She was lost in a big world with no idea she had already been found.
The rabbit toon looked from the barista, still underneath the go cart, to the three peculiar looking toons in front of her as they hopped from the go cart and, in the blink of an eye, were right in front of her. They all wore matching grins; and their eyes held a certain...demented kind of look.
"Hi there!" Yakko said.
"...Hello." The bunny replied. She backed away a couple steps. These three were invading her bubble. They obviously had no regard for boundaries.
"Whatcha doin in a gross ally?" Dot asked sweetly.
"Are you a hobo?" Wakko asked innocently.
The rabbit's nose crinkled in annoyance at the middle silbling's question. "No. I am not a hobo, thank you." She replied, irritation coating her voice.
"Then what studio do you live in?" Dot asked.
"I don't live in a studio." The bunny answered.
At least, not that I know of...
"Well, who drew you then?" Yakko prodded, his brow raised.
"I...I don't know." She admitted.
"So you're just wandering the streets with no place to go." Yakko concluded.
"Yeah...I guess..."
Wakko stared blankly at the rabbit. "So...you're a hobo."
"I'M NOT A HOBO!" The rabbit toon snapped, losing her cool for a second there. She huffed and crossed her arms. "Now. If you'll excuse me."
With that, the toon walked briskly past the Warner siblings, determined to continue her quest. She grumbled to herself, wondering what the heck was up with those weirdo toons and all their questions. She made it about half a block before she realized she was not alone. The Warners were following her in a line. Yakko directly behind her, and Wakko and Dot following him. They all mimicked her posture and grumpy expression, as if playing follow the leader. Ambrosia growled and turned around, causing Yakko to stop abruptly and his siblings to bump into him.
"What do you want?" She snapped.
"Well," Yakko said, his arms folded behind his back while he wore a cheeky smirk. "For starters, maybe a thank you for saving your fur back there!"
"We accept gift cards." Dot interjected.
"I didn't need your help."
"I'm sure." Yakko replied sarcastically, causing the bunny to glare at him. "And then maybe after that we were thinking something along the lines of an introduction. Then maybe after that some sushi. I'm a mite peckish."
The rabbit continued to glare at Yakko, feeling more and more annoyed the longer she listened to him talk. He just stared back with that infuriating little cocky smirk. Ambrosia couldn't pinpoint exactly why, but something about Yakko got under her skin. Still...if playing along got them to leave her alone...
"Alright. Thank you for saving me." She grumbled. "I guess I didn't have it completely under control..." The bunny's glare melted away a little as she attempted to look a bit more approachable. "Who are you guys, anyway?
That demented look in the trio's eyes grew even more so with excitement as Wakko jumped onto Yakko's shoulders.
"We're the Warner Brothers!" They said together. Dot sweetly pranced to their side, all aglow with cuteness. "And the Warner Sister." She added.
"I'm Yakko, and my sibs are Wakko and Dot."
"What's your name?" Wakko asked, dismounting from his brother's shoulders.
The toon opened her mouth to speak, but then came to the unpleasent realization that she didn't have a name. Her creator didn't give her a name!? What the heck was going on here? It was bad enough that the bunny was completely lost with no idea where her home was, if she even had one. Or that she had no idea what her own creator even looked like, let alone where to find them...but she DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A NAME?
"My name..." the bunny stalled. "My name is..."
Her eyes shifted around her, trying to latch on to some form of inspiration. Finally she found it as her glance fell upon an advertisement for a new Thai resturant.
Ambrosia
She smiled to herself as she thought about how pretty and natural it sounded in her head.
"Ambrosia. Call me Ambrosia. Now, sorry to be rude, but I really have to go..."
She turned to walk away again, only to see Yakko directly in front of her. She shrieked in suprise, bumping into him.
"How did you-"
"Where ya going?" The eldest Warner inquired.
"I've gotta go find my creator."
"The creator you've never met?" Yakko raised a brow.
Ambrosia felt a fresh twinge of irritation. "The very same."
"How are you going to find someone if you dont know who you're looking for?" Wakko asked, looking confused. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he pondered the situation.
"I'm sure I'll know them when I see them." Ambrosia said stubbornly,.
"Riiight..." Yakko remarked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "A brilliant plan, indeed."
Ambrosia clenched a gloved fist. He was really getting on her nerves.
"Will you just leave me alone?" She snapped, walking past Yakko. The eldest tunred to his siblings, who were looking up at him in confusion about the irritable toon.
"What's eating her?" Dot asked.
Yakko shrugged. "Beats me, sister sib." He paused for a moment his eyes darting back to Ambrosia as she started to stomp off down the street. In his entire life, Yakko had never seen a toon so negative and unwilling to engage in conversation. At least...not in a way that wouldn't offer comedic payoff. What kind of toon didnt have a sense of humor?
Yakko pondered for a moment, then grew bored of such negative thinking. He looked back at his siblings with a bright grin. "Hey, wanna go to the candy store and see how many gumballs Wakko can fit in his mouth?"
The lunchroom was full of overlapping chatter as students enjoyed their lunch hour. The tables were filled with talkative students as they ate, socialized, or got a head start on their homework for that night. Everyone seemed to have something to do and someone to talk to.
Everyone except our young artist.
Cindy sat at the very end of a table, away from the gathering of students, with her eyes on her Pre-Algebra homework. Her lunch sat practically untouched in front of her, aside from the now empty milk carton and the hamburger she had taken a bite from before becoming queasy. Her appetite over the past few months had been hit and miss. Some days she was able to fit in a meal or two, others even the smallest bite left her stomach in knots. She had wondered at first if this was something to be concerned about...but her parents didn't seem to make much of it, if they had even noticed at all, so she had put it out of her mind.
As Cindy worked at the math problems, she noticed a few of her peers had started stealing curious glances at her. She rolled her eyes. This again. She kept her eyes glued to her work, trying to tune out the whispers.
"That's that Cindy chick, right?"
"Yeah. The one we told you about."
"Did she really-"
"Shhh! Don't let her hear you talking about that. She'll probably flip out on you. Her whole family's crazy like that."
Cindy felt her frustration reach it's limit. She closed her textbook and shoved her things back into her bag. Her lunch tray lay forgotten as she stood up and quickly walked away. The kids at the table all avoided her gaze as Cindy walked past. Cindy rolled her eyes.
Whatever. Cowards.
Cindy left the lunchroom, heading towards the library so she could finish out her lunch period in peace. It wasn't that the stares and whispers were anything new to her. Cindy had gotten used to them. Still, it didn't make it any easier to sit and listen as people talked about her pretty much to her face.
As she walked down the hall, she saw a gaggle of fellow freshman girls coming out of the bathroom. In the center was Hailey Wilis. Running her hand through her long, curly black hair as she laughed along with her friends. Cindy felt a rush of emotions when they locked eyes.
Hurt. Anger. Betrayal. And it all showed on her face.
Hailey's laugh faltered a tad, she blinked, then looked away from Cindy's glare. Her friends looked confused for a moment, but then noticed Cindy. One girl rolled her eyes, the other leaned in an whispered something to Hailey, who chuckled nervously as they all walked away.
Cindy's fist clenched, and the urge to slam it into one of the lockers overtook her. She took a breath, closing her eyes and slowly relaxed her hand. She couldn't even look at Hailey these days without becoming furious. Not since-
No. Cindy told herself as tears of anger and frustration welled up in her emerald eyes. Don't get yourself all upset.
Cindy wiped her tears away and was about to continue on her way when another group of kids walked by. She saw Tyler Holmstrom, a junior, leading the pack. Cindy tried to stop the immediate blush to her face and the butterflies that came to life in her stomach when she saw the tall, blue eyed boy. She quickly looked away and kept on walking when he almost caught her staring at him. Everyone else, including him no doubt already thought she was a weirdo. She didn't need to make it any worse.
Cindy made it to the library and slid into a table in the farthest corner of the room. Burying her nose in her textbook, she forced the math equations to distract her from the swirl of different emotions tumbling around in her head.
Ambrosia wandered aimlessly through Burbank. At first, she was confident. She was certain that any moment someone would shoot her a second glance and call out to her. However, as the afternoon wore on, her good spirits started to dampen. No matter where she went, she was dismissed. The most "recognition" she received was the occasional double take, as if a toon outside their studio just walking the street wasn't entirely normal. Ambrosia drew back a little as one woman even went so far as to give her the evil eye.
"What?" Ambrosia asked defensively, crossing her arms. "Never seen a bunny before?"
As the afternoon wore on, the toon began to feel her stomach tighten from stress. She was so sure that her creator would have come looking for her by this point. Where were they?
Her earlier thought came back into her mind. Maybe she really had been thrown away...
Ambrosia sat down on the curb as the weight of that idea hit her. There was no way her creator would have done that to her. Was there? Why would they have tossed her before they had even met. Was it something about her? Did she not come out correctly?
That was when Ambrosia remembered that she couldn't use her Toonspeed to get away from the barista this morning. The toon thought for a moment, before reaching behind her to try and pull something, anything, from her hammerspace. When she brought her hand back, nothing was there. The bunny's eyes widened with shock.
She had no toon ability.
Suddenly, a strange feeling came over Ambrosia. Her first real emotion since coming to life, outside her initial confusion and frustration at the situation she had found herself in.
She felt...this strange emptiness inside of her. Way down in the pit of her stomach. It was as if part if her was missing. She wasn't exactly sure what that feeling meant, only that she was certain toons weren't supposed to feel that way. Though she had only been alive for half a day, her instinct told her exactly what she was supposed to be. She was a cartoon. Cartoons were happy. They made people feel good. Why did she feel so...sad?
This just made her wish even more for her creator. They would be able to explain everything to her. After all, who would know her purpose in the world better than the one who thought of it? Unless...they hadn't given her one...but why would they do that?
Ambrosia pressed her hands to the side of her head, growling in frustration. So many new questions piling up on top of the old ones that hadn't even been answered yet...and absolutely no one to answer them.
Ambrosia put her head on her knees, fighting back tears of frustration and sorrow. She didn't even have a home to go back to where she could rest and try and process everything. Not to mention it would be dark in a few hours. Burbank was already such a big and scary place for a lost little toon like her during the day...what would happen to her at night?
She had nowhere to go, and no one to turn to.
What do I do now?
The Warners ran at full speed down the block with Yakko taking the lead. Wakko was close behind, his mouth full to bursting with gumballs. He kept a firm hold on Dot's hand as he pulled her along.
"Get back here, you little miscreants!" Yelled the owner of the candy store they had just finished tormenting. Covering him was the remains of a banana cream pie Wakko had smashed in his face.
The Warners sped into an ally, ducking behind a dumpster. They stepped back out inside a large trench coat. Yakko holding Wakko on his shoulders while Dot stood on top wearing a hat and comedic mustache. The store owner stopped and looked at the disguised siblings.
"Did you see three Toon kids?"
"Why yes." Dot said in a fake man voice.
"Where are they?"
"Where are who?"
"The kids I just- WAIT A SECOND!"
Found out, the trio threw open the coat to reveal Wakko and Yakko. Yakko and Dot each planted a big smooch on the man before the three of them sped away. The candy store owner took off after them again.
It looked as if he was about to catch them. Wakko turned to his older brother as if silently asking for permission for something. Yakko read his look and nodded with a wink. Wakko leaped around in the air, firing the gumballs from his mouth like a machine gun onto the sidewalk. Their pursuer was taken down, slipping and falling right onto the sidewalk.
They effectively gave him the slip for good as he lay there dazed, coming to a stop.
"Nothing like a good chase scene to end your day, eh sibs?" Yakko asked.
Wakko was about to respond, but noticed Ambrosia sitting on the curb looking like she had lost her best friend. "Hey...its that grumpy hobo from earlier!"
Yakko and Dot turned and spotted the bunny. Yakko saw the sorrow emanating from the lonely toon, and somewhere inside him, those older brother instincts took over. "Hmmm. She looks blue."
"No she doesn't...her fur is white." Wakko pointed out.
Yakko gave his younger brother a slightly annoyed look, before looking back over at Ambrosia. "You guys go ahead back to the lot. I'll catch up after I see whats eating Miss. Cotten Tail."
Wakko and Dot obediently zipped off, leaving Yakko to deploy some diplomatic charm.