "Go for it, kiddo."
The fox smiled brightly. She faced her audience and jumped in the air, doing a backflip. As she did, her brown eyes glowed and her body glowed the same light purple as the force field. Her form began to shift and as she touched the ground again, she was an exact copy of Dot. The 'Warner sister' then struck a finishing pose. "Ta-da!" She now spoke with Dot's voice.
The Warners widened their eyes and raised their brows in surprise. As toons, they knew that it wasn't exactly out of the ordinary to see something like that. But they were mostly surprised by the sheer accuracy. She really did look like a clone of Dot, right down to the voice.
She gave a little giggle at their expressions. "Surprised ya, huh?" The Dot lookalike's eyes briefly flashed her natural brown color, and a purple aura shimmered at her head, traveling down to her feet. As the aura disappeared, the original form of the fox returned. She gesticulated to her disguised aunt. "It's just like with Luna," she spoke, now with her actual voice. "Right now, she's using an illusion to look like Wakko."
"How're you able to do that, anyway?" Dot asked warily, giving Luna the stink eye. "You have that cuff on you."
"And why me?" The middle sibling asked.
Luna arched a brow, looking between her and said cuff confusingly. "So.. this thing is supposed to prevent me from using my powers?"
The oldest sibling nodded. "Ah-huh. That's a toon cuff. All of the animation studios have 'em just in case a toon gets outta line."
"Uhh, what's a toon?"
"Oh, basically, they're people that were literally drawn and came to life," her niece explained.
Luna's brow further arched. "But wait, by that definition, I'm not a toon. I was actually born."
Yakko shrugged. "Well, you're definitely not human. Guess the cuff just applies to anything that's not that." He allowed a small cheeky grin creep up on his face. "By the way, the only people who can get it off are the guards and the higher-ups."
The victim of the cuff groaned. "Great." She turned to Wakko. "But as for why you?" She shrugged before gesturing distastefully at the cuff. "After I ran away from the guard that slapped me with this thing, I saw you running around, so I copied your form."
When Wakko went to the restroom, the siblings noted.
"So does that mean the cuff doesn't work on you?" The Warner sister asked, her voice wavering the slightest bit (much to her dismay).
"Apparently, it does to some extent, 'cuz I can't use any of my other powers."
"You can't?" Vixie asked, taking a concerned tone. "Not even shapeshift?"
The vampire shook her head. "Uh-uh. If I could, I wouldn't still be keeping this appearance." She gestured to her Warner body. "Heck, I probably wouldn't even be in this mess anymore."
The oldest sibling bent down to inspect the restraint. It didn't look any different from other toon cuffs. Yakko "hmm"ed. "It's probably defective, by the looks of it."
"Figures when Ralph does something right, he still manages to screw up somehow," Dot muttered. Internally, she was very grateful for what she had, though. The less power the vampire had, the better.
Luna sighed exasperatedly. "Great. So until I get this thing off me, I'm stuck as a feral fox."
Wakko brightened with curiosity. "So, can we see your actual form?"
His counterpart raised a slightly amused eyebrow and put her hands to her hips. "Well, if you want my actual form, you're gonna hafta wait. But I guess I'll show you how I look right now.."
The Warners had their interests piqued quite a bit at that. They weren't exactly sure what to expect. Well, if she was related to the young fox, then chances are she'll look like her, but they did just brand themselves as shapeshifters. Whatever she was going to present herself as at the moment, they would brace themselves for it.
The disguised vampire's eyes quickly flashed blue and the purple aura washed over her body. As the aura got to her feet, a fox not unlike Vixie stood in 'Wakko's' place. Compared to her, however, she was slightly bigger by about a head, she had black fur instead of yellow, blue eyes instead of brown, a red ribbon on her tail instead of pink, something white at her sides, and her bangs were curled on both sides, with the right side being longer and almost covering her eye. On the left side of her white muzzle was a dark birthmark shaped like a crescent moon. The toon cuff was still present around her right leg. The white figures on her sides spread out, revealing them to be bat-like wings that were quite large for her size.
The siblings found themselves to be at least a little pleasantly surprised. She was a vampire, but she didn't really look scary; in fact, the boys could even call her cute (although probably not in front of Dot, of course). She looked young, too, so she probably wasn't too dangerous. Then again, they themselves were young (in body, anyway) and what they've done spoke for itself. And she sort of attacked them earlier... looks can be deceiving, indeed.
"That better for you?" She said in her own voice. It was slightly lower-pitched than her niece's, but came out very growly and scratchy, as if she seemed to struggle getting it out. Upon opening her mouth, she also revealed four small fangs: two on each jaw, with the bottom's being slightly shorter than the top's. Dot winced at them. She realized that they were smaller than she anticipated, but she didn't care; not a few moments ago, they were that close to piercing her skin.
After getting the words out, Luna grimaced out of discomfort and put a paw to her throat, rubbing it. A moment afterward, she took on Wakko's form again. "But I think I'll stick to this for now," she said, his voice coming from her mouth. "It's easier for me to talk."
"But foxy here can speak just fine," the eldest noted. "How come you can't?"
"Oh! I can answer that!" Vixie spoke up. "So, yeah, these aren't our real forms, so we have to learn how to speak with them. I get the hang of it just fine, but it's harder for her, so she just uses telepathy; like what I did earlier when I flew, well, crashed, into you."
"Which I can't do 'cause of this cuff," Luna rolled her eyes. "So I gotta imitate someone else's form so you don't have to hear all the growls and stuff in my voice." She then arched an eyebrow at Vixie. "Wait, you tried to fly without me?" She asked dryly.
The fox grinned abashedly, to which Luna responded with a sigh. "C'mon, kiddo, you know better than that. You're still learning; you coulda gotten hurt."
She waved it off, turning back to the siblings. "Whatever, not important. But yeah, the illusions. That little barrier you saw when I did.." She briefly looked away. "that.. earlier? That wasn't real. I don't really even have the power to do that. I just made it look like it was there to try an' trick you long enough so I could feed on her."
The Warner brothers frowned at that reminder. "Hey, I said I was sorry," the vampire defended herself. "I didn't wanna lose control." The 'Warner' then crossed her arms. "But I'm not really sorry for having those feelings. I was hungry and I just go with my instincts.." She said, looking down at the floor. "I'm not gonna let myself starve."
Yakko's hardened expression changed; he had to sympathize with that at least a little.
His sister, however, was not as easily swayed. She crossed her arms and huffed, looking away from the Wakko lookalike. "Tch. The only vamp allowed to feed on me is my brother," she muttered.
Luna's ears twitched at that. "Wait, your brother…?" Dot's eyes widened to herself; she inwardly cursed herself for forgetting the vampire's enhanced hearing.
Luna looked at her brothers and walked to their general area. She stared at Wakko for a moment with a thoughtful expression before she did the same to Yakko. With Yakko, she suddenly perked up in surprise. "Wait a second.. you're a vampire too, aren't ya?"
A brief pause followed before he only nodded in response. She "mmh"ed. "I probably should've realized it sooner." The disguised vampire put a hand to her chin in a pondering manner. "I can sense some supernatural aura comin' offa you." She then tilted her head further quizzically. "It's kinda weird, though. Doesn't feel like it's.. there much, I guess." She "hmm"ed for a moment, looking over him, before it hit her. "Are you.. newly turned?"
"...Ehhhhh, just a little over a month." He rubbed the back of his head.
She let her mouth hang open in astonishment. "Wow," she said, circling around him. "I've never met a turned vampire before." She stopped. "So.. how do ya feel about it?"
Both him and his siblings' countenances turned into that of uncomfortableness. She noticed and let out an understanding "Ahhhh". "Don't worry, I get it. It's not always fun being a vampire." Then her tone shifted into something downcast. "Especially if you're a halfling like me."
'Halfling'? What the heck is that? They looked baffled. She slightly rolled her eyes. "A half-vampire," she exasperated.
"Huh?" All three Warners cried. There was such a thing as half-vampires? Again, the concept wasn't all that far-fetched to them, but they were still bewildered.
"Yep. Mom, vampire. Dad, mortal. Let 'em have a kid and boom, there's me. Well, if you want the condensed version of the full story, first, my parents had my sister, who was mortal, and then she had a kid." She thumbed to Vixie. "This one."
"Don't worry, I'm mortal too!" She beamed.
Before her aunt could roll her eyes amusedly, a loud grumble ripped through the set, causing her to make a pained expression before shutting her eyes tightly, buckling over and holding her stomach. The strain was too much for her, and she dropped to the floor, beginning to whine and shake uncontrollably. Vixie immediately came to her side, nuzzling against it.
The toons' features softened, even Dot's. Right, she's still hungry... It hurt for the siblings to hear or see any image of Wakko in pain, but it also hurt in a different way for Yakko. She's in the same position I was in that night… He thought.
However, her whines gradually became growls. The Warners' expressions changed from worried to anxious; her ravenous growls sounded very unsettling in Wakko's voice.
She lifted her head to look up and opened her eyes, revealing them to be glowing her own blue. Her disguise washed away, her original form in its place. She stood up on her four paws, arched her back, and flared her wings, assuming a pouncing position. She then unsheathed her white-colored claws and continued to growl hungrily, her focus solely on the Warner sister.
Dot froze at the sight of her eyes. Not only were they glowing, but her pupils had narrowed into thin slits. So much for not looking scary… She felt her heart start to race again. Yakko could hear it, too. He noticed the effects in her blood; his nose nearly burned from the sweetened smell of the added adrenaline.
Before Vixie could try to soothe her aunt, the vampire snarled and sprang at her target. In a flash and after a scream, Dot was pinned down.
Luna needed to feed, fast. She was just so hungry… She had waited long enough! She bent down to her neck and opened her mouth wide when she cried out in a mix of pain and surprise. Her planned victim's oldest brother had gotten her off by picking her up by the scruff of her neck and was now holding her away from him.
The vampiric fox saw her most-wanted meal run to the security of her other brother. At that, she angrily snarled and vigorously struggled in the other vampire's grasp, clawing and snapping her jaws at him, to no avail.
Yakko never thought he would feel sympathy—no, empathy—with a vampire as quick as he did at this very moment. He looked down at her and saw one thing in her eyes hidden behind the anger: desperation.
He didn't know exactly what was going on in her mind, but he knew that it wasn't too far off from what he dealt with. Well, think it's time I do one of the things I do best.
He caught Vixie's worried expression at her aunt. "Don't worry, foxy, I'll let her go," he reassured. "I'm just gonna talk to her for a sec."
He turned back to her, who was still fighting against his grasp, although she did so sluggishly and had begun to breathe heavily as she did before. Geez, you're a feisty little thing, aren't ya? "Hey, listen, Luna," he started calmly. He was immediately met with a swipe that aimed for his side, to which he barely dodged. "Whoa! Almost got me right there," he mused. "Anyway, I know I haven't been a vamp nearly as long as you, but I understand exactly what you're feeling right now."
He noticed her expression soften; good, at least she was listening to him. "I know you're starving, I know you're desperate, but look at what you're doing. It might not seem like it to you, but I think attacking someone out of hunger isn't worth it. So try an' calm down before ya do somethin' you'll regret."
A short silence followed as her eyes widened in realization and she let out a soft gasp. "I.. I'm sorry," she breathed out in her currently scratchy voice. "I'm so sorry!" She turned her head away out of shame. "I didn't mean to…!"
"It's alright, I'm not mad at ya. Dunno if I can say the same with Dot, though."
He gently put her down, and Vixie again came to her side. She noticed her despondent look and snuggled against her chest before affectionately licking her cheek. Luna smiled appreciatively and returned both gestures, wrapping a wing around her.
The Warners grinned at the sweet moment. Dot even allowed herself a small smile. To her surprise, she felt some of her fears wane when she saw the vampire actually display docility.
The black fox broke away from the embrace and casted her illusion once more, turning into the middle Warner. "..I'm sorry." She let out a dry chuckle. "It's kinda funny. I was hoping to get a meal before night hits, since it's Halloween. It'd be suspicious if I did so on Halloween night, wouldn't you say?"
Her attempt at humor failed, as Yakko's face contorted into one of concern and unease. His siblings' faces mirrored his; it was just kind of uncomfortable to hear someone say something like that so casually.
"So, got any other questions you wanna ask?"
With that note, he just had to. "...How do you deal with all this? Y'know, the whole 'sucking blood' schtick? Does it not bother you?"
The halfling sighed and shrugged. "I've been a vampire all my life; it's just natural for me. Really, the only part that I don't like about feeding is that I have to hurt someone." Her face then hardened as she turned to the oldest sibling, serious. "..But, er, Yakko, right?" At his nod, she continued, "Let me tell ya something. Feeding on blood ain't gonna be your biggest problem as a vampire. You wanna know what is?"
His ears pricked and his face shifted into interest at that, as if silently asking her "What could be worse than drinking another person's blood?".
"It's all the distrust people have against you." She then crossed her arms and took on a somber tone. "Everyone looks at you and assumes you're up to no good just 'cuz you happen to be a bloodsucker to survive. Just 'cuz I have to drink blood doesn't mean I'm evil...
"And half-vampires like me get it the worst." She sounded bitter now. "You're hated either 'cause you're part vampire or 'cause you're part mortal. So you're either too dangerous to be around or 'not worthy enough' to be around." She added a mocking tone to that last part.
The siblings couldn't believe what they were hearing. No way everybody would be that cruel… "..Not everyone treated you like that, right?" The middle child asked meekly.
"Oh, no.. I was spared by a few people, and my family." She smiled to herself. "In our family, we all loved each other, no matter what we were." But her smile dropped as fast as it had appeared. "But.. I guess all good times had to come to an end.. because someone else came into the picture…"
The toons noticed Vixie shift uncomfortably at that mention. They saw that Luna's face was now contorted a deep scowl. She looked up at them.
"If you really wanna know… to put it bluntly, most of our family is dead. And he's the reason why."
This silence was longer than the last. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot could only look on in shock; they didn't know what to make of that. Their family was dead? How could that be? Who was this 'someone else'? What did he do that caused their deaths?
But what shocked them the most was Luna herself. Even though she was trying to hide it, they could definitely see a few tears straying from her eyes. Vixie had already started nuzzling sadly against her.
It was at that moment when the Warners realized something.
She wasn't just a vampire. She was a little girl too.
And from the looks of it, she was one that got hurt a few too many times.
What happened to her…?
Another short silence passed before Luna shook her head and attempted to discreetly wipe away her tears. "But that's enough moping. There are other matters that are more important right now." She held a hand to her stomach. "I think I can hold off my hunger for a little bit longer.." Then she looked unfavorably towards her leg. "But what to do about this stupid collar..?"
The Warners looked to each other, pondering silently for a moment, before smiling and giving a final nod (the sister's smile was still a little hesitant, however).
They figured it was fine to help out a potential friend.
Yakko grinned at the disguised fox. "I…" he drew out. "...think we can help with that."
(Mid Page Break)
Plotz's office
Plotz sat at his desk, attending to business, although not at as much ease as he wanted to be. Great. I can't think straight when that vampire's still running around here. He sighed. This is not what this company needs right now…
To anyone with any common sense, it was surprising just how much precaution the usually rude and callous CEO of Warner Bros. took after the vampire attack. He was one of the people from the Animaniacs cast who was the most shook up about it other than the Warners. It almost seemed like he cared about those little annoyances.
"Hiya, Plotzy!"
He yelled, startled by the three uncomfortably familiar voices. Speak of the devil, I suppose…
He prepared to yell at them as usual, until he saw his audience. In front of his desk, he saw the Warners and two foxes. Upon further inspection, he saw the toon cuff around the black one's leg.
The CEO brightened up. "Oh, good, you've caught the vampire. Now we can get it out of here."
"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast, Thad," Yakko warned, wagging his finger. "See, the thing is, little Luna right here hadn't done anything wrong."
At the stout man's arched eyebrow, Wakko explained, "She was just on a tour of the lot with her niece and her dad."
"You don't hafta worry about her hurting anyone," Dot said. "She's actually not bad; who knew?" The CEO was very surprised to hear the Warner sister at the vampire's defense.
"Long story short, I think we all overreacted," the eldest concluded. "So we think it'd be good if you could take off the cuff."
Plotz saw the look on Luna's face. She looked and constantly shifted around uncomfortably; she practically looked scared. He slightly cringed, thinking of the implications.
"Er, I suppose we were being a bit too rash," he reasoned. Plus, I really don't want any potential lawsuits knowing we essentially assaulted an innocent child. "Very well."
He took out an electronic key from one of his drawers. He walked over to her and placed the key on the cuff. The cuff's creases glowed and the restraint made a confirmation-like sound, and he took it off.
Luna eagerly shook off her leg to release the pressure of the cuff. She smiled widely, slightly prancing around, before stretching her body every which way.
"Oy, finally! That thing was starting to hurt."
Everyone in the room (sans Vixie) jumped at the voice, especially Plotz. The Warners heard the same voice that came out of her mouth, but it was much more clearer than before. Now, they also noted the more tomboyish tone compared to her niece's.
She took notice of everyone's reaction, chuckling at Plotz's. "Guess that means my powers are back," she remarked.
"Apologies about this entire incident," the stout man said curtly. "You are free to go, young lady—" He stopped himself. "Oh, right, there's still the matter of your father. Not to worry; he contacted one of the personnel in charge of your tour and has been waiting here since." He headed towards the door. "I'll get him here so you can be on your way," he said, before exiting the room.
After he left the office, a realization hit Yakko's head. "Wait a minute, didn't you say your parents were dead?" He asked, facing Luna.
"They are."
At that moment, Plotz came back into the room with another male, saying "Right this way, Mr. Zen, sir.". He was a green, anthropomorphic hedgehog with purple eyes and tan skin. His attire consisted of a dark purple vest, black fingerless gloves, and stylized two-tone blue shoes with black tongues. He immediately saw the two foxes and broke out into a smile.
Both of the foxes visibly perked up. "Daddy!" "Daddy!" they yipped happily. They quickly ran over to him and literally climbed up him like a skyscraper, both taking their seats on either of his shoulders as they nuzzled against him.
"Hey, girls," he said. His voice was somewhat fruity; he was clearly an adult, but he still sounded quite young. "Thank goodness you're alright."
The vampiric fox looked back to the Warners. "Adopted," she quickly explained.
"So, did you end up getting into trouble again, Moony?" He chuckled, turning to Luna.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" she defended herself. "The studio thought I was dangerous for some reason, so they just slapped a collar on me that couldn't let me use my powers!"
At that, her father glanced at the CEO. Plotz felt himself shrink a little and laughed nervously at the green hedgehog's level glare.
"Oh, Daddy, it's okay," Vixie assured. "We met these guys and they convinced him that Luna's not bad." She indicated to the siblings.
The green hedgehog slightly raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her. "Is that so?" He warmly smiled at the ones she gestured to. "Then in that case, thanks, kiddos." The Warners smiled back.
He then narrowed his gaze at Plotz and crossed his arms. "And as for you, sir," he stressed. "I suppose I'll let it slide and give a benefit of the doubt." He then turned around and started walking to the door. "Alright, girls, let's go home," he sighed.
Luna turned her head around and flashed a genuine smile at the Warners. "Thanks for everything." Her smile then turned mischievous. "See ya around."
Vixie waved to them. "Bye!" And with that, the family left the room.
A quick silence passed as the siblings had a small moment of reflection at what had occurred. Afterward, Yakko pulled his siblings into a huddle with a knowing smile. "Well, sibs, now that that's outta the way, I think we should prepare for tonight."
I hope that cleared up some things! And for the record, I do have character sheets for my OCs. I would love to put them up on my bio so y'all can actually see what they look like, but I do not think I'm able to, so if anyone can help me with that, that would be awesome.
But we're not done yet! Until next time! ;)