Hey! I'm back, bit of a lighter chapter this time and setting up stuff for the chapter ahead.
The cartoon mentioned is Person to Bunny. [1960] which is a Merrie Melody owned [I'm 90 percent sure] by Warner Bro's. It was directed by Friz Freleng.
I have included a translation at the end of Pepe's French lines.
See chapter one for the disclaimer and let's crack on.
Elmer had spent all night analysing and worrying about Robert's behaviour and what it meant. By about 4 o clock in the morning the toon had came to the conclusion that if, in theory, Elmer's own mother was ill and he had a small child to look after [Not that that was ever going to happen. Well...the child maybe, hopefully. In about the 90's...] he may be a little on edge as well. Although why Robert didn't just go to the on-site shooting range and do some target practice, the hunter didn't understand.
The next day Elmer had gone back into work with what could only be described as a 'knot of fear' in his stomach, though he did his best to hide it. That clearly didn't work because Pepe asked. "Monsiour Fudd, what izz wrong? You look as white as my stripe."
"I-i'm fine." Elmer said, blushing deeply.
Pepe shrugged. "If you say so...ah! Ma belle!*" He caught sight of Penelope and ran up to her, hearts whirling above his head. "Mon ange d'en haut!*"
Elmer watched as Penelope laughed and gave Pepe a hug. He couldn't understand it, Pepe was about the most over-the-top toon Elmer knew when it came to romance and yet Penelope seemed happy with it. Pepe got a bunch of roses out of hammerspace and presented it to the cat, who took them with a delighted smile. Pepe grinned and leaned in for a kiss but Penelope swiftly stepped back.
Immediately Pepe stopped and stood back. "Ah, I see. It was - how you say - worth a shot. May I hold your hand, mon cheri?*"
Penelope giggled and extended her hand for the skunk to take and the two of them walked off.
Elmer found himself smiling as he watched the exchange. That was the sort of relationship he would like. Maybe one day could he and Bugs could hold hands and walk down the street without fear of judgement.
The hunter sighed, wistfully.
Then suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped about two miles in the air, with a shout.
While everyone with a five-mile radius wondered what that noise was, Bugs jumped back in alarm. "Eh...what's up, Hunter!? Ya goin' for new record in high jumpin' or somethin'?"
"Oh, Bugs." Elmer gasped. "It's you. Thank Avery-"
A frown appeared on Bugs's face and he calmly took his carrot out his mouth and waved it like one would a cigar. "Who were ya expectin'? Taz or somethin'?"
By this point the older toon had pulled himself together a little and, shaking his head, he explained to Bugs that he'd just been lost in his own thoughts and hadn't noticed him.
The rabbit looked ahead and saw Pepe and Penelope heading into the reception area of WB. "Ah." He said, in understanding. "Don't worry, Elmer. Give it a few years an' we'll be able to do that."
"What?" Elmer gave him a small smile. "You'ww give me flowers?"
Bugs considered, gave an eloquent shrug and agreed. "Eh...soire, if ya want 'em."
A deep blush crept up Elmer's face and he gave a goofy laugh.
Bugs rolled his eyes fondly and slung an arm round the hunter. "C'mon, nimrod." He said, affectionally. "We've got a cartoon to film!"
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"And...cut!" Freleng bellowed through his megaphone.
Bugs dropped Daffy, chucked the fan over his shoulder and wandered off set.
"That was gweat!" Elmer said, excitedly running over to him. "Weww done, Bugs!"
"What am I - chopped liver?" Daffy grumbled, from the floor.
Elmer waved a hand dismissively. "Weww, I knew you'd be good!"
Bugs put a mock-frown and put his hand on his hips in an affronted manner. "Oh, so you had doubts about me?" He challenged, playfully.
Elmer rolled his eyes and gave Bugs a half-hearted punch on his arm.
It was then that Freleng called them over, congratulated them for their good work, and told them that as a reward for said good work they could pick one thing off the set to own permanently. This was not unusual, most of the directors gave the 'actors' the chance to take something from the set, it was just regarded as an extra bonus as well as their standard paycheck.
Bugs looked at the fan he'd thrown onto the floor and asked if he could keep that. Elmer wasn't surprised by this. Bugs tended to want to keep one prop per picture in order to add to the 'prop' room in his house which was filled with souvenirs.
Daffy demanded the microphone. Elmer did his best not to wince, he could just picture Daffy singing into it for the majority of the night.
"And you?" Freleng asked, turning to the hunter.
Elmer took a breath, he was being a bit cheeky with this question, but it was worth an ask... "Ewm...if it's alright, Mw Fweleng, would I be allowed to exchange the potential set souvenir with something else?"
Bugs and Daffy looked at him like he was crazy. Freleng looked surprised and asked him what he wanted. "It can't be more money." He warned. "That'll just cause major problems-"
"It's not money." Elmer said, wishing he wasn't being stared at by the other two toons. "It's...a suit."
Freleng blinked. "A suit?" He echoed. Elmer nodded. Freleng scratched the back of his neck and thought it over. His eyes darted around the room. "Well..." He said, slowly. "We could get round it, I suppose. After all we'll be drawing 'Mr Burrows' in during production. I suppose there's no reason why he couldn't be wearing a suit. Therefore he'd technically be 'on the set'...and even if that doesn't fly-" Freleng looked down at himself. "-I'm wearing a suit, so..." Elmer started to smile as he put the dots together. Freleng saw this and warned. "I'll have to check with the higher-ups. But, I don't see why not-"
Elmer face broke into a wide smile and he whooped, jumped round the room a bit and ended by throwing himself at Freleng and hugging him tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you-"
The director looked embarrassed and kind of patted the top of Fudd's head before pushing him away, gently.
After the three toons had been shoved out the door, Daffy was in disbelief. "We can ask for sthuff other than what was in the set!?" He said, in wonder. "Right, that settles it - next time I'm asking for a yacht!"
Bugs rolled his eyes. "Eh...good luck with that, Doc." He scoffed.
Daffy glared and went to give a snarky comment, but he was cut off by a cheerful. "Hi guys!" Penelope was coming along the corridor towards them. "How'd filming go?"
The guys told her it had gone well - Daffy launching into a boastful account of how he single-handedly saved the cartoon for being a write-off until Bugs snatched his beak of his face so he'd be forced to shut up - and then Penelope gave them her news.
"Mr Taylor is going on holiday!" She exclaimed, despondently.
Elmer's first reaction was to burst out laughing in a uncontrollable fit of happiness, which he quickly turned into a coughing fit when Bugs, Daffy and Penelope looked at him like he was mental, and Daffy's beak [still clutched in the rabbit's hand] broke into complaint.
"He can't! He wasth going to help me with my letter to Avery!"
Penelope took a nail file out of hammerspace and starting it running across her 'fingernails.' "You don't have to yell at me about it, it's hardly convenient for me either, and it's not even like he's going for a couple of days, he's going for a month." She gave a huff of annoyance and chucked the nail file back into hammersapce. "He was going to help me get a present for Pepe for next week. It's our anniversary."
"Eh...Oi thought Sly was going to help ya with that?" Bugs asked.
Penelope threw her hands out and said, excitedly. "He was! But then he said he couldn't, and he's left me in the lurch!"
"I'll come with you!" Daffy said, suddenly appearing at the cat's side in a turquoise dress, blonde curly wig and blue high-heels. "You can take me to that nice café place!" And he dragged poor Penelope away, still talking a mile to the minute about this café.
Bugs and Elmer watched them go, looked at each other in a 'what happened there?' manner, then simultaneously burst out laughing.
* mon belle = My lovely. mon ange d'en haut = My angel from above. Mon cheri = My dear.