And here's part two 😁

The four toons just sat there in the middle of the hallway for a good few minutes, silent aside from Kassie's continues purring. That was how Andy found them. One look from his girlfriend told him everything he needed to know. She was gonna be there for a while.

Well, it's been a while since he'd last cooked dinner anyway. Better get started.

When Andy left, Kassie focused back on her kittens. Her kittens…listen to her, calling them hers while she was only supposed to be their caretaker.

Oh who was she kidding? She cared for the little ones like they were her own from the start. Maybe it would be fine as long as she kept the thought in her mind.

Anyway. They'd finally stopped trembling and seemed to have calmed down a bit. It was worrisome that a broken vase caused this. Just what went on in their mind?

She stopped purring and gently pushed the children away from her.

As soon as she stopped, Wakko's head popped up. "Hey, why'd you stop the rumblies?"

Kassie chuckled. "Sorry hon, but it's almost time for dinner and there's still a mess to clean up." Their ears drooped, especially Yakko's, at the reminder of the broken vase. "Hey, I'm not mad, remember? It's not like that was some super expensive, one-of-a-kind vase or anything." she joked.

As she cleaned the water with some towels she pulled from her hammerspace, she thought back on the book said about punishments. She quickly shook it from her mind, though. This had been an accident, besides… the panic they went through was more than enough punishment.

Now that the water was mostly cleaned up, it was about time to get the vacuum cleaner. Kassie told the children to stay put, not wanting them to injure themselves on the shards. The storage closet was only a few steps away, under the stairs. But when she turned back around, vacuum in hand, she found the eldest sibling bend over the shards picking at it.

"Yakko!" she exclaimed, speed-walking over.

The boy jumped up with a gasp. When the woman stood in front of him his ears drooped low and he barely glanced at her. As she was about to speak up, he showed her what he'd been doing

"I saved the flowers." he said sheepishly, holding up the bouquet.

Alright, you couldn't stay mad at that.

Dinner was pretty simple that day. Just some black beans and rice with a slice of pork on the side. In Andy's defense most of the food they had was in measurements for two people, so the fact he found something that would make a big enough meal for five was a pretty good feat.

The newcomers sure enjoyed it. There was a small incident where Andy and Kassie had to stop Wakko from eating his plate, but other than that it went alright. While eating inedible objects was possible for some toons, it wasn't exactly the most healthy. Maybe it would be fine for Wakko, but the duo rather not risk it yet.

After dinner the chores were split up between Andy and Kassie. Andy would take care of the leftovers while Kassie loaded the dishwasher. When she reached to collect Wakko's plate, though, he didn't let go.

"But I'm still hungry." he told her.

Andy paused his task of throwing out the leftovers while Kassie stared in disbelieve. Not only had all three gotten a second serving, but Wakko had also gotten the leftovers from Yakko and Dot's second serving. It was hard to believe he would still be hungry.

Andy had to chuckle at his girlfriend's confused face as he walked over with the food. "Well then, buddy. How much more do you think you can have?"

Which, in short, is how Wakko ended up eating every bit of black beans and rice, leaving an amused Andy and a shocked Kassie.

"Kid's got a stomach." Andy chuckled as he dried the pan Kassie handed him. "Look on the bright side. At least we won't have to worry about having too much leftovers."

His joke was followed by a splash of water and a yelp.

Kassie was buried deep in her book. Well, from an outsiders perspective at least. She was actually just staring blankly, lost in thought. She knew she would have to

talk to the Warners, but how was she supposed to explain it?

With a nervous sigh, she put the book down, catching Andy's eye. They both knew this wasn't going to be easy, but they had to know.

"Kids, can you gather around a little?" Andy called out, making the first step. "We need to talk to you."

With a little hesitation Yakko, Wakko and Dot gathered in front of the couches and sat down on the floor.

Kassie took a deep breath before she spoke. "Okay. Well, it's kind of difficult to explain." she trailed off. "You know how… how people always tell you that you're 'misbehaving'?" She made sure to use the air quotes.

"Yeah!" Dot piped up. "But we don't know what we're doing wrong. They never tell us."

"Well. The thing is… You seem to have NTS." Okay, that came out a little more bluntly than Kassie had meant to.

The children just seemed confused. "What's that?" Yakko asked.

Here goes. "It's short for New-Toon syndrome. It's a developmental disorder." Kassie explained. "Basically what it means is that you might see the world differently. I won't claim to know what's going on in your heads, but you seem to not always know that you're not living in your cartoon world…"

Oh, she hoped she was explaining this well… Though the frowned and confused expressions were telling her no. Well, no one said this was gonna be easy.

"What do you mean 'our cartoon world'?" Yakko asked accusatory.

Andy took over explaining that part. "It means the world you were created for." he told Yakko. "Like ours was a world where I'd get blown up on a regular basis and Kassie had to fight off flirty men daily."

"The real world isn't like that." Kassie said. "There won't be anvils dropping from the sky, or characters who will be unharmed after being blown up. Things that you break aren't just replaceable props, they're real things that will cost money to replace or repair." She really hoped they understood what she was trying to explain. "But there are ways to treat it. To help you three see and understand the line between your toon world and the real world better."

"So we can get rid of this TSN?" Wakko asked eagerly, only to be shot down by the adults both shaking their heads.

"NTS, sweetie. And no, it's a condition that stays with you. There's no cure, no get-rid-quick method. Only treatments to help make your mind clearer." Kassie told him.

Wakko slumped back down right as Dot perked up. "So, there's no cameras around? No fourth wall? No props? No angry men who treat us bad who we can get our special kind of revenge on? Our world was a lie?!" she cried hysterically.

"No, no, honey. That's not what I meant." Kassie quickly sat herself down on the floor and pulled her close. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make it sound like everything was a lie, sweetheart. Shhh…"

Andy joined the others on the floor, scooting closer to Dot. "I'm sure your world is great and beautiful and amazing." he said. "But just like our world, it only exists for television. Not to say that makes it any less real. I'm sure it's real in its own way."

"But it's not the right world. Is that what your saying?" Yakko snarled. "What? We're gonna have to live in your 'real world' by your rules and be what the 'real world' needs us to be?!"

"Yakko." Before Kassie could say anything else, the boy had stormed upstairs, hiding himself in one of the rooms if the slamming of a door was anything to go by.

Kassie made her way to stand up, but Andy stopped her. "I'll go, Kass." He smiled at her. "You've got your hands full already."

That's true. Dot was still sobbing and Wakko started getting teary-eyed as well. After helping Kassie, who kept holding Dot close, on the couch and settling a barely responsive Wakko close to the purring cat, Andy went upstairs to find the third member of the family.

Thanks to his sense of smell, he found Yakko pretty quickly. The boy was hiding out in one of the guest bedrooms. The kid wouldn't even let Andy get a word out before he spoke himself.

"So is that why you took us in?" he asked bitterly. "To- What? To change us? Make us normal without that- that NTS-thing effecting us? Like everyone wants us to be?!" Yakko raised his voice with every sentence he said. "Well, I got news for you! We like who we are- I like who I am! A-and we're not gonna let you change us!"

Andy just stood there and took it. "That's good then. We like you just the way you are too bud." When Yakko's expression turned to one of confusion, he continued. "Listen. No one is trying to change you. You can be as goofy and wild as you want to be. We only want you to be aware of the world around you." He put a hand on Yakko's shoulder, partially to comfort him, but also to make sure he didn't run away again. "It's not that we want you to live by the real world's rules, it's just that toon-world rules don't apply here. Imagine you're out there, dropping anvils on people. In your world, they'd probably just get squashed and bounce right back, wouldn't they?"

Yakko nodded.

"That's your world's toon-physics coming into play. But we don't always have toon-physics in the real world. If you were to drop an anvil on people right here and now, they would get seriously injured, kiddo. We just want you to be aware of these things, not change you." The dog petted the silent toon's head affectionately. "You're you. No one should be allowed to change that."

Yakko only hummed. When asked if he wanted to go back downstairs, the kid could only nod. So Andy led him downstairs, keeping a hand on his back to steady him.

The cuddle-pile was still where he'd left them, and seemed to be doing somewhat better. Dot wasn't sobbing and crying her eyes out anymore. Wakko still had tear-tracks down his face, but at least he was responsive again. And Kassie was still purring up a storm to try and calm her distraught kittens.

The moment Kassie saw Yakko, she held out her arm, inviting him to the unoccupied spot next to her. Yakko surprisingly took her up on her offer. The second he sat down he was pulled in a side-hug.

"'m sorry." Yakko muttered.

"No, sweetie, I'm sorry." Kassie quickly apologized. "I should have taken a little more time and care into what I was gonna say. I could have probably explained it better that way. You had all the right to be upset."

"Uuuuhhhhhh…. I'm pretty sure we- I would've reacted the same way no matter how you explained it." Yakko gave a wry chuckle.

Kassie smiled sadly as she nuzzled the oldest child. "Just so we're clear, I like you just the way you are. I've seen you three on the bus, in bath and when you were playing together in the living room. If that's who you really are, then that's who I want you to be." she said. "But if you can't be that yet, I understand. No rush."

"We just want you kids to be happy." Andy supplied, running a hand through Wakko's hair, under the hat. "You deserve that at least."

The kids were exhausted after all that, not surprising really. It was about time to head to bed. It wasn't until the children were taken upstairs that Kassie realized a problem. Their house only had two guest bedrooms.

'Well… I suppose I could split them up by gender? Dot having a room to herself with Yakko and Wakko sharing. Or maybe the youngest together and give Yakko a room of his own… Or-'

"What? No!"

Kassie jumped. Had she been thinking out loud? By the expression on the children's faces she would guess 'Yes'.

"We wanna stay together!" the siblings all said in unison.

Oh, her idea hadn't gone over well. "I'm not splitting you up, hons. It's just bedrooms."

"Can't we stay in the same bedroom?" Dot asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Well, the problem with that is that we don't have a bed big enough for all three of you." Kassie told her. "Two of you may just fit, but not three."

Dot batted her eyes a little more, trying to be as cute as possible. "Pleeaase?"

Seeing she had no choice, Kassie gave in, making a mental note to go buy them a big enough bed tomorrow.

So came the task of pulling the mattresses off the beds, dragging one of them from one room to the other, and getting the pillows and blankets. There. Their temporary bed was made…and too small. As Kassie was thinking of ways to change this, Andy came in dragging another mattress. He put it right next to the other two, as well as a spare blanket and pillow.

The Warners practically jumped in their temporary bed, reveling in the comfort, and were out like a light. The couple left the room after closing the blinds and turning off the lights.

Andy gave his girlfriend a quick kiss before grabbing his own blanket and pillow. "I'll take the couch tonight. Goodnight Kass."

"Goodnight Andy." Kassie whispered. She looked towards the door the kids were sleeping behind. "Goodnight…my kittens."

When I say 'toon-world' and 'real world' I don't mean there's multiple worlds.

A 'toon's world' is meant as the set they were created for and the physics that apply in there. I'd like to imagine that there's a lot of toon-physics in the set itself, so that even humans can use toon logic, like Ralph being squashed by an anvil and surviving.