#ttccoc

(TW: Graphic description of needles and implications of suicide. It made me uncomfortable!! Also!!! Thank you so so much to @zedleaked for giving me permission to reference a certain fusion of theirs😋!!!!)

(Headcanons in this story: Mouthpiece has intrusive thoughts; Brian has insectoid features; one more that I’m not mentioning here because it’s spoilers)

Mouthpiece looked over at Leaf sleeping peacefully on the couch.

Her eyes wandered down to the plate of chocolate chip cookies she held with mitts over her bluish grey hands. She nodded, placing the tray of cookies on top of the oven and switching it off. “You must’ve had a rougher journey here than you let on, poor sproutling.” Mouthpiece knelt down, wrapping her arms around Leaf and scooping her off the couch. “You could’ve asked me if I had a bed you could use,” She teased, brushing a strand of pale green hair away from her pale face. “The cookies will be there for you in the morning.”

As she walked down the stairs into a surprisingly cozy basement with cream colored carpet, Mouthpiece turned the corner, and opened one of the doors down a hallway, revealing a room. One decorated with dinosaurs. Dinosaur toys littered the ground. Ah, guess he had forgotten to pick up before he left back to his parents. “This was Cassie’s old room before she moved to a different room. This room is Preston’s now.” Mouthpiece talked to Leaf.

Mouthpiece pulled away the covers on the dinosaur bed and laid Leaf down, tucking her in. She approached a dinosaur themed lamp upon a green wardrobe and clicked it on. When Mouthpiece shut off the light, the room was not dropped into darkness, but instead, the lamp decorated the black room with green outlines of dinosaurs. She smiled and left the room of her dinosaur obsessed grandchild. She hoped he went on to pursue the idea of dinosaurs. Maybe he could discover something incredible about them in the future.

Once back in the kitchen, Mouthpiece pulled out her rolodex of numbers to contact. Most of the cards had been white, only a few being a different color. Finally, she found a slightly different white card decorated with purple and pink strings patterned with a piece of music. Mezzo Melodyland Toon Resistance marked the card in toony but fancy lettering. She didn’t get this from one of the toons running the headquarters, goodness no, she actually found it on the ground, dropped by some poor toon who accidentally ran into her, scattering papers from their shtickerbook and dropping more than one gag on the pink streets in the process of jumping back to the playground. Mouthpiece never got to return this card back to that toon. She hadn’t meant to startle the poor thing.

Her phone went to the dial tone. Goodness, perhaps it was too late…

“You have contacted Mezzo Melodyland’s Toon Resistance, what’s the prob?” ‘Prob? How completely unprofessional. It’s no wonder why C.O.G.S have come so far when they talk like that,’ Mouthpiece’s thoughts whispered angrily but she took a breath to settle her nerves. “Excuse me?” Mouthpiece’s robotic voice ran through the phone attached to her head, “May I speak to Tango please?”

Panic rang back through the phone. Mouthpiece yanked her head away from her own phone as cacophony exploded on the other side. Alarms, yelling and eventually Mouthpiece being hung up on entirely with a sudden beeeeeep. Her head turned back to the basement door where her guest slept. She let out a sigh. She needed to bring her back. As much as Mouthpiece wanted to keep Leaf, her real guardian was probably worried sick. Her real guardian was irresponsible to somehow lose track of a child as loud and talkative as Leaf. Belle should keep her.

Shut up thoughts.

Mouthpiece dialed the number on the card again.

You could’ve told Mouthpiece that the cogs fully invaded the playgrounds and, she doesn't know, greening everyone but, the concept of this amount of psychosis over her simply asking to see one of their operatives was beyond her. She could hear people screaming and objects crashing. She cleared her speaker, and spoke gently, “I have a toon-” ‘Don’t phrase it like that! You’ll make them panic worse! Do you want them to think you’ve kidnapped a toon!?’ “H-Here. At my place. Sleeping peacefully, E-Emphasis on peacefully,” She corrected. “And I was hoping I could enter the playground. To, pardon, could everyone please stop yelling? I mean no harm.” Mouthpiece covered the end of her phone so she could let out a loud sigh. This was annoying. She didn’t hate toons as much as her fellow managers did, but this was still irritating. The panic came to a slow end. Finally.

“This is Belle Dama…” None of those poor toons will recognize that name. “Er, The Mouthpiece. From the Lawbots. I have a toon here at my place, sleeping in my grandchild’s bed, peacefully, and I was asking if I could enter the playground long enough to give her back to you. Two of my fellow cogs plucked her off the street because they confused her with Bigg- The Trophy Hunter. I would like to return her.”

The first voice she heard respond was from Tango, the exact person she was looking to contact. “We can’t trust that you don’t want to trudge in here with cogs behind you.” And then they hung up on her again! Mouthpiece couldn’t stop a loud huff from coming out of her speakers. No use in calling again. She turned the volume of her angry thoughts down so not even she could hear them. Even so, she could hear them bubbling loudly under the surface, like sealing a crack in a dam with cheap, plastic tape.

Perhaps she could try the other headquarters…

~~~

Mouthpiece crossed Toontown Central’s Headquarters off her mental list.

If she hadn’t gotten hung up on, she had gotten yelled at and threatened and what not instead! What a complete overreaction! She had a very sweet toon sleeping peacefully in one of her grandkid’s rooms, NOT being brutally tortured for information and begging for freedom, thank you very much, Will Lusion! And Mouthpiece couldn’t just keep her, can she? Not a good look for a lawbot, technically assisting in a kidnapping and taking a toon that had no part in the Toon Resistance. No thanks, she’d rather not have that on her record.

She…could try contacting her fellow lawbot managers and seeing if any of them were available to get Leaf back to the central…

So, Mouthpiece went through her rolodex once again, plucking each related number from the spiral and setting them down on the counter, placing the rolodex beside it and starting what would end up not being just one call. Mostly clean except for one that had some clear warping from rain.

~~~

Mouthpiece put her phone down on her head, slamming it just a bit this time.

“Belle. Why do you have a toon at your house? AT your house! We shouldn’t be trying to make friends with toons. And on the topic, I will not be helping get them back to their mommy and daddy, maybe next time they’ll think next time before wandering out at night. I have a gas leak at the house I need to fix anyways.”

“You’ve been letting it LEAK this entire time!? Cog dang it! I got repairs to get to!!”

“What’s the problem? As long as I don’t go inside the place, it’ll be fine.”

“Sorry Belle! I would but I’ve got an appointment in 5 minutes that I have to get too!” Mouthpiece fidgeted with her suit, skeptical, “At this hour…?” Her eyes wandered to the clock on the kitchen wall that read 11:59pm. Her voice dripped with uneasy trust.

“YEP! Sorry! Ask Kidd.”

“At this hour?” Mouthpiece restated.

“I’m a very busy body, Belle!” Courtney also restated. She passed the phone to Kilo.

“I just said repairs!! The stupid cogs behind my suit insisted they gave me more durability but it did NOTHING!!” Kilo ranted, continuing to rant, “I can’t just deliver some random TOON to the playground!! Not without the others! Never without the others! I’d be dismantled!! I ALSO NOW HAVE TO STOP MUNDIE FROM BLOWING HIMSELF UP WITH HIS DANG GAS LEAK!!”

"I mean, sure, if a toon goes in there, they’re screwed but we’re cogs, we don’t need to breathe.”

“IT’S STILL DANGEROUS!!” He passed the phone to Barry, not letting Mouthpiece even ask her question.

And Barry had court cases to sort through.

So Mouthpiece crossed them off her mental list and moved on.

She put the card to contact the Litigation Team back inside the rolodex and picked up the next card. Prester. Mouthpiece would…rather not contact him. If he even picked up the phone. Oftentimes someone had to sneak into the Stone and Iron District and climb up the tower in order to even notify the cog of a meeting. And even often-er times, he’d be trying to rile up a mob and nearly sic them on the poor cog who went up there to tell him. He seemed to have a magic talent for summoning cogs from behind him to flood off the side of the tower like a dang buffalo jump. ‘He’s also a massive jerk. A belligerent, angry jerk.’

Mouthpiece always felt a little bit bad for the cog who had to tell him anything.

The phone would ring but there was no response. Not on the second or third or fourth attempts either. Fifth? Still nothing. Not even a peep from Prester. ‘Probably riling cogs up. Again.’ Mouthpiece put the card into the rolodex again, considering tossing it in the trash beside the counter for just a moment. One card left on the counter. Misty Monsoon’s number.

The phone rang quietly throughout the house.

And Mouthpiece was left with disappointment again.

“Go…into the playground? Belle…it’s good that you’re trying to help a toon. It is! You know how much I’ve wanted to be friends with…t-toons. It’s just…I don’t think I’d even get past the lighthouse. Bessie has me…sort of…trapped on this pier. Says that I wanted to be around toons, then I stay on this pier, being fought. Constantly. She has toons on the look out for me if I try to land anywhere else in the Offshoring and Drilling District. I swear she keeps that lighthouse on all the time just for me…” Misty kept the phone close to her. “I’m sorry, Belle, I want to help but until Mary gets that cease and desist through, I can’t leave. I don’t want another piano on my head…”

So, that’s all of her fellow Lawbot managers unavailable…

Mouthpiece flipped through her rolodex, starting to scatter the cards at her feet and mess up numbers as her worry for Leaf grew. By now, Mouthpiece had moved to the plushy, cornflower blue couch in the basement. She made an effort to keep this place just as cozy as the rest of her house.

No one at the Boardbots was available, no one at the Bossbots wanted to poke the bees nest, Cashbots was…interesting…

“BELLE!!! I know ecthactly who you’re talking about!! The’th Leaf, ithn’t the? I talked to her earlier! I PLAYED with her earlier! I beat her in a game of Toono!!” Mouthpiece could tell Buck was bouncing on the other end of the phone. The two didn’t talk too often. “And the’th at your plathe? Did you get her to try your cookieth??” Mouthpiece chuckled. The tune-up…had messed up his sanity and voice just a bit but overall, he was still…himself, it made Mouthpiece glad to see him mostly recover from it.

“No, she fell asleep the moment we arrived at my house. Poor girl. She’s in Cassie’s old room right now, where Preston stays now when my children bring him over. Don’t worry, I plan to give her them before she leaves.” Mouthpiece took a moment to properly word her question.

And the answer?

“Oh, I, uh, I can get her to Thentral Oil Dithrict no problemoth, Belle! The playground ith…a different anthwer…” Duck Shuffler shuffled. “I don’t know any wayth in! Not me! Nope! And if they thee me ffffly in with Leaf, they’d probably attack me!! No thankth! Thorry!! Maybe that new hire can help you??” Mouthpiece hung up on Duck Shuffler, muttering a goodbye. She didn’t have Operator’s number yet, and last she had heard of him, he doesn’t like making calls anyway. Hurt his head. Judging even more from their last interaction, he wouldn’t dare enter any of the playgrounds regardless, horrified by even the mere IDEA of confronting any toons!

Time to try the Sellbots.

~~~

Bellringer was a no, in the middle of a late night fight supposedly. Pacesetter was also busy with something, a date actually (he was not happy about Mouthpiece interrupting). Multislacker was an obvious no but he said he’d talk to his dad about it. Unlikely. No point in waiting for him. As Mouthpiece attempted to sort the cards into numbers she had contacted and numbers she had not, one slipped onto the floor.

It was tinted purple, with overly formal writing on it. It was a number marked under Toontown Central instead of Central Oil District. There was no name on it, but if she had the number, high chances it was the number of a cog. Had she missed someone in her lists? Unless she accidentally stole this one too.

Mouthpiece cautiously dialed the number, rereading the card repeatedly to find any clues about whose number this was. No dice.

Ring…ring…

As the phone rang, Mouthpiece worried she was all out of options and would have to try to escort Leaf to the central herself. If no one picked up, she would have no choice but to either keep the kid and label her as another one of her grandchildren or she’d have to get badly hurt trying to get Leaf there and risk Leaf receiving the same treatment.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Mouthpiece stood straight instantly, collecting her cards and placing them back inside the rolodex. She tried not to spill them everywhere a second time. “Hello, this is Belle Dama,” Mouthpiece hoped the confidence in her tone would be enough to hide her lack of it.

“Belle? What is a lawbot such as yourself doing by calling me at this hour?” Mouthpiece could ask the same question of why he was awake at this hour to answer said call but she instead jumped straight to the point.

“I had a question. Firstly, there are rumors that you, at least I believe, if I’m calling the right person, that you are currently inside one of the toons’ playgrounds? Do I have the correct person?” Mouthpiece’s foot tapped anxiously.

“Why yes! It is true,” The cog boasted, “I am currently here, fixing up some more of those toons’ poor excuses of cogs. I keep stealing them when they aren’t paying attention. It’s almost comedic to watch them try to figure out why they keep disappearing and then reappearing ‘going off script’. It was quite unimpressive how terrible their security was and still is! I’ve been here for approximately 5 months and not a single dimwitted toon has tried to enter the basement or has figured out that I’m even down here!”

“That’s good. If it would be okay with you, I need you for something, I’ve tried calling everyone but they’re all busy with something else,” Mouthpiece lowered her voice the closer to the Leaf’s door she got. The cog on the other side immediately lit up.

“You need me for something? I knew my intellectual prowess would be needed! So ask away, Belle, what do you need of me? Lesson’s over for now, jockeys, I have far more important matters concerning me. Shoo! Shoo!” There was a minor mumble about repairs but they were cut short by the cog refusing to reply.

“Do you have a way to get back inside the playground should you leave?” Mouthpiece cracked open the door to Leaf’s room, checking on her guest. Still asleep.

“You insult me! Of course I have a way back in. Do you really think I wouldn’t’ve thought ahead and considered needing to take trips outside of the playground? I can’t just stay down here all the time. I still have a life outside of Cogs.Inc, Mouthpiece.”

“Good. Now the actual reason why I’m calling you.” Mouthpiece took a careful breath, sitting down on the cozy, cornflower blue couch once again. Here’s where her convincing skills would have to come in handy. She was a lawbot, convincing one cog should be easy. “I have this…”

Here it goes.

“Toon. In my basement. Asleep. She got pulled into a meeting because Ben and Jerry confused her for…” Mouthpiece thought over her words, the situation she pulled Leaf out of was still so ridiculous to her, “Biggson Gayme Hunter. Trophy Hunter. The newest hire for the cashbots.” The kind of cog everyone hated, including fellow cogs. The kind of cog who thought he was hot stuff as secretaries he tried to impress threw up in their mouths a little. “I was hoping you could meet me on Alto Avenue and bring her back to the Central Oil District. She’s awfully young for a toon to by herself. Told me herself that her parents disowned her. She's too young to be a part of the Toon Resistance, and therefore, is not a danger to Cogs.Inc, and has no right being held by us.”

The excitement dropped from the cog’s voice immediately. “Suddenly, it’s occurring to me how everyone was suddenly busy.” He let out a sigh, “And you said you already called everyone else with this proposition?” Pause. “How do I know this isn’t a trap, Belle?” His voice suddenly dripped with suspicion.

“None of the toons know or even bother to call us by our names. If I were a toon trying to trick you, I’d introduce myself as the Mouthpiece. Please, I can’t hold onto this toon forever, as sweet as she is, she most likely has a guardian, and they’re probably worried sick about her.” Mouthpiece thought for an extra moment, “I can give you a tray of my cookies if that’ll help convince you…?”

There was a horribly long pause in the conversation. Had she been successful? Probably not. The cog was correct, everyone was busy, not because of meetings and appointments and fights, but because they simply didn’t want to help a toon. Who would! They constantly get in the way of their jobs and stop them at every opportunity and blow up hundreds of the lower ranking cogs every day! No, hour. Possibly minute.

“No. That wouldn’t convince me. I’m far smarter than to fall for a simple bribing attempt.” There it was, the final person she had on the list also saying no, why did she even bother to ask anyone? No cog in their right mind would ever want to help a toon! They’re ridiculous, loud and rarely ever nice.

“I just don’t understand why you care about a…toon. Yes, a younger toon, but still a toon. This isn’t…” The cog wasn’t done speaking. He hadn’t hung up? “…Fine. Make sure you bring a blind fold. I don’t want this toon to see how I get in and have been getting in and out.”

Mouthpiece sat up. The answer wasn’t a no.

“I’m only doing this out of my own, ridiculous curiosity. Which I shouldn’t be. However, it’s a child and you’ve brought up a good point that a child has no business in the Toon Resistance and what Cogs.Inc does. I can be at Alto Avenue in 30. Be there.” There was another pause. “…And I’ll, admittedly, take some cookies, please…”

Mouthpiece nodded, “Of course. Of course. Th-Thank you!” She had intended to go tomorrow. She should correct the cog and say tomorrow but after everyone declined her task, she took the chance she was given. The cog on the other side hung up, letting Mouthpiece follow suit, dropping her phone back on top of her head. Her head looked over to Preston’s room. She had still been asleep. How many calls did she make? Hopefully Leaf had enough time to sleep. Mouthpiece checked the broken clock on the- oh, wait, no, that clock is broken. Mouthpiece checked her internal clock. 1:55am. Yeesh…she made more calls than she had realized. What was she still doing awake?

She got up from the couch and opened the door to Preston’s room.

Leaf slept with the blanket held tightly between her hands, using it less as something to keep her warm, and more like a companion. Her brow was furrowed. Like she was afraid, in desperate need of comfort like this. Mouthpiece almost didn’t want to wake up Leaf. She needed her sleep after all of this, but on the other hand, she needed to go back to the Central Oil District where she’d be safe. It’s safer there than in the Brass and Shipping District. Far stronger cogs were here and if they confused her for an old enough toon, especially a certain deer-like cog who could possibly be in a terrible mood after losing his horn in a combat, even angrier to see a toon be confused for his utter excellence, Leaf was as good as dead.

Mouthpiece clutched her chest, hand squeezing her emblem at the thought of this. Illegal, yes, but by the time the case was processed (possibly processed by Mouthpiece herself!), and Biggs was fired, Leaf would be long gone. Just a splatter of ink left behind on the pavement.

That visual was even less pleasant than the vague threat of Leaf dying in general.

“Leaf?” Mouthpiece gently placed her hand on her honorary grandkid’s shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. A shaky whimper slipped out of Leaf, “n-no…i don’t want to- to wake up yet…i don’t want to go back home…” Mouthpiece kept shaking her, sitting on the bed. She rubbed her hand on Leaf’s back.

“Leaf…it’s me, Belle, you’re safe,” Mouthpiece wished for just a moment that Bellringer had been here, his healing bell ability tended to only help with cogs but perhaps this once he could make an exception. Leaf started to stir finally, slowly sitting up. Mouthpiece removed her hand from Leaf. When she looked at Leaf’s tired face, she saw tears running down her pale, reddening cheeks. Her poor, hurting face. It made Mouthpiece want to call up the cog again and call off ever getting rid of her.

Mouthpiece caught Leaf in her arms. She clung onto Belle, sobbing into her blue suit. She was murmuring something but she couldn’t make it out, not even after turning up her audio processors to max. Except for one thing.

“I like you…you listen…I like the hearts around you…I wish I knew why they were blue…” Mouthpiece hadn’t the slightest clue what that meant. She pulled Leaf up onto her lap, embracing the crying child. She wished she understood what happened to her.

Don’t get distracted, Belle.

“I’m taking you back to Alto Avenue, I got someone who will be able to take you back to the Central Oil District. You’re always welcome back here, Leaf.” Leaf didn’t look up.

“even if…if i mess up…?”

“Mess up how?”

Leaf’s hand hovered over her chest, she didn’t finish her question.

“That’s ridiculous, of course you’re still allowed here. I will accept you no matter what you are. Cog, Toon, some undiscovered species, you’re still welcome here.”

“I wish my parents were like you…”

Mouthpiece brushed her hand gently over Leaf’s green hair and stood up slowly, giving Leaf enough time to stand up as well. “Let’s get going now, Leaf. Your guardian is worried sick about where you went.”

~~~

The streets were empty, dark too by the time Leaf and Belle arrived at the meet-up point, a random building named Tom-Tom’s drums. Leaf wouldn’t mind making some noise right now, maybe it would make this street less scary and awful. Mouthpiece looked down at her hand, she had been grasping a blindfold. Was she planning something? She wouldn’t hurt Leaf, right…? Don’t think like that, there is no point for Mouthpiece to harm her. Leaf can trust Mouthpiece.

“It’s cold…” Leaf hugged her arms around herself. Mouthpiece placed a hand on her back again, keeping her eyes transfixed on the dark tunnel ahead of her. She kept her light pointed at the ground but she would occasionally lift it up and around when Leaf urged her to, insisting she saw something horrifying in the dark. Perhaps Mouthpiece didn’t have a brain.

LEAF-

LEAF MEANS THAT IN THE WAY OF NOT HAVING A BRAIN THAT CAN PLAY TRICKS ON MOUTHPIECE!! WHICH IS A GOOD THING!! LEAF WOULD NEVER CALL MOUTHPIECE DUMB!!

“There are no monsters in Toontown, Leaf…” Mouthpiece’s voice snapped Leaf out of her panicked trance trying to convince itself that she had not been calling Mouthpiece stupid. “I know,” She started cautiously, “B-But- you never know for sure…”

A crrkrrcrrk echoed from the tunnel in front of the two. Leaf squealed, ducking behind Mouthpiece. From the dark tunnel before them, a strange cog emerged from the tunnel. Mouthpiece’s expression twisted. She was confused. Obviously Leaf had never seen this kind of cog before but she hadn’t seen ANY kind of cogs before. Mouthpiece however. She looked just as confused as Leaf was. Had she never seen this kind of cog before either?

What was Mouthpiece handing Leaf over to for safety?

Leaf had reemerged from behind Mouthpiece, not much more than before, just watching the cog.

It looked like it was made of craft supplies, at least its head, and not at all like it belonged to the voice over the phone. Unless there was another wave of new hires that Mouthpiece had somehow not noticed. It had an emblem but its department wasn’t marked on it, just glowing green like in the middle of a fight.

Then there was another, sneaking out of the tunnel in the kind of cartoony fashion one would expect from a toon. You know the kind of sneaking. Ironic considering every step these strange cogs made was accompanied by a loud cranking noise that sounded like Mouthpiece trying to call someone immediately after a battle with some toons.

“A toon would be quieter than you jockeys. How hard is it to not click and crank with every movement?” Grumbled a voice from the tunnel, finally emerging just behind the two cogs, the two acting almost like guards for the smaller cog. Adjusting his purple suit, the cog emerged from the tunnel fully.

He was smaller than Mouthpiece by a large margin, his head just barely reaching Mouthpiece’s shoulders. He wore professional black shoes (then again, so did most cogs), paired with deep purple plaid pants and suit. His emblem was of a graph. A sellbot. Mouthpiece HAD been forgetting someone from her mental list. Oopsy daisy…

His faceplate lacked a mouth and nose, having a bolt to look like a nose instead. Speaking of his face actually, it looked loose, turning this way and that smoothly without actually tilting his head. And now the part of his appearance that made Leaf squirm, holding onto Mouthpiece tighter and refusing to let go. The cog’s brain, held in a glass dome to avoid damage.

Leaf hid behind Mouthpiece once again.

He looked at the so-called jockeys at his sides, blinking a few times. The jockeys stepped away from him. “Belle,” He adjusted himself in a way that was uncannily living-like. Leaf squirmed again, every red flag in her head was screaming. “So you weren’t lying. That’s good. I had expected a trap of sorts.” He adjusted his tie, fidgeting with it before forcefully putting his hand at his side. Mouthpiece gently tugged Leaf to the front, keeping her hands gently on her tense shoulders.

“Leaf…” Mouthpiece started, glancing at the cog before her, “This is Brian, Prethinker, he’s not going to hurt you. He’s here to help you back to the Central Oil District.” Leaf’s expression didn’t change, pressing into Mouthpiece, her hands up at her chest if she needed to fight.

Prethinker bent down to get a closer look at Leaf’s features. Her pale skin, light green, short hair, weirdly tall height unlike most toons. Almost as tall as him (so he had no reason to bend down ironically). He gestured to her as he asked, standing straight, “Did you…shave it or something? That’s not a toon. If anything, hoping this doesn’t come across wrong, it looks like a perfect, weird blend between a toon and a cog, Bel-”

“WHY IS YOUR BRAIN EXPOSED TO THE WORLD!?” Leaf shouted, shoving herself against Mouthpiece, threatening to push her over as she pointed accusingly at Prethinker. Fear shot through Mouthpiece, even Leaf could feel it, she was certain Prethinker could feel it too! She held onto Leaf, horrified.

“Leaf- that’s not–” Mouthpiece scrambled to apologize to Prethinker who glanced at one of the strange cogs. “I am not going with him!” Leaf insisted, shooting behind Mouthpiece, glaring at Prethinker. “He looks like he’s going to run experiments on me!” Prethinker’s eyes flicked back to look at Leaf. She shook her head, muttering faint no’s under her breath. “I’m so sorry, Brian, she wasn’t like this before-”

“Funny, that might be true, never seen anything like you before.” Prethinker had a bit of a smile in his eyes that dropped with Mouthpiece glared at him. “I mean- I said nothing,” He averted eye contact with Mouthpiece. He fidgeted with his tie and stepped forward, standing over the still only-slightly-smaller-than-him Leaf. His foot tapped in a definitely-not-just-impatient way with short and long slides mixed in with taps. Mouthpiece put the blindfold away.

“Calm down creature, I will not hurt you.” He placed his hand out, “I come in peace.” His other hand fidgeted behind him, the jockeys staring at him. Leaf looked unimpressed. “I’m not a feral cat! You can’t just-…” Leaf sighed. She looked back at Mouthpiece with the kind of sorrowful expression that nearly broke Mouthpiece’s mechanical heart right then and there.

She took a breath, “Leaf, he’s the only one who knows how to get into the playgrounds. You’re going to have to trust him,” Mouthpiece stepped forward. At Prethinker’s side, she slipped the bag of cookies to him, a slight clicking could be heard from Prethinker. His mandibles. Hidden behind his face plate. Not many cogs knew about them except for a very small few who caught him using them. Not quite a regular cog-trait but no one questioned why he had them. Leaf’s expression twisted more at the sight of them.

“And I can’t just walk there by myself…?”

“Leaf. I’m not letting a 15 year old walk around in the dark. You got confused for a cog just now by doing that. It’s a miracle you didn’t get hurt!” Mouthpiece exclaimed.

Prethinker nodded, “Yes. And I would never harm a child.” Leaf squinted, swaying slightly. She kept glancing at Prethinker and then squeezing her eyes tightly and looking away, as if Prethinker was suddenly glowing brightly. Yes, his eyes glowed slightly in the dark but his eyes weren’t that bright. Strange child…

Leaf looked at him again and slowly nodded, “Okay…fine, I’ll go…” Mouthpiece let out a soft breath. She knelt down, lying on her knees. Leaf looked miniscule compared to her as she threw herself into Mouthpiece’s arms. “Thank you, Brian. I’m sorry to bother you at this hour.” Mouthpiece stood up, nodding to him and carefully guiding Leaf back to him. She even slipped a second small bag of cookies into Leaf’s hand.

Leaf twitched her hand out of Prethinker’s when he tried to grab it. Cold…

“Of course, Belle, have a good rest of your night.” Prethinker waved goodbye, hand still twitching behind his back. The desk jockeys got closer, protecting Prethinker? Or getting closer to Leaf specifically?

Triangles danced just outside of Leaf’s vision, not stars, triangles. Like warning signs.

Strange…

As Mouthpiece turned on her bright flashlight, heading back down the purple streets of Mezzo Melodyland, Prethinker snapped his fingers.

The two desk jockeys seemed…horribly confused before the one in the black suit wrapped its arms tightly around Leaf, enough to squeeze a scream out of her like one of her damn RELATIVES SHE HATED hugging her! Prethinker facepalmed and raised his hand, “NO! This is the sign for the bag!” He gestured to his left hand, snapping again with it, “My right hand is the- gah! You jockeys are worse than the toons!!” Prethinker shook his finger at the two of them. The jockeys looked pitifully sorrowful and the one in the black suit started to set Leaf down. The moment Leaf’s feet touched the ground, she kicked off of it. She swung her arms and broke free from the jockey’s arms. She stumbled on her foot, getting turned around in the dark.

“WHAT IS WR-? MFFH!” Everything went dark abruptly. Throwing her hands forward, she could feel the roughness of the burlap. A bag-! Her legs gave out abruptly. Someone KICKED her! Her feet were raised and the light outside cut out with a zzzip! “See? Was that so hard?” Prethinker’s voice scoffed. The desk jockeys didn’t respond much outside of uhs and uhms. He groaned. “Just pick her up and start walking. The sooner we get back to the playground, the better.”

Leaf crossed her arms, looking just crossed with this whole situation. When she felt the arms of the jockeys slowly attempt to pick up the bag, she flailed her limbs about, shoving at the bag and trying to pry apart the bag. The bag was roughly tossed over one shoulder and swung back forward. Sharp, horrible pain in the back of Leaf’s head followed this swing before she had time to take a surprised breath from the falling sensation.

“STOP! What are you doing!? Are you trying to KILL her!? Are you blind as well as deaf!?” Through her…daze, Leaf could still make out Prethinker’s loud voice (but that’s hard to miss anyways). “Did I say ANYWHERE in ANY OF MY SIGNS to do that!?”

Maybe the horrible feeling would fade if she…closed her eyes…

What…a bunch…a…jerks……

~~~

When Leaf finally opened her eyes, the back of her head still ached. Well, ached was an understatement. Leaf traced her fingers over the coarse grass underneath her. The sky above her was mocha brown, the sun must’ve just been rising. Multiple suns glowed above. Those clouds were…so weirdly shaped…and one looked purple…and…pulsating? What?

“Are you finally awake? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame your body for trying to sleep off obvious head trauma, your nose was dripping with clear liquid. It’s the result of a funny thing called severe brain trauma from a certain 2 morons who thought it was a brilliant idea to smash your head against the concrete,” The cloud looked up at something out of Leaf’s vision.

There was a muted snapping in front of her face, “Are you awake enough to talk? If you need to, you can sleep longer. Considering the factors, you probably do, but we’ll start with the easy questions regardless.” Leaf dreaded the idea of talking right now. Didn’t sound pleasant right now if she was to be honest.

“What’s your name?”

“L…eaaff…”

“What are you?”

“Hu…uu…man…”

“What runs through your body?”

“Wh…what?”

“Cogs have oil, toons have ink. If you’re neither Cog nor Toon, what goes through your body?”

Leaf lifted a shaky, wobbly arm up towards the suns. It fell onto her face, over her eyes, snuffing out the light above. Everything was still murky but her hearing started to clear up, just barely. What did she have again…? Something red? The word was at the tip of her tongue.

“Bl…Blood…?” She answered, voice wobbling. Was that correct? It’s…hard to tell.

“So that’s what those lawbots are always talking about…” The cloud hummed, something clicking out of view, “Would you mind if I took a small sample for further research?” Leaf recoiled as much as her dizzy self would allow her.

“I’m not going to use it for anything creepy like making a clone whatever horrors are running through your bizarre head. I actually quite enjoy my job as a sellbot and I’d rather not have even more on my disciplinary record alongside what I said to S.V.P Bravecog, experimenting with fusion, trying to buy gags, and what I did to Buck.”

The mention of Buck got a flinch from Leaf, “Y…You did tho…s-something to…to Buck?” The cloud’s fogginess finally faded from Leaf’s vision, just enough to make out Prethinker sitting on an old desk and munching a cookie in front of her.

“I offered to do his annual tune-up. Let’s just say, something went wrong. Before you ask, it wasn’t my fault Mr. Ruffler kept squirming while I was trying to fix him.” His voice didn’t line up with his weird mandibles. Leaf’s hand hovered to point before she could form the words. “I don’t speak with my mouth, I use my speaker like Benjamin, Holly, and Misty do. Any cog without a visible mouth really. Any other questions?” Prethinker glanced at something at his side, a needle, and then back at Leaf.

Leaf-

“Where do you come from? Nearly forgot to ask that alongside everything else. I come from way outside of Toon- the Central Oil District, somewhere in Suitopia and I haven’t seen anything like you before. So. Where are you from?” He hopped off the desk, picking up the needle, “And I ask again, if I may take a sample.” Leaf shifted uncomfortably on her spot in the dusty, dirty green carpet. She was never a fan of needles.

“Nothing bad is going to come of this. Think of it like an ink donation! You’re going to feel a small pinch and then you’ll be just fine.” Leaf held her head.

An answer.

She needed an answer. What does she answer with? Is she even in the right space to answer it?

Prethinker had got hard to look at again. She held out her arm and pointed at a discolored, blue part. “I think, from other times, you want to go for here? Though be warned, I’m not a fan of needles,” Leaf’s words came out of her mouth but it didn’t feel like she herself had wanted to say them. It felt more like she had briefly become a puppet, a doll. What a terrible feeling.

Prethinker slid off the desk, pulling the needle into his hand and carefully wrapping his other hand around Leaf’s wrist. The needle hovered above her skin. Leaf had no idea how much she truly wanted to play her arm away. She had to hold her breath and force her mind to think about something else. Her eyes darted around the space tryingly. There was a pinch and Leaf’s eyes finally landed on the torn up chairs in the room. This room looked like a large lecture hall. Yes, focus on that, ignore the needle in your arm.

Leaf yanked her arm back the very second the needle left her arm (somehow Prethinker was quicker to release his hand from her wrist). “I knew you were going to do that. ‘Not a big fan’ is an understatement I’d say, you looked ready to start panicking if you hadn’t grounded yourself.” He stood up, tucking the needle away. He gestured to the lecture hall around them, “It’s a disheveled place, much too undignified for an operating place but suppose it’s all I have. It helps that people rarely come down here so it rarely occurs to them that a cog may be hiding directly under the ground they tread on.”

“Is-”

“It’s a little ‘lonely’ down here but I have the desk jockeys down here with me if I need socialization that badly but for the record, I prefer to be alone.”

Leaf’s expression soured. “Could you stop predicting what I’m going to say and actually let me ask something myself?? It’s annoying…” Prethinker rolled his eyes. “It’s part of my job, I’m called The Prethinker for a reason. But if you insist I let you ask a question instead of telling you first, then you have the floor.” Prethinker gestured to Leaf, sarcastically. More like the Jerkthinker.

Leaf didn’t like this guy before and she still doesn’t like this guy after waking up from having her head slammed against the sidewalk. He was a bit of a snob. Understatement. He was a massive snob. Acting like he could see the future. Most aggravatingly, he had been correct about the questions Leaf had wanted to ask! She wanted to ask what he was doing down here, she wanted to ask if it was lonely! Gah!

“What even is a prethinker? I thought it was just some random- combination- of words but you’re acting like it’s some kind of real word! I’ve never heard of it and for the record, it’s kind of a dumb word.”

Prethinker narrowed his eyes indignantly. “It is a real word. It’s a word for someone, such as I, who thinks about all possibilities from a decision, both positive and negative. I should be disappointed in you for somehow not knowing such a word but you’re young, at least 15, so I will only blame you if you happen to forget.”

Leaf sighed. She had so many snide comments she wanted to make. Her eyes started to wander around the space again. Torn up chairs, too many spiderwebs, random gags placed on a shelf away from the desk Prethinker sat on, a pile of random books, and a blackboard covered in doodles. Ooo. Prethinker had gone back to eating the cookies, sitting on the desk again and it seemed their conversation was done. However as she approached the blackboard to get a closer look at the nonsense doodles on them, Prethinker hopped from his place and blocked her.

“Don’t touch those. I understand you’re a child but there are other things you can do down here while we wait for the sun to come up, if you insist on not sleeping.”

Leaf tilted over but he blocked her again. “Stop it. You may not be a toon but you’re still on their side, that much is obvious. And thus my plans are classified to you.” Leaf looked away, staring at the pile of books scattered in the corner on the dirty floor. They looked faded, old, cobwebs strung between them. Maybe she could feign interest in the books and get a peek of the doodles when Prethinker explained them?

Leaf moved over to the books.

But Prethinker didn’t move from his place against the blackboard. Dang, he really was smart. However, he had started correcting the doodles. Leaf looked at the board from her new place on the ground. On the board were doodles of a machine. One that claimed could control minds through…reverse engineering a lure gag or using someone else that Leaf couldn’t make out from behind Prethinker (‘LAST RESORT’ was all she could make out). In the corner, there was also a doodle of something else but Leaf couldn’t get a good look at it. May?? Like the month??

“I don’t think you can mind control toons,” Leaf’s fingers traced over the pages of the book as she mumbled. It had been filled completely minus a few slips of paper with faded writings on it. There was even a faded task covered with oil from someone named Judy. A cog actually. All of them incomplete. “Of course you would think that. However, you wouldn’t know so your opinion means nothing to my research.”

Leaf checked its first page for the owner of this book.

“All of those Shticker Books are used so I wouldn’t try using those. You can get a new one from Professor Pete upstairs.”

“It says it belongs- belonged to someone named Flora Shrewfoot.”

Prethinker snatched the book from Leaf faster than she could blink, tossing it somewhere into the chairs. He turned back to the scribbles on the board just as fast and continued writing. His writing wasn’t as smooth as he pressed the chalk hard into the board.

“That was…sudden. Did you know them?” Leaf asked.

“She is irrelevant to me, as all toons are. I did know her but I hadn’t known her book was down here.” Leaf didn’t buy that.

“Then why did you throw the book?? Seems unnecessary for just knowing someone in the past.”

“I said she is irrelevant,” The chalk snapped in two. Prethinker ran his fingers across the board, no chalk left. He sighed loudly and turned to the two jockeys in the room. “Watch her. I need to grab more chalk. Do not let her touch that book!” He slammed the door behind him. The two jockeys slowly looked at Leaf with the sort of look you get from a guilty dog. Y’know, the dog side eye. That look. And then vaulted over each other to block Leaf from the…rest of the shtickerbooks…

A genius working with absolute morons. Must be annoying.

However.

Works for her.

Leaf turned her head to the rest of the room. Creaky, cobweb-y, in the far back was a 1 ton weight that had absolutely destroyed the ground (and was also covered in spiderwebs) but overall, barely much else in this basement. Which row did that book land in? Looking back at the jockeys, they were watching her closely but they seemed proud of themselves, heads held up on their cherry picker-like necks.

In between the dusty, torn up chairs (that were totally not causing her allergies to act up, totally…), laid the thrown shtickerbook. Leaf dusted off the cover again. She stared at the faded green and yellow book and sat in one of the torn, ruined, ebicha brown chairs, scooting the small table attachment off to the side. The pages of the book were coarse and yellowed from time (and also had an unhealthy amount of dust on them). As Leaf flipped through the pages however, a rugged note fell out. It was stained but it looked newer than the book itself.

Not by much but still younger than the book.

Leaf opened the note, finding purple writing staring at her back.

Dear Professor Pete,

As startling as it may be, by the time you read this, I will be long gone. Do not try to find me. Just assume that I have done what no toon has considered doing. I refuse to partake in this toony nonsense anymore. I have been trampled on and pushed to be the smartest of toons. Despite what it may seem, Mr. and Mrs. Shrewfoot have pushed me past the point hanging on by a thread, past the point of sanity, I will no longer stand to live as a toon. Clearly, I was born as the wrong thing and have been blind to it for my entire life. Oh, why am I even writing? You won’t see this note. I shouldn’t even be writing this note. I’ll risk you trying to find me. I don’t want to be found.

Regards,

Flora Shrewfoot

Leaf carefully folded the note and slipped it back between the pages of the shticker book. Why finish the note? Why continue writing? Perhaps guilt? Leaf understood that. She had written a note too but her parents hadn’t seen it. She had stopped herself and burned the note before her parents ever read it, before they ever realized what she had tried to do. Leaf continued to read through the rest of the book. She hated these thoughts. In the back was a small section where someone could keep track of their own life and events. All of it had been used (minus some blank pages in the back, noticeably stapled in). And had some oil dripped on the corners?

The new body works great, minus a few leaks that I’ve taken to repairing ASAP when I find them. I even manage to surprise myself with my genius. As for getting into that university in Suitopia, I might’ve overestimated the intelligence of cogs. Why, I walked right in and they didn’t even double check my information before allowing me to take classes. Suppose they think the same of toons as I do, too stupid to come up with something as brilliant as transferring their consciousness into a mechanical body. Or, rather, they could never imagine a toon wanting such a thing. No one has caught me writing in this book either. The name Brian Strom apparently fits in with their society (I met this duck cog named Casey Noe…weird girl who got a little too close on our first greeting but she seems nice enough. Dim but nice. Perhaps I can make friends here) as no cogs have even batted an eye when hearing the name. I had to have practiced for hours to say Brian Strom as my name instead of Flora Lavenderfoot. I think I’d recoil if I heard anyone say that ridiculous name in my presence again. No matter, that “life” is behind me now. I need to stop thinking about it. With the name, I should also stop writing in this stupid book.

Though, I suppose if I start having second thoughts and go back to being a toon, I can look back on these days with the same laughable disgust I have for toons now.

The dots immediately connected in Leaf’s head. She set down the book as if she had touched an unexpectedly damp towel. Leaf picked it back up quickly. It was quick but she felt bad for dropping it. No wonder now why Prethinker had…

Leaf’s hands moved to open the book faster than she could stop herself. Maybe she could understand Prethinker better if she…kept reading. Is it so wrong to be selfish for a change?

I messed up.

I messed up so badly.

He was my friend, how could I do this to him?

LIKE HE’S A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!?

What’s wrong with me?

Did transferring into this new body mess up my morals??

I promised him that I knew what I was doing and this tune-up was going to be on the same level of quality as his annual ones. I saw it. I saw it happen. His voicebox melted, he can’t keep his tongue in his mouth now, he talks with a lisp, misunderstands basic instructions, everyone treats him like a JOKE and instead of admitting I messed up, I said with a straight face that I did nothing wrong. That the effects were a part of the legal papers. That he should’ve read closer. I hadn’t written down any effects! I had full confidence in my abilities and now he’s paying for my stupidity! My failure. How could I lie straight to his face like that and

He’s never going to forgive me. I’m alone. Again and again and again and again and again and again and again and

I always will be.

I deserve this.

I never should’ve tried being a cog. I’m too stupid to be one of them. I really am, and will always be, a stupid toon.

Leaf closed the book for the final time. She knew exactly how that felt. She had texted similar things to her friends, many times when she thought they weren’t online. If she hadn’t texted them, she had thought them. Leaf clung onto the book, each word etched into her head with horrible accuracy and peeked over the lecture hall’s rows of seats. Prethinker still hadn’t come back with the new chalk. Reasonably, she can give this book back to the jockeys, or she can place it back here in the seats all splayed out like it had been and pretend she never touched it. That would be less suspicious.

The door creaked open and Leaf felt the book slip from her hands slightly. The creak was soft but loud enough to snap Leaf from her spiral. She was still holding the shticker book, crud! If Prethinker saw her holding it, he’d kill her! Or, at the least, hate her after this. She could hear murmurs of her own parents in the back of her head. Leaf’s eyes darted from the book to the door to the book to the door.

Leaf tossed it to the chairs and ran down the stairs, trying not to trip down the weirdly shaped steps like theater steps. She picked up the piece of broken chalk abandoned on the ground. Chalky and horrible texture between her fingers, how anyone handled using these things, she wished shame upon those who used chalk over the far superior markers and color pencils! In an untouched corner, mostly untouched, she scribbled a small flower. Above the doodle, however, her eyes spotted 3 things.

A crossed out drawing of some…ufo sort of shaped cog. Not ufo, it was hard to tell what she was looking at honestly. It had Prethinker’s eyes and lack of mouth though. Above it was another doodle of Prethinker himself and another cog Leaf had never seen named Benjamin Biggs.

Large words above the ufo doodle said ‘NEVER AGAIN’.

And a date for “Maypril 1st (TOMORROW)” with a note to meet said Benjamin Biggs in a place called the Brass and Shipping District on a street called Tenor Terrace behind a building that had too many Ms in its name.

Honestly, Leaf wasn’t surprised that the strange world she found herself in had different months. Or that she was in a completely different month than when she left. Back home, it was December!

“HEY!” Prethinker took Leaf’s place, eyes glancing over the board with mechanical precision.

Or panic.

Probably panic.

Prethinker scribbled vigorously on the board to correct any lines that Leaf hadn’t touched.

Definitely panic.

“What did you do!? What did you touch!?” Prethinker pointed the chalk he held accusingly at Leaf. Leaf sat up. “I-I touched nothing! I promise! I just d-drew a flower-” Prethinker huffed, glaring at the flower on the board. He settled, hand on his chest and sighing. “Don’t do that again.” He wagged his finger at Leaf.

“It was just a flower. I didn’t touch anything else! Not even those doodles!”

Prethinker put his hands on his hips, “Doodles!? Ohoho! You pea-brained child! These aren’t mere drawings like that pathetic excuse for a black dahlia flower you made just now,” Prethinker took the box of chalk he had dropped on the floor and started to restock the board with the chalk. What was a black dahlia?? Leaf was just drawing. “These ‘doodles’ could benefit C.O.G.S far more than a toon could ever benefit from us Cogs leaving Toontown Central- the Central Oil District entirely!” His slip-ups in referring to Toontown Central as Toontown Central instead of Central Oil District made more sense now that Leaf had read those notes. The guilt gnawed at her still. Maybe she should tell him she went through the book?

Ehh…best to not mention it at all. Prethinker was already angry at Leaf’s small flower doodle (which in Leaf’s opinion was a complete overreaction to a flower but she wasn’t the all knowing, smartest cog in the world literally ever guy. What an annoying snob). She didn’t want Prethinker blowing his top or anything. His brain had already turned red. Gross…

“-child like yourself couldn’t even begin to understand WHY C.O.G.S wants this place or why Toons and Cogs hate each other even if you dedicated your entire life to figuring it out! So why try to correct my plans at all!? You know nothing! Hahah!” Dang, had he been ranting that entire time? At least he hadn’t noticed that Leaf had stopped paying attention a while ago. …And her eyes had been starting to shut.

“Why am I even bothering to explain all this to you!? There’s no world where you understand! You’re just a child! You’re barely even capable of complex thought as I am!

“You b-being in my mere presence is enough to bring down my grade curve! I should’ve never taken that offer from Belle! You!? HA! HahahaHA! A bright, smart, and friendly toon!? More like- like a dim, stupid, and ridiculous human!!

“ARE YOU FALLING ASLEEP!? NOW!?”

The explosion that followed this extremely angry question made Leaf flinch but ultimately did not stop her from falling asleep.

~~~

When Leaf opened her eyes from her totally 20 minute power nap (7 hour sleep), she found herself laying on cartoonishly green grass, bag of cookies at her side, sun shining over the horizon painting the sky brilliant shades of greyish blue, orange and yellow…and Flippy checking her over in a whirlwind of sheer panic. Literal whirlwind of blue, black, and orange speeding around her asking far too many questions. “Where were you? How did you get back to Central? I stayed up all night looking for you! Not your fault of course- I’m not trying to imply that- toons get kidnapped by cogs all the time- You disappeared randomly-! I had Lowden asking Toon Resistance Members to search for you well into the night all around Toontown! Forsomestrangereason,wehadacogcallingus???” The questions were nonstop, and the shaking from Flippy did not help Leaf feel any better.

At least his tail was wagging and the purple floating around his head was slowly turning a bright, excited yellow with hints of pink.

Flippy pulled Leaf into a tight hug, blue tail beating against the vibrant green grass. He shakily sighed, “Never do that again…” He muttered. “Where did you even head off to in the first place? Did you get lost in the dark?? Did you get kidnapped by cogs and triumphantly escape???” Leaf wanted to reply but by the time she squeaked out an attempt at a response, Flippy had already been dragging Leaf inside the schoolhouse, raving about needing tell Lowden to help her learn how to defeat cogs, get her a shtickerbook and a bunch of other stuff Leaf had definitely not heard.

Before the doors to the schoolhouse closed, Leaf saw a note hanging on the basement door in purple ink that had STAY OUT >:[ written on it. And Leaf saw as a familiar purple hand grabbed the note from behind the basement doors and yanked it back inside the basement. Guess she had an enemy now. Sheesh, overreaction much?

Next->

Brian huffed as the basement door slammed shut from him whirling around. His glass head was empty, black ash from his brain exploding still covered his shoulders and face. A replacement brain was in order. Again. As long as he stayed working for this company, they’d never replace him. His shape was original. He made it himself when he was a toon. It’s why he did his own repairs. His secret. His past couldn’t be found out if they never saw his innards. His scrap metal innards. His brianbots stood too close behind him.

“Dang it!” His pupils shrunk, “Give me my space, you idiots! You don’t NEED to be trailing behind me 24/7 like a bunch of lost toons!! I don’t need you as much as you think I do! BUZZ OFF!!” He threw his hands into the air, shoving one of the brianbots away from him and storming towards the stairs with them left behind him.

…Maybe he hadn’t meant that last comment.

It didn’t feel like his heart was in that comment.

Despite what it may seem, he had liked these poor excuses for cogs. At least he hated them slightly less than his fellow sellbots (managers not included. …Graham is his least favorite. Graham sucks).

As Brian stormed down the stairs, he caught a glimpse of his old shticker book. The pages were neatly together, not like they would’ve been after he had thrown it. Had Leaf gone through his old shticker book? That brat! He knew it! He knew it once he saw that poorly scribbled flower that she had been up to no good! Brian snatched the book from the rows of chairs and felt his grip on it tighten. His antenna stopped pressing against his head and his mandibles protracted from behind his faceplate, this time dripping with thick strands of purple liquid. His neurotoxin.

No one knew that his fangs weren’t just for eating, that they were a defense mechanism he added to his robotic form before he transferred into it, other than his brianbots and a few unlucky toons who tried their luck against him a little too confidently. The type of toons who disregarded their battle system and tried to actually fight fight him. Capable of severe pain and swelling in the bite and surrounding area and total paralysis for smaller toons.

Brian took a shaky, angry breath. His antenna stayed out but his mandibles stopped dripping with venom. He wasn’t in danger. Just absolutely pissed. Brian held the book tight between his hands as if afraid that it would disappear from him again as he strolled down the lecture hall steps. He grabbed a set of paper towels tucked beneath the desk where the toons usually fought him from and ripped a few off from the rest. He wiped the venom dripping from his fangs. Brian looked to the spill of venom on the steps. He’d tell his brianbots to clean that.

For now…

Brian walked behind the old basement door beside the black board. Behind was his true base of operations. A terribly set up but shockingly roomy storage closet. He had his mattress off in a corner with a charging cord beside it that he had had with him ever since he started work on his body back when he had been a toon. There was a small door that led to the training room upstairs and down here? Were parts. Many, many parts and currently not in use Desk Jockey shells that he would soon turn into more brianbots.

Brian grabbed a pen from an old container beside his dusty mattress and purple blanket. A purple pen.

Does that girl seriously think I can’t recognize when someone has gone through something?! Yes, this is a years old book but I can still recognize the differences! I severely doubt my brianbots would’ve gone through my old shticker book a second time. What a bratty little child! She better not tell ANYONE, ESPECIALLY NOT PROFESSOR PETE. …Well! In case she goes through this book a second time, I have some words to write about her. Just need…to calm down a little so my language is not biased.

Leaf, you are a very strange kid, yet so identical to the naive idiot I had been when I was first given this book (that you so rudely went through despite my instructions not to). So, let me phrase it like this, the least you can do after you went through this book like that bell, Benjamin (who is currently somehow less annoying than you in this current moment), is not tell anyone what you read. You’re noticeably going through the same feelings I did (you’re not subtle). You wouldn’t understand most anything but you’d understand not being comfortable in your body at the absolute least, certainly. I wouldn’t tell everyone your old name, that you were born a boy, so don’t tell my coworkers the truth. I didn’t do all of this just to be dismantled for not being a “real cog” or whatever terrible thing C.O.G.S Inc would do to me should they find out. Then again, I cannot guarantee you will go through this book again (and I’d also prefer if you didn’t go through this book again).

Then I suppose I will send you this as a note. Suppose it’s finally time to talk to him again, since he’s the only one I know who also knows you. I better not regret this. It’s the very start of Maypril. I hope he’s not already fused with Dave…

Brian tore the page from the book carefully and folded it into an envelope he sealed with a purple wax stamp that had the Sellbots Company logo on it. He set the wax and stamp off to the side. Brian really didn’t want to talk to him but he didn’t have much of a choice. Children are unpredictable, especially one who constantly said everything she was thinking like Leaf clearly was.

He needed to meet Benjamin in the Brass and Shipping District regardless of if he had made this note or not anyways. Whatever plans he had made with Benjamin and had forgotten were written right on the board. Right above the drawing of a flower Leaf left behind. Had Brian really believed she was drawing a black dahlia? Not really, it was just the first flower he could think of when he saw it. The bizarre thing tended to represent doom.

Maybe that was just Prethinker being a pessimist.

Taking an eraser from the board, he wiped away the flower doodle and the date on the board. He put the envelope with the letter in it inside one of his suit’s pockets. His brianbots shifted anxiously. What was the problem now…?

Brian shook his head, he wouldn’t deal with them.

“I must head out, jockeys, I will be back long before days end, there’s no way a small trip to the Brass and Shipping District will take that long.”

“…Will it actually be you this time?”

TWO WHOLE PARAGRAPHS CALLING YOUR NAME STUPID

TW: Implications of Suicide‼️‼️

Tbh....I want to make an oc out of this removed concept however I worry no one's going to understand what I'm referencing......

What do you guys thinks?

Today was a slog…

The literal definition of a slog…

Words couldn’t describe how slow Robert’s day had been so far.

The Chairman’s office was maddingly quiet as the clock behind him ticked. Each second felt longer than the last and eventually, he started to strive to hear that soft *tick* as the red hand moved around the clock. Robert wished that time would just move faster or that SOMETHING interesting would happen already. Something like a surprise meeting he hadn’t remembered he booked or something. At this point, Robert wouldn’t even mind a Toon coming into the room to mess with him or make his work harder. He just wanted something to happen already!

As Robert stared at the paperwork before him, unable to focus on the words on them, there was a tiny knock on the door. Robert flinched and his head shot up before he brushed all the pages together and cleaned his desk up the best he could. He couldn’t let any of his employees see his desk and area as a mess, no matter how much he could feel some of them wanted to see that, to see him unorganized for even a second.

“Come in,” Robert folded his hands and stared down at the door from his place, high up.

The door swung open slowly and there stood his secretary, Jennifer, and a random Swindler. They both held onto something (someone? It didn’t look very important so it would be best to just call it a thing) that looked to be either knocked out or just exhausted.

As they both dragged the thing into the room, Robert could see its strange appearance a little better. It looked like a Cog (long limbs, pale skin that wasn’t any particular color, ect.) and yet, it clearly wasn't robotic like Cogs were. The only thing that stood out to Robert was the stripes of pale green hair here and there. Were they dealing with another Iris type deal? Robert told the engineers behind Iris that making a cog to look like a toon was a lost cause! It wasn’t worth the money!

Robert raised a brow before he decided to get up from his seat. He swung himself onto the large ladder connected to his tall seat and hosted himself down onto the ground. Jennifer and the Swindler patiently waited for Robert to walk over.

Up close, Robert could see just how strange this new figure was. It was breathing softly and looked squishy. ‘I supposed I asked for something interesting to happen. Even though I told them to stop trying. At least this one’s out before it can go rogue.’ Robert thought as he lightly pressed his finger into the being’s cheek.

“You can drop it now,” Robert waved dismissively and watched as the Swindler let the strange creature go without a care about it meanwhile Jennifer took a little more time to flip the thing onto its back and then gently lay it down on the ground. The Swindler scoffed and Jennifer only rolled her eyes at the Swindler’s reaction.

“So, what the heck even is this thing?” Robert demanded answers now. Looking even closer at it, it didn’t have any robotic bits anywhere on it which would suggest it was even of Cog origin. Was this a shaved monkey toon?? It kind of looked like that but Robert couldn’t think of why a toon would do that and they make no sense regardless!

“We uh,” the Swidler tapped all of his fingers together, “…had hoped you knew,” Admitted the Swindler. He had always had a frown on his face for so long that it would look unnatural in Robert’s opinion if he ever smiled.

“Yeaah, he can’t be another prototype, he has nothing about him that would suggest any part of him is a Cog. He’s too…” Jennifer poked the bizarre character in the stomach with her foot, “Fleshy, if you get me. Making another toon-like cog would also be going against express instructions.”

“I get you…” Robert defeatedly agreed before sighing, pinching the cushion between his eyes, “So then, what in the world are we going to do with it? It can’t stay here. It’s bad for business. …And it could also be dangerous. You never know with…aliens?” Robert pointed a hand at the thing, not even sure that alien was the correct term for this thing.

There was a grumble from the thing as it started to open its eyes, “M–...Maybe,” The thing took a moment to hold its head and say, “agh…my head…really hurts,” before continuing what it wanted to say, “the ‘thing’ in q–..question should have a say…i-in what happens to her!” It grunted and glared at everyone in the room. The creature’s voice was weak and grumbly. It sounded cracked too like someone breaking porcelain.

The sudden awakening of the creature got everyone in the room, minus the Swindler, to flinch or react in some way.

The strange thing’s eyes were faded and had lost a good amount of color, most likely thanks to whatever in the world happened to them. The thing’s eyes looked like they were supposed to be blue or some shade in between green and blue. Still looked unimpressively unremarkable though.

Robert squinted disapprovingly at the being before him. How it moved was uncannily similar to a Toon, only strengthening his theory that they were definitely dealing with a shaved monkey toon. He was going to have to ask why it decided to get rid of its fur.

“Where did you even find it?” Robert now asked, still glaring at the creature as it creakily sat up and leaned over its knees, still exhausted. “Someone trying to sneak in again?”

“Maybe? We found it in the breakroom actually. I was just eating and talking to Mary about the new hire who wanted to work for the Sellbots and how sad he honestly was when I noticed Mary was staring at something. I looked over and this little boy here is just…lying on the ground, completely knocked out!” Jennifer patted the figure on the head, getting a soft ‘For my own comfort, please call me a girl’ from the thing.

“Then I entered and stepped on its stomach because it was right in the middle of the darn walkway,” The Swindler complained with judgment in his voice. “You’re very heavy…” responded the thing to the Swindler. The Swindler glared at the entity. It glared back, twitching suddenly from the cold room.

“I tried to get her to wake up but she literally wasn’t moving so me and this Swindler here decided to come to you to see if you could help!” Jennifer finished and received the slightest ‘thank you’ from the child.

“Well, I can’t,” Robert still glared at the child before him before deciding he minus well get something cleared up, “What are you?” Robert would’ve crouched down if he wasn’t already the same size as this thing when it sat down.

“...huh…?” The thing looked over at him, slowly turning itself around. It was starting to wake up more and rub the aches out of its body.

“What. Are. You? Are you a monkey?? One of them toons?? You certainly look like one and I’ll have you know, I don’t like toons so you best have a good excuse to be here!” Robert poked its forehead roughly, making sure his words sank in.

“…What’s a toon?” Oh. Well. That’s certainly a response.

“Wh- What’s a toon?? Did you hit your head on your way in here? You’re a toon! Ain’t you a monkey?” Robert was getting frustrated with this thing now. It didn’t look at him and when it did, it looked away again immediately afterwards. It’s a clear sign of respect to look someone in the eye when you talk, toon.

“And also where am I? I really don’t know what’s going on, I swear! I was…signing into a game and when I finished making my toon, everything went black and I woke up here! I think…I heard this strange, kind of evil voice in my head, and then I woke up here with all of you near me! I swear I’m not a toon.” The thing looked somewhere off to the side again. “I’m…a human I think. I swear I’m not a toon.”

“You said that twice. I think I got it when you were talking about ‘making a toon’ like the whole world’s just a game to you.”

“It is! Well- was!”

Robert sighed, “You’re in C.O.G.S Inc. Right in the meeting room.” Robert gestured to the boring room. “What about your office that I assume you have??” Robert didn’t answer that question. …This room had windows and he liked the cool air this room had compared to his windowless room. “You’re lucky to have landed here instead of out there around the Toons,” Jennifer answered, saving Robert from answering the question. “There’s not a twinge of normalcy with them. They’re nuts. Dangerous! Uncontrollable at times,” Jennifer shuddered. Robert rolled his eyes. ‘If this thing isn’t a toon after all, it could be in some form of danger. On the other hand, it could be dangerous if I don’t keep an eye on it. I think my best bet is to make one of my employees watch it.’

“You’re in ToonTown to be more exact,” Robert started, “I have to agree with Jennifer here that you’re lucky. The Toons are rather dangerous. In fact, we should probably find a way to keep you safe,” Robert managed to get the human standing up and pulled in front of his desk. They were clearly nervous and tried to push back.

Robert climbed back up high into his chair and folded his hands as he looked down at the human, “So how about this. I’ll get you a job here at C.O.G.S Inc, you’ll choose your department, we’ll get you caught up to speed in the department and my employees will work to keep you safe in this dangerous little world, hm? Whadoya say?” Robert stretched his hand out and leaned over his desk with a smile.

“Uh, I’m scared and only 15??” The human shrugged, “And also haven’t even given you my name???”

“Wait-”

Robert’s face dropped as he sighed and rubbed his temples, interrupting the girl. “You seem like a tough negotiator…”

“I mean– put yourself in my shoes! I just woke up with no memories of how I got here,” The human started to parade in a circle, “without any idea of my actual name as I’m realizing surrounded by, what–, a robot with large lips, another robot who stood on my stomach because I had the audacity to spawn, against my will by the way, in the walkway, and a dude with a couch for a head who treats me terribly only to flip onto his head randomly and offer me a job!” The human threw her arms into the air. “I barely understand what’s going on– no, I don’t want a job! I want to know how to get myself back home!” The human was rather animated, throwing her arms all over the place during her rant. When she was done, her head dropped and she was left staring at Robert with this defeated look in her eyes that looked desperate. Something seemed…off about this girl, like everything she said was preplanned, like she was reading off a script.

The room went quiet after that, quiet enough to hear the human begin to whimper, starting to cry out of fear for her situation. The human’s hands shakily went to her eyes before she started to cry into them. This reminded Robert almost immediately of that weird janitor he had employed for the Sellbots HQ. At least this thing didn’t have weird tears with even weirder fumes that gave the janitor here weird visions of octopi and telephones and took a week to get out of his carpet.

Finally, someone spoke up, breaking the silence and snapping everyone out of their quiet trance. Jennifer didn’t even seem to mind much that this human just insulted her and only asked, “Well uh…what is your name?”

“I don’t know! I just said that– come on!! The only names that form in my head a-are just objects! I hear Dustmite, I hear Soda, I hear Spark– but those aren’t names! There’s one that sounds closer to being my real name but..I-I’m still not sure…” The human wiped another tear, now staring at her hands and the ground.

“Well, what is it?” Robert raised a brow.

“…Leaf…”

“Oh! We can start calling you Leaf if it’s the name you’re most comfortable with,” Jennifer smiled, clasping her hands together.

“...” Leaf looked back at Jennifer before holding her head. “I-I need to think about this all. I-I need a quiet room a-and I just…need to think about this in its entirety…” Leaf curled her arms around her shoulders with a sigh.

“Jennifer, Swindler, you’re dismissed. Go back and enjoy the rest of your break,” Robert waved his hand towards them and watched them as they closed the door behind them with Jennifier only leaving after giving Leaf a few pats on her head.

Leaf sighed and walked over to the corner. She curled up afterwards and let her mind wander. She looked at something just before her that Robert couldn’t see. What a strange thing this girl was.

Robert couldn’t get it out of his head that something was wrong with this girl. He didn’t feel like he was in danger, but instead that he was no longer in control of his own self. Like suddenly, his mouth moved and said things without him wanting them. Like being in the mere presence of this girl made him a puppet to something higher.

Robert felt strings in his body.

When Robert looked back at Leaf, she was looking at him with a cold stare. “I hope you know I don’t care how disappointing I might be. I say cry about it, I’m panicked and I’d say that’s perfectly normal for someone who just magically appeared in a whole new world,” Leaf curled up more, shooting an annoyed glare at the ground.

“You didn’t mention you could read minds.” Robert hadn’t even thought about hating this girl. He didn’t hate her, he was just uncomfortable. What was wrong?

“I can’t read minds. Your inner monologue is just very loud.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I can feel your hatred for me radiating off of you from here,” Leaf pointed at her spot on the ground.

“Well, if you want a bigger idea of my feelings, I hadn’t expected a human to be so…sad. You look like you’re wilting, honestly. Like a dying flower”

“Well, you look full of black little waves. I’m sorry I’m disappointing,” Leaf rolled her eyes, “not…” Leaf whispered under her breath.

“...Whatever, I’m obviously not going home for quite a while, I might as well start getting cozy,” Leaf stood up and approached the front of the desk, “What departments are there?”

“Stay safe, child. You awaken in a different world now. Far from those people you call parents.”

Ugh…wh…what happened?

…She felt so, so dizzy.

She felt like she was sliced into a hundred pieces and then put back together.

Why had it suddenly gotten so bright?

Were those birds chirping?

Wasn’t she just inside her house?

How did she get outside?

She covered her face a little, squinting at the bright, blue skies above her. Her ears rung loudly. Like an explosion went off in her head. Whatever happened, it was rough. Maybe a ball hit her in the head during baseball practice. Maybe everything was a dream. It would explain why her head hurt this badly.

Slowly, she sat up, covering her ears and looking around. A lot of strange eyes stared at her through her blurred vision. It looked like the eyes of cartoons. There were animals of all kinds! From cats to dogs, from deers to pigs…she was even sure she saw an armadillo! (It wore diving gear and flashed a smile at her!)

Okay, yeah, she was dreaming. That baseball hit her harder than she thought.

“h…hi?” Her voice came out much more strained than she had wanted it to. She let out a loud cough, patting her chest in an attempt to clear it. She guessed though, she did just wake up, she probably would sound a little croaky. The ringing in her ears ebbed away.

Where in her subconscious was she today? It seemed too bright coming from her brain and things were definitely far different from The Wizard of Oz. Also, she didn’t get sucked up by a tornado so that’s another thing. She also hadn’t gotten hit by a truck (even if that would be far better than being knocked unconscious by a dumb baseball).

“Hellooo?? Dooo yooooou speeeak?” The animals flinched a little upon hearing her talk before one dog pushed to the front of the crowd. His mouth moved but she couldn’t hear a word that was coming from his mouth over the crowd; assuming he was even speaking a known language. They were mostly aqua in color minus their desert tan colored muzzle. With floppy, black ears and his eyes with a pie cut shape, he looked like a cartoon character! He wore an orange shirt with red stripes, deep purple pants and noticeable, white gloves to complete his look.

The Dog, too, stopped in their tracks upon seeing her. He covered his mouth, utter, abject horror in his eyes. Oh yeah, he was definitely wondering what in the world she was! …Which was a human. Probably. Uhh. She tried to smile and wave, looking more like someone sewed her face into a smile and was lifting her hand up on an invisible string.

She was…starting to shake a little. She held her hands close near her stomach before trying to stand up. She stumbled for a moment and suddenly fell back against the tree. She felt sick. A splitting feeling across her entire body like she was being split in two. With an abrupt renching, she threw up dark, murky water that was impossibly black in the light. It was as black as tar, definitely darker somehow when the bright, clear-skies’ light shone on it. The worst part is that it felt real. Hospital staff wouldn’t appreciate that one. The other toons erupted into panic and murmurs filled her ears. Without missing a beat, the dog reacted quickly and pulled out a megaphone and shouted, “SHUT UP!” into it. That sounded real too. Crud, what really were the chances of this not being a dream? Impossible right? RIGHT!? AH!

Please don’t start panicking, just deep breaths and ignore how your throat burned like you were JUST drowning haha!

She kept her eyes trained on the dog curiously. He tucked the megaphone away. He took a deep breath and walked up to her, false confidence in his stride. He put on a smile and outstretched his gloved paw. “Why, howdy! You got awfully roughed from your journey to Toontown, hm? Glass of water?” The dog pulled out a glass of water from his pocket, offering it to her. His hand twitched when she reached out to grab it, as if having stopped himself from splashing it on her for whatever arbitrary reason.

She took a few cautious sips. If there was one goal she had, it was to not throw up again. She stared into the cup, the water was noticeably blue and not just from reflecting the sky. The dog smiled, reaching out his hand again. “You’re a strange Cog, ain’t you? I had expected some short circuiting or even a rejection because it’s not oil, haha!”

She tilted her head. “Cog…?”

Both she and the dog went quiet, staring at each other with no thoughts behind either’s eyes.

The dog smiled and turned to everyone else, waving as he took out the megaphone again to address everyone and their clear concerns. “Alright everyone! Calm your horses now-,” The dog stopped himself as the one horse toon(?) in the crowd had dozens of eyes laid on him, causing the poor thing to sweat. An embarrassed smile crawled onto the dog’s muzzle, lowering his megaphone and giving his smile to the horse who gave him 2 thumbs ups in return. “Pardon. Calm yourselves now. I don’t believe our new resident is a Cog at all. So, please, everyone please lower your gags- don’t introduce yourselves all at once either. He’s probably still anxious about this place so I instead politely encourage you all to just introduce yourself when you get the chance.”

The dog turned to her and held his hand out to help her up. “Come along, we should get you to the mayor’s office.” Her eyes locked onto his hand. After a quick moment, she took it and pulled herself up, smiling at him wide. She should have said thanks but it didn’t come out. Guess she was being quiet for whatever reason now. Darn.

The crowd parted but as the dog led her through it, someone suddenly grabbed her hand, shaking it with a big dopey grin on his muzzle. His green eyes were filled with excitement from under his red goggles. His white gloves hands held tight on her hand. “Hi! I’m Azrael! You look super cool!!” The armadillo let go, adjusting his life jacket as she was pulled away. She spared the armadillo a wave and a big smile in return. She was scared of this new reality but awwww that armadillo back there was the sweetest thing ever!! How could she not smile back at the silly little guy?

The dog waved goodbye to Azrael as well, grinning back. As the dog walked her through the crowd, her eyes caught the shape of something- no, someone strange in the crowd. He had looked just like all the other toons for a moment until it practically punched her in the face that his eyes had been completely replaced by a slot machine and yellow lever. Displayed on the slots were three golden 7s. The first thing that tipped her off to this duck being far different from the others was a strange emblem in the middle of his deep green suit. It was a dollar sign. It had a large grin on his metal beak, tongue poking out from sharp teeth.

She smiled back, though with much less confidence than she did for Azrael just before. It quacked and waved goodbye, disappearing amongst the brightly colored city streets. Okay…good to know that there are a few odd folks here. Even odder than the talking greem bats and pink kiwi birds.

‘Toon Hall’ as the building claimed to be called in yellow letters on the reddish orange backdrop, had rounded, beige pillars with turquoise engravings wrapping around the bottom and top of the pillars (as well as the base of the building). A tower rose from the center of the building, a blue dog on the front that she could just barely see from where she stood. The dog pushed open the maroon doors, gesturing her inside Toon Hall. She entered silently, letting her eyes wander around the deep blue innards of the town hall.

Oh my god, it’s a pun.

She’s never going to recover from that.

She stepped carefully over the brown wooden floor, not wanting to stain it despite the hundreds of stains and markings all over it letting her know that the dog wouldn’t murder her over one extra smudge on the floor. Looking up from the ground, the toon hall expanded out further open than she had expected. At least enough room to rollerblade around if she decided she wanted to be a particularly bad guest. Portraits decorated the blue walls. Green baseboards lined every room, reminding her of the crisis that most blueberries were going through on the daily.

The dog led her into a true blue room. On the floor sat a blue circle rug, rings of purple and blue circling the middle. There was a bookshelf and multiple more portraits behind a round desk inside that the dog slipped behind without much issue. He sat down in the mayor’s seat and smiled at her again. He seemed proud of sitting in that chair.

Wait.

“Y–...You’re the mayor?” She asked, a little surprised by the dog sitting down in the mayor’s seat. He just nodded and folded his gloved hands, “That I am, miss. Now that everyone’s settled down a little,” He held forward his hand, “I’m Flippy Doggenbottom, the proud mayor of Toontown.” She shook it gingerly, the glove was soft in her hand. “Uh. I’d also give you my name but I’m suddenly realizing that I uh-...can’t actually remember my name. Uh oh!” She smiled, shifting in her chair. HOW COULD SHE FORGET HER OWN NAME!?

Flippy *psht* and brushed off that worry, “Oh that’s no worry at all! We have a machine that’ll give you a name, easy peasy. Just follow me!” He got out of his chair and walked back to the door. He abruptly paused at the door, “Oh wait! I almost forgot to give you something since you’ll probably be staying here for quite some time!” Flippy dug through his pocket, finally pulling out a small pouch. “Here you go!”

As she opened it, she found the small pouch to be full of brightly colored jellybeans. A snack…? She looked at Flippy, concern growing on her face behind her round glasses. She shook it in her hand. Flippy shook his head, “Oh, they’re not for eating. You trade them for things like gags, decorations for your house (...eventually), changing your appearance, ect.” So…she could trade these in for long hair and cute clothes? Perfect for her! She returned Flippy’s smile and happily followed him outside the Toon Hall to a small stand just outside it. It was covered with paint and had in big rainbow lettering on the sign: ‘Restoration Station’. At it sat a yellow deer who poked at their horns.

They smiled and waved at Flippy, “Flippy! Hey!! What’s up?”

Flippy smiled back. Wow! People were so friendly here!

“Ah, always late on the news, ain’t you, Paletti? I see you switched species again, too. Trying out the deer today?”

“Any day, Flippy! I really like the horns on them!” Paletti poked at their horns happily. “Anyways, whatcha got a Cog trailing you for?”

Flippy shook his head and began to explain to Paletti that she wasn’t a cog at all, that he wasn’t sure what she was at all but that she was here for a name! Paletti looked overjoyed at the thought of giving someone a name and he pulled out a wheel of sorts with four buttons on the top and bottom. “Of course!! Let’s see!”

Flippy called her back over. She stood in front of the stand, giving Paletti her sweetest ‘I’m-trying-not-to-panic’ smile. “So! Just press these buttons til you find one you like, okay?” Paletti pointed at the few buttons, even pressing one to give her an idea of the strange machine.

“Does everyone get their names this way?” She turned to Flippy with a slightly tilted head. Flippy shook his head, “Only those who want to change their names and don’t want to go through the hassle of bothering a lawbot for that. Though, most of us do it just to bother them anyway!” Flippy shrugged.

“Uh- surprise me, Pal…?”

“Paletti. And sure! Ohhh I haven’t done this in forever!!!” Paletti grinned, squeezing his fists shut. There were practically stars in his eyes! At practically light speed, he pressed at the buttons only pausing for brief seconds to get another look at her. She liked these two. They were super friendly. Flippy kept smiling at her which kept snuffing out all of her worries about home. Wherever that was. She hadn’t forgotten her home or her parents' faces, especially what they looked like when they first found out about how she felt about her body. They tried to convince her otherwise and got…really mean about it. It took weeks for them to stop calling her something else and even then, they hadn’t stopped trying to nudge her back to that false reality.

Oh-!

A red hand grabbed her wrist, yanking her away from Flippy and Paletti roughly. Before she could see who had grabbed her, questions started to bombard her. “WHATCHA DOING WITH TOONTH!? Are you off the job?? That’th no good at all! You thouldn’t be around toonth!” The figure shook her shoulders with the kind of craze she would expect from a child! She pushed the figure away. When she looked up, she saw the same duck…thing she saw earlier. Now though, she could get a much better look at him.

He wore a deep green suit decorated with, not plaid like she had originally believed, but many more dollar signs, decorating the deep green pants as well. There was an emblem on his chest with a symbol on it. It was a large dollar sign with two lines through it. Up this close, she could see how this Toon seemed to be made out of metal and how his face was definitely a slot machine that connected to a red visor hat. Green feathers stuck out through the back of the hat. Various cards of multiple games were lodged firmly between his feathers and hat. He flipped his yellow lever, spinning the slots displayed on his face almost anxiously, repeatedly spinning the slots as he rambled to her…company stuff or something. Just a guess, he might like gambling.

“I don’t have a job-?!” She sputtered to the strange, robotic duck.

He pulled his remaining hand on her shoulder away, clear confusion in his eyes despite the slot machine thing. “What!? But- you’re-?” He bit his tongue, tilting his head right and left, gesturing to all of her. “You look like a Cog! Juth like one!”

“HEY! DUCK SHUFFLER!”

The look on Duck Shuffler(?)’s face changed to annoyance as he spun (literally spun) around towards the voice she prayed was Flippy. He didn’t even get a moment to talk before– SPLAT! A pie slammed into his beak, causing him to stumble back and fall over, nearly into the wall, knocking her over as well.

“LEAF! TAKE THIS!” Was that her new name?? Leaf??? WHA-!

A red device with a purple button on it landed in Leaf’s hands. She stared at it, feeling the deepest pit form in her stomach. Leaf looked back at the robot duck guy thing as the cream slid from his mechanical beak before he licked it off actually. “That’th not very nithe!” Duck Shuffler hissed a moment after, “Thankth though! I’m tharving!” His eyes went to Leaf, spotting the strange red device in her hands. His expression changed and he tugged on his lever anxiously once more. He got closer with a hand out cautiously. Leaf couldn’t tell if he was reaching to help her up or to grab the device.

“PRESS IT!” Leaf pressed the button, wincing at all the sudden commotion that started just from this duck pulling her away. Duck Shuffler quacked and looked to the sky. Leaf watched with wide eyes as out of nowhere, a large piano dropped on him, flattening him. Flippy took what time they had to yank Leaf back into safety at his and Paletti’s sides. Paletti sighed, tugging on their horns, “Never was a fan of ducks. Their webbed feet are hard to walk on.”

Duck Shuffler stood up, the piano disappearing as he did. Instead of being mad or even running away in fear, he laughed, yanking the lever on his machine. “OO! OO! MY TURN! MY TURN!” He giggled cheerfully. Flippy watched the slots spin with sudden worry shining in his eyes. He had no idea what it could land on and now that he and Paletti were in combat, it was too late to turn back now. Leaf stared at the button in her hand, jammed. Guess it was a one-time use.

Duck Shuffler’s slots came to an abrupt halt. And unfortunately? It was a match.

Bars. “INCOMIN’!!” He laughed loudly.

Duck Shuffler looked towards the sky with absolute glee as two, giant gold bars crushed Flippy and Paletti underneath one, and Duck Shuffler himself under another. Both sides quickly picked themselves up, Duck Shuffler still laughing excitedly. Leaf cautiously joined at the side of Flippy and Paletti. She wasn’t sure why these two were attacking Duck Shuffler as he hadn’t even hurt Leaf! It just made her dizzy.

Flippy dug into his pockets and pulled out a glass of water, flashing a determined smile at Paletti who smiled back, pulling out a light bulb. And Leaf? Her eyes shot back to Duck Shuffler. She didn’t understand how combat worked in the slightest! …Leaf had no idea what to do. She just…quivered, standing completely still. …But Duck Shuffler wasn’t attacking. He seemed to be waiting patiently for them all to do something.

“…Why isn’t he attacking?” Leaf asked Flippy and Paletti, shuddering at the sight of Duck Shuffler just sitting there with a massive grin on his face. A grin that faded once he realized that Leaf wasn’t doing anything. Before Flippy or Paletti could answer that question,

“It’th your turn!” Duck Shuffler said, waving towards her.

Leaf slowly turned to Duck Shuffler, “My…?”

“Yeth! How do you not know?” Duck Shuffler broke out into loud laughter and giggles. Flippy held his arm out in front of Leaf, taking a drink of the water and spitting it back out at Duck Shuffler, soaking him. “Leave him out of this!” Paletti tossed his lightbulb a few times, “Yeah! And what are you even doing here in the playground! Shouldn’t you be on Loopy Lane?” before throwing it at Duck Shuffler as hard as they could. ZAP!!

Duck Shuffler fell over, groaning but still lightheartedly as if this was all one huge jokefest. He seemed to be pretty insane, hand twitching to spin his lever and the slots again. “Come on!! The’th gotta fight too! The ith right netht to you!” Duck Shuffler swayed, wiggling his fingers at Paletti and making him spin, “Thith oughta really make your head thpin!”

Duck Shuffler quickly spun his lever again, not even giving Flippy and Paletti a chance to breathe. The slots matched again, ducks? Duck Shuffler looked absolutely ecstatic. Moments later, both Flippy and Paletti were turned into ducks (one of them being more bothered about the change than the other).

Leaf had to stand on the side lines, watching as Duck Shuffler practically singlehandedly took out both Flippy and Paletti with the help of a few extra robots who joined his side as his emblem turned red. Leaf felt horrible. Why couldn’t she be useful? Why did she have to just stand here instead of stepping in and telling everyone to stop? Noooo, she just HAD to watch as Duck Shuffler took down both Flippy and Paletti without doing anything to stop it. Why must she be so, absolutely pathetically usel-

A cage slammed down over her, two of the other robots approaching to take it and Leaf away. One of them was a blueish robot with a large mouth and an even larger nose. On his head was a rotten banana peel. He looked creepy.

“Boss, the higher ups want to see this cog in their office immediately.” Duck Shuffler opened the cage, arms crossed.

“Nooo! What are you doing?? Thith ithn’t a cog like uth! I don’t know what it ith but look! The poor thing ith confuthed! Not a threat!” He said clearly. After a moment, he grabbed the back of Leaf’s shirt and pulled her out of the cage. “Thoo thoo now!” The cogs(...?) looked at each other and carefully stalked off like they were actively doing something wrong by listening to this bizarre duck. The duck grinned back at Leaf and extended his hand, “I’m Buck! They thaid your name is Leaf? Ith that your actual name??” Buck excitedly asked, shaking Leaf’s hand before she could get her bearings straight. “Thith ith exthiting! I haven’t theen new non-toon-or-cog fathes in FOREVER!! I don’t normally care for new toonth or caught but YOU’RE not a toon!! Or a cog!! You’re thomething elthe! What are you…?” Buck poked Leaf’s nose sharply and ruffled up her short, faded green hair, still grinning.

“I- uh- I’m…a human?” Leaf stepped back from Buck just as he happily started to ramble to her about new faces (or fathes, haha). “I inthith! Can we play a game? ACTUALLY NO! LEAF! I challenge you to a game!” Buck scratched at his feathers and hat, scattering decks of random cards in the wind, most of them being for games Leaf had never seen before! This guy was a lot…

Could Leaf turn down a game if she admitted to not knowing the rules? Of like…any of these games?

“Uh- Can I admit that I’ve never been inside a casino before? I don’t recognize anything here. I mean-” Leaf picked up a card from the ground. One called The Chariot or something. The first thing that Leaf’s eyes landed on was Loss of Control. Duck Shuffler froze. He quickly snatched it and hid them back in his feathers. For a second Leaf felt the slightest wisp of…waves. Dark waves. So dark that they were still pitch black in perfect daylight. Huh.

“Oh! Thorry! Thorry! Those mutht’ve gotten mithed up with all my other cardth. Or I thtole them and forgot. Whoopth!” Duck Shuffler laughed. The waves quickly disappeared from his brain and Duck Shuffler shook his head, dizzily sticking his tongue out of his mouth. “What happened? I thoned out.”

Leaf-

“Oh whatever! You wanna get dealt in?? I got plenty of other gameth!” When Leaf tried to explain, Flippy came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “She doesn’t want to play Duck Shuffler,” He pulled her back, “Besides! There is no way I’m letting you rig the game and make him waste all of his jellybeans on you and your horrible games!” Duck Shuffler blew a raspberry at Flippy very loudly. “It’th not MY FAULT you fell for the eathieth trick in the book, y’know!” He shot a snide giggle at Flippy clear expense. Paletti sat up and slowly dragged himself back to his stand to lie down and be sad for a little bit at. He limply grabbed a floating ice cream cone beside him and started to depressively eat it as if that would heal anything.

“He still doesn’t want to play.” Leaf needed to get her gender cleared up as soon as possible because this whole thing was making her so damn uncomfortable. Sure, she hadn’t quite grown out her hair yet due to her parents continuing to cut it despite her wishes. Their bickering just got louder and louder, just arguing- not fighting-

“Hey! Look! Uno!” Leaf grabbed one of the uno cards from the ground. “Problem solved. I’ll play a game of uno!” Leaf gestured to the collection of uno cards on the ground, “Can everyone stop fighting now?” She held up the cards exhaustively.

Duck Shuffler grabbed the game from Leaf’s hand sharply. With a spin of his hand, the card was no longer alone but with a full deck of cards just like it. “TOONO IT ITH!! You can join too, Flippy, unleth you’re too nervouth that I’m gonna totally ‘thcam you’ again,” Duck Shuffler stuck his tongue out at Flippy. Duck Shuffler effortlessly shuffled the cards. He flicked the cards from one hand to the other, spinning them through the air at one point. “Woah…magician duck…” Flippy gave Leaf a dissatisfying look at her comment.

“What’th your bet, Leaf?” Duck Shuffler asked, part way through shuffling the entire deck. Leaf tilted her head. Wait. “Bet? I don’t think you’re meant to bet in thi-”

“YETH!! A bet! Tith the way with me, ath Flippy inthithtth. What are you gonna give up if you lothe?” (Author’s Note: Tis the way with me, as Flippy insists.). Leaf watched him continue to shuffle the cards. One card slipped into his sleeve. Flippy was right. He was planning to rig the game in his favor.

“Uhh…uhm…gah…” Leaf pat herself down. Nothing on her. …Except for a small lump in her pocket. The bag of jellybeans Flippy gave her. She was gonna feel bad for this one. Duck Shuffler ate the cream pie earlier…maybe he was hungry? Some people are crazy enough to eat and actually enjoy these sickening sugar jelly case things, maybe Duck Shuffler was one of those people? Would make Leaf view him differently though if he wanted them.

“I have these…?” Flippy was mortified. Duck Shuffler looked more than absolutely delighted. He quacked loudly all excitedly and snatched the jellybeans from Leaf. “Thith’ll work just perfectly! Hell yeah!” He looked back at Leaf and Flippy. He tucked the beans into his pocket and smiled sweetly like he wasn’t completely overjoyed over gross stocking stuffers.

Duck Shuffler handed out the 7 cards, even offering a collection of 7 cards to Flippy. He seemed to really want Flippy to play. After a moment, Flippy took the cards. “You’re not getting my jellybeans even if I’m playing.”

Duck Shufflers ‘aw’ed sarcastically, setting down a card in the center of the circle the three made. Just like uno, Leaf can handle that just fine! A yellow 8. She had one of those! This would be fun! Oh but she should probably call out Duck Shuffler’s cheating but whatever.

The game continued on for who knows how long before Leaf hovered her hand over her Draw 4. Duck Shuffler had called ‘Toono’ and Leaf didn’t know whether to take the win for herself or let Duck Shuffler win. Flippy watched anxiously in between them (by technically, he had already won very early on but Duck Shuffler hadn’t mind since he was mostly playing against Leaf), biting down on his gloves. Leaf didn’t want to risk Duck Shuffler getting angry…

Finally, she lamented and pulled another card, allowing Duck Shuffler to win. He slammed down his last card and cheered excitedly, even more so when Leaf showed her cards. A yellow 5 and her Draw 4.

“AHAHA! Better luck nexth time!” Duck Shuffler laughed, hastily collecting the cards back into his green feather and running off with Leaf’s Jellybeans. Flippy frowned at Leaf's defeat. “How come you let him win?? He ran off with your Jellybeans!” Flippy gasped. Leaf nodded and said, “He might’ve but hey, he was hungry, he mentioned something about starving when you threw that pie at him earlier. So? I let him win the game. He got some food. Plus pride points,” Leaf explained to Flippy. “B-But he’s a Cog!” Leaf didn’t understand why that mattered. Who cared what a cog was? For all Leaf knew, cogs were just like toons! I mean, that blue guy dropped a cage on Leaf and trapped her out of nowhere, and Duck Shuffler was exactly as she had expected from a toon! …Just more robot-y.

“What’s this about cogs? You keep mentioning it, you thought I was one, Paletti confused me for one too. I don’t get it. What’s so bad about these robots?” Leaf fiddled with her pocket. She probably should’ve dumped the jellybeans out of the bag so she could keep it. Darn it.

“They’re a bunch of mean robots who want to completely take over our toony town and suck the joy out of it. You just happen to have a similar look to most of them. Paletti and I will most likely not be the last people to confuse you for a cog. I hope you’re ready for a lot of pies. We’ll have to get a huge sign on you that tells everyone how much of a not-cog you are.” Flippy’s voice was light at the end of his sentence, like he was telling a joke. Leaf shared his smile.

The gag shop was closed when they arrived, leaving Flippy to sigh. “To Loopy Lane then? Reid told me that’s where she was operating this week,” Flippy swiftly slipped some paint on Leaf’s face and placed horns on her head, “Now, no cogs’ll bother you for being a ‘cog’ with a toon. Unless you literally bump into them of course! And, if you do, I got plenty of gags,” Flippy juggled various gags.

When they finally arrived at a different Gag Shop in the middle of a nice block of sidewalk, or a blue van labeled Gag N’ Go, it didn’t look the most busy. There was a light green koala resting at the counter. Though, Leaf noticed she almost looked yellowish. Like an unfortunately ugly green for someone that Leaf guessed was really nice so now she felt horrible for thinking the green she was so ugly.

Flippy approached the koala and gently tapped the gold bell right beside her, “Reid?” He asked. The koala’s head shot up as she squeaked, “I-I’m awake!!” Her panic settled when she saw Flippy. “Oh, Flippy! It’s just you. You startled me. The Gags you ordered for The Resistance arrived just this morning! I’ll go get them!” The koala ducked behind the counter. There was all sorts of clattering before Reid poked her head over the counter, locking eyes with Leaf.

“Wait.”

“Uhh…why do you have a cog poorly dressed up as a toon next to you?” Leaf set her hand gingerly on the counter, “Not a cog. I’m…a human I think,” She wasn’t confident with either answer. Heck, she wasn’t even sure why she wasn’t sure she was human. She looked how she always did: short, faded green-dyed hair, flat chest, boring blue-green eyes, pale skin that looked slightly more colorful than an actual dead body. “I-I’m Leaf, you are?” Reid cautiously smiled at her. She trusted Leaf’s answer just as much as Leaf herself did.

“Okay…” She reached out her gloved hand to shake Leaf’s gloveless hand. Both sides were hesitant but smiled for Flippy. “I’m Reid. Reid Stock. I run this gag shop for when you’re too busy to get gags from the gag shops. Y’know. You, hee~,” Reid stifled a laugh, “Grab a Gag N’ Go!”

“Reid Stock…okey, I’ll try to remember that.” Leaf let her eyes focus on the list of gags she could get while Flippy explained the situation. “He’s new and he needs a gag,” Flippy murmured the next part, almost not wanting to hurt Leaf’s feelings, “He…also gave up his jellybeans because the cog we were just fighting was hungry. So if you want my opinion, Toon-Up is probably best for him.” Leaf stared at Flippy. It was about time Leaf just got her gender cleared up. Of course though, she had to mess up and say as blunt as she could, “I’m a girl.” Flippy froze for a moment, face reddening before he scratched the back of his head. Then silence. “…I have a lot to apologize for. I’ve been calling you he this- this entire time?”

Leaf smiled at Flippy, “At least you’re not like my parents. Anyways, could you explain what these all mean?”

On the sign was a whole collection of random objects that Leaf couldn’t even imagine what they could do all together. A feather, a banana peel, a fishing rod, a kazoo, a cupcake, a flower, a lightbulb and a flower pot.

“Toon-Up, Trap, Lure, Sound, Throw, Squirt, Zap and Drop. Those are the main types,” Reid explained. “Toon-Ups heal Toons like me and Reid by the way,” Flippy smiled. Leaf nodded. “You best be lucky that all toons get to decide 2 gag tracks to start out. For free! Even if you haven’t gone through training with Lowden and Professor Pete- Uhh. Any that call to you, Leaf?” Reid asked just as she popped into the back of the van to pull out the gags Flippy had ordered for whatever the toon resistance was.

Hm. Well, she had seen Paletti and Flippy use the lightbulb and flower earlier to soak and shock Duck Shuffler. That could prove super useful if she was ever in a fight alone! …But why would she fight alone? Assuming Leaf would always be guided by Flippy here, she’d probably never be alone. Probably because she’d die in this world without help. Drop gags…she had presumably used one earlier herself on Duck Shuffler. Assuming it really was just as easy as pressing a button, that could be easy to learn. She just needed a lot of buttons! She could maybe figure out how to engineer one herself! …Nah, not her. She flunked robotics after all. No way she could make a gag. Or much of anything by herself.

Trap sounded interesting!

But so did Lure.

Lure and Trap gags have to work together. Just like Zap and Squirt. And she could figure out how the fishing rod and a banana peel could maybe go together. She just hooked the rod to a cog and then reeled them in like a super big and heavy fish onto the banana peel! …Yeah, that sounds correct!

The kazoo was alluring though. She had messed with a kazoo once but she managed to break it by touching the plastic inside and getting it stuck. She shouldn’t be trusted with them again after that. What if she broke the gag and got hurt badly afterwards? No thanks.

The feather. Toon-Up. She could be great at helping her future toon friends. They help her, she helps them! It can’t be hard to tickle someone with a feather. And fighting here didn’t seem like the worst so it can’t be too overwhelming. Certainly not impossible to get someone with the feather! And hey, with Toon-Up and Sound (which mentioned something about stunning cogs in its description), she could be the ultimate support!

Or…maybe she should stop thinking about pairings and instead just go off of vibes…

Uhm…

“Toon-up and Throw?” The idea of helping others was so entertaining, really. Getting a smile or even the slightest ‘thank you’ from someone usually gave Leaf the slightest shiver in her chest, usually making her hold her hands before she did anything that could look stupid. As for her reasoning for throw? Look, who hasn’t wanted to throw a creampie at someone in real life? Food waste, yes, but it seems so entertaining!

“Are you sure?” Reid asked but her question sounded more like a ‘are you sure’ from a video game and not a ‘oh that combination sucks, flipping idiot, choose something else’ kind of question. “You’ll have to unlock the other classes by helping around town.” Leaf consulted the list again just in case.

“Yes. I’m sure about these. They’re super cute, plus, I’ve always wanted to throw a pie at someone’s face. Really!” Leaf grinned. Reid nodded, handing Leaf 5 cupcakes and 5 yellow feathers.

Reid waved goodbye, closing the shop for the night. It had only been a few hours since she showed up under that tree and yet, this colorful place had already grown on her. The map made it look huge! So many places to run around in (well, supposedly, she couldn’t see most of it past a bunch of clouds slapped over most of the map), and, looking at all the cogs walking around and toons running around them recklessly, including a blue and light blue cat that waved to Flippy (“Hi Lollipop Pillowgoober!” Flippy waved back), before promptly running into a high leveled cog and being sent back to the playground.

Though, now as the night started its shift in the sky, Leaf wanted to sleep now. Snuggling up to her white, puppy plush. In a nice, comfy bed.

In the nice, comfy bed that, only realizing now, isn’t in this world.

Flippy didn’t notice Leaf’s building anxiety about her lack of a place to sleep. Or how she started to squash her fingers into her hands and lag behind Flippy. Whether she got turned around or not in the dark was a different question. Whether she could even see Flippy leading her back to town was an even different-er question. She must be going the right way. There’s no way she could’ve gotten turned around that easily, right? Then again, leaving the tunnel connecting the roads didn’t lead her to a large space with strange buildings all around. Instead, it brought her to pink streets and lavender sidewalks. That’s what they looked like at least, past all the dark of night. Some patches of sidewalk looked like piano keys. If she kept walking, she’d probably catch back up with Flippy.

And not notice that the person who grabbed her wrist, grumbling and telling her she was late to a meeting, was definitely a cog and not a toon trying to pull her inside. When Leaf got control over her new situation, she found herself at one of those oval tables, awkwardly watching two cogs arguing over the confusion her bad, deer toon disguise caused.

“Where’s Biggson!? That’s certainly not him.” A tinier, stockier blue cog shouted at a larger, thinner red cog, pointing a finger at Leaf.

“Then what is that??” The red cog gestured to Leaf, awkwardly rocking back and forth in the spinny chair (ooo) she was placed inside. Leaf started to spin in the spinny chair and pushed herself away from the table, crashing and burning off in a corner of the room.

“That is a monkey toon dressed very poorly as a deer.” The shorter cog said matter-of-factly.

“Then what do we do with it? It obviously can’t stay here, we have a meeting to get done! We could contact Chris…see what he will do with it.”

“But he’s busy right now. Dealing with a toon break-in at the headquarters.” The doors to the room abruptly swung open as a seemingly older cog walked in. She seemed winded. “I’m here. I’m so sorry. I got lost in the dark, my dears.” She looked around the room, her eyebrows furrowing and her yellow, rotary-like eyes widening. “Oh bother, I walked into the wrong building. I apologize greatly for the inconvenience. Could you two be a dear and tell me where Kazoology School of Music is?” The blue cog picked up the chair Leaf knocked over and placed it back at the table.

Leaf rubbed her head. Yeesh, she had been mangled by things before (like a ski net, indoor playplace, a fence on her PW50) but falling out of that chair onto the metal floor, yeesh, that’s pretty bad. “Ow…”

The cog looked around the room, grey hand covering where a mouth should be but wasn’t. “Oh my, you poor thing, let me help you up.” The cog roped an arm around Leaf’s arm and pulled her to her feet. Before Leaf could thank the older cog, she pulled out a rag and used a spray bottle from her pocket, wetting the rag; gently washing the blue paint off of her face to reveal the pale skin underneath. “There we go. You were having an allergic reaction to that paint, poor thing. Whoever put it on you should feel ashamed about doing such a thing.” Leaf hadn’t noticed her getting a bad rash on her cheek.

“Th-Thank you…”

When the cog slipped the deer horns headband off of her, she turned her attention back to the blue and red cogs, “Who is this kid?” She sounded stern, “Do you know where her parents are?”

The blue cog was quick to throw his coworker under the bus, “He thought she was Biggson.” The red cog glared back at the blue cog. “She looked like Biggson in the dark! How was I supposed to tell she was a toon??”

“I don’t know, maybe don’t grab the first deer-like thing you see!? You’re lucky she’s alone or else we would’ve been mocked and wiped out by a team full of toon-ups, zaps, and throws!”

The older cog sighed, passing Leaf a chocolate chip cookie while mumbling that she’ll deal with this. Ack- not chocolate chip- that was a rock.

“I asked about her parents. Did you see anyone like her before you two grabbed her?” She said more firmly. The two cogs stopped arguing with each other. The blue one immediately defended himself. “Don’t look at me. Look at Ben.” He knocked his hand against the red cog’s leg.

“I didn’t see anyone else with her,” The red cog glared back down at the ‘innocent’ light blue cog, “It looked like Biggson was just wandering around Tenor Terrance aimlessly.” He shrugged. The red cog looked redder than before. Probably from embarrassment. He tugged on his green tie.

“That doesn’t sound at all like something Hunter would do even when bored. You two boys should feel ashamed. Kidnapping a random toon kid off the street without even double checking who it was you were grabbing.” The cog pulled out a ring of white cards. “I’ll contact Tango tomorrow. For now, come with me…?” The cog looked back at Leaf, holding her hand out for her to take.

“It’s Leaf. At least that’s the name Paletti came up with. I can’t remember my real name anymore.” Leaf glanced around the room.

The older cog nodded and guided Leaf out of the building. Back into the dark of night. “Sorry about that, dear. To think what would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten lost. You have no part in what us cogs and your big toons are a part of. Blame it on me having a career in law so I naturally want to be the bigger person but a little kid shouldn’t have to go to prison for a mistake.” She took out a large flashlight to help light the way onto a different street. “I live a little ways out of town but once we’re at my place, I’ll get you a nice plate of char- dearie me, it just occurred to me that a toon like you probably wouldn’t enjoy my charcoal cookies, would you?” Phew, Leaf was worried she would have to explain awkwardly to this cog that she couldn’t eat charcoal!

Leaf thought back to what Flippy said before. He said all cogs wanted to make toons sad and take away what makes them happy but if that were the case, wouldn’t this cog have done nothing?

The older cog looked down at Leaf, placing a hand on her back to make sure she stayed with her and didn’t get lost. “Is something on your mind, sprout?” She sweetly asked. Leaf nodded but didn’t make eye contact. Really, she was a little shy to be talking to someone so much older than her. What if she made the cog angry and she completely switched up on her?

She could tell a little bit of her thoughts to the cog maybe.

“I’m worried. Worried about my home. And I’m thinking about what Flippy told me. He said that all cogs are mean and want to make toons sad and take over toontown. The grey buildings look sad next to the more colorful buildings and the purple sidewalk and pink roads and music but if that was true, wouldn’t you have ignored me? And let those other cogs do what they wanted to me? But then, these weird, blue cogs with big mouths and noses were kind of mean to me and called me scum for ‘working with toons’ because they thought I was a cog. And I just don’t know what to believe!” Leaf spat out. Oops.

The older cog paused in her walk, staring out at the purple and pink dipped streets. She lowered her head. “I understand. Unfortunately, Flippy does raise a few good points. Some of us cogs are awfully mean towards toons. Some of us,” Her eyes looked back to see that deer cog racing inside the building they just left, holding a missing horn. “Well, they delight in making toons sad.” She shook her head. “It’s disappointing.”

“I only make toons sad when they run up to me to fight me. Some toons tend to be very mean sometimes. But, I do have my favorites. There’s this little deer one, who doesn’t fight me but likes to, haha, observe me and my fellow managers. I’ve heard stories from Mary, Buck, Holly, Flint, a lot of people actually, about this little deer toon that never fights them, just watches from behind things.” Leaf chuckled herself at the mental image of a very intimidating deer watching from behind a trashcan all ominously.

The two would soon arrive at an old, blue van. A slugbug actually. Well, Leaf didn’t know cars but she and her younger sister would often punch each other whenever they saw a vehicle like this one.

…

It had only been a few hours since Leaf showed up here but there was a new idea in her head. A new worry that grew its roots across and into Leaf’s brain. How will she get home? Will she ever go home? Will she die in this new world?

Home wasn’t always bad. She loved her younger sister, and their black cat. It was just Mom and Dad that were the issues!

“M-Miss…?” Croaked Leaf as she shuffled just before the passenger seat door. The cog paused, in the middle of unlocking the door to the van. “What’s your name?” A tube that wrapped around the cog’s head folded into a smile. Guess Leaf knew where her mouth was now. “My name’s Belle. The toons call me Mouthpiece, I’m afraid I don’t get it.”

The car clicked as the doors unlocked. Leaf carefully climbed inside the car, greeted by a bitter but homely scent. There was a bottle of perfume on the dash. It was labeled with fancy letters, ‘Fire and Ice’. The same perfume as her grandma’s. No wonder the bitter smell was familiar. Leaf was never good with perfume but this was a scent she could handle. As long as she didn’t breathe too hard of course.

The car coughed to a start, the radio tuning to an older station playing music that sounded straight out of Bioshock. It was charming. Leaf opened her mouth to excitedly talk about one of her favorite games, only to immediately shut it. Probably shouldn’t mention a game about killing people in an underwater city to this cog who was basically a hybrid of all sweet grandmas on earth with an extra ‘old phone’ look slapped over it. Instead, Leaf sat in silence, hands folded on her lap.

“…You…might struggle…just a bit with contacting my parents. Or anyone in my family…” Leaf stared at her feet, not meeting Belle’s confused look. “I…don’t have anyone. Not here. It’s just me. I don’t have a mom, or dad…here…” Leaf stared at her hands. Belle took a hand off the wheel, rubbing Leaf’s shoulder in a motherly way. A way she hadn’t felt from her own mom ever since she told her and father the truth.

“Are you an orphan, Leaf? Is that why my coworkers didn’t see anybody with you, child?” Maybe an orphan here. Leaf gave Belle a sad, longing look.

“No. But my parents are somewhere else. They didn’t come with me to Toontown,” Leaf couldn’t directly say that her parents didn’t enter the game with her but she couldn’t just lie and say her parents were dead and she was an orphan! “We’ll say…they disowned me. And they dropped me off in Central.”

Belle placed a hand over her mouth. “You poor thing.” The car crawled into a driveway and the doors croaked shut as the older cog led Leaf inside her house. There were a few toys scattered around the living room of the house and an old tv themed around The Little Mermaid (Or as it was apparently called here, The Little Mercog, haha). The toys were old and just looking at them filled Leaf with a sense of anemoia. Picking them up, even more so. They were musty smelling but not in a disgusting way. More like very well loved toys. The rest of this building smelt of flowers. Warm. Leaf could’ve swore she heard gentle music.

The whole place smelled just slightly of a time Leaf never knew.

Of a home she never knew.

“Oh, that old bear is my grand daughter, Cassie’s bear,” Belle smiled at the bear in Leaf’s arms, “She must’ve left it here after her last visit. She loves that bear. Every toy here is one of my grandkids favorites. My youngest, Preston, loves this old dinosaur toy. He took such an interest in dinosaurs after he heard Boar talking about Oil.” Belle squeezed the green dinosaur’s neck, watching it start up. It took a few steps forward and played a low, bellowing noise once, then twice as it bowed its head.

Belle looked back at Leaf. She had her arms wrapped around the bear tightly, uttering ‘demon’. Funny little girl.

She laughed off Leaf’s reaction. She cupped the dinosaur and placed it and the rest of the toys in the toy bin. “I’ll go start making those cookies and calling Tango. Please, get yourself comfy. If there’s anything you want to watch, just take a peek inside that cabinet. If you have any questions, please don’t be afraid to ask, Leaf.”

As Belle left the living room, Leaf slowly curled up on the shaggy couch. It was sort of itchy but it was so comfortable. A yawn escaped Leaf and she let her eyes flutter shut.

Maybe.

Just maybe.

Staying in this world wouldn’t be all that bad after all.