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toons-inkwell · 28 days ago

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Finding "Frankie" AU. Chapter: 2

Warnings: Body horror? (Idk if you have a good imagination like me stuff like this does become horrifying in retrospect).

words: 6,411 (check first reblog for author's notes as well as Toon's design if interested).

Rain trickled down from the sky as Toon made his way out of a parking lot and into the confines of a small grocery store located on the edge of a very sketchy neighborhood. A sliding glass door opened with a ding to greet him, a loud box fan triggered and the sound of the air blasting him drew the cashier's attention. Burying his attention into the ground, he avoided anyone else like the plague and shuffled past what few prying eyes that would watch him. Cameras looked on overhead and he took a quick glance at them before completely dismissing their presence. Thankfully all but one were inactive, the only camera that was actually on was the one aimed at the checkout to ensure no employees were stealing from the register. The ones placed around the store were mere dummy props intended to deter thieves, the store didn't have the proper funds nor actual care to purchase real cameras to protect goods that would almost definitely disappear in such an impoverished area. With the only other person in the store being isles down and the cashier quickly going back to distracting themselves with their phone, Toon slid into the small cramped cereal section of the store and let his flesh disguise slip to take a breath.

Faux skin melted off into tar black ink and molded itself back in the blink of an eye. With a breath of relief Toon looked in the reflection of a puddle that had formed on the waxy grocery floor from the water dripping off his hoodie. With a grimace he pressed his glove-like hand to his snout and examined what he looked like, or at least what he felt comfortable looking like. It was weird to say the least but unlike the human disguise he wore in public the appearance of his anthropomorphic animal look was something that he didn't *totally* hate looking at. It felt like something he could safely look like and pretend to be without being horribly sick to his stomach, once again he didn't exactly like it but it did its job. Taking a further look at himself, Toon tilted his head and stared at his face to make sure he got everything right, he didn't wish to forget the only face he could stand looking back at him in a reflection.

Long rat snout: check. Fluffy spike-like fur on his cheeks: check. Black stripe running vertical across his eyes and head: check. Black triangle nose: check. Long floppy ears: check. Piecut pupils located in a conjoined eye that also acted like brow: check. It still felt like there was something missing though…

squeak

Toon jumped out of his skin as his big ears picked up the sound of a shopping cart’s wheel roll close. Thankfully jumping out of his skin was just what he wished to happen. In an instant his face shifted into his human form, what once was a weird looking rat-rabbit hybrid now went back to being a normal—if you could call his freakish appearance normal—man. Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted someone looking down the aisle at him, staring for an unknown reason. It made his heart sink and a small voice in his head tried to make him panic. The idea someone saw him without his disguise made him tremble but he did his best to not draw anymore attention himself. Trying his best to also not look like some druggie or otherwise lunatic, the disguised RatBit rubbed his chin and stared at the cereal boxes on the shelf.

“Which one to get… which one to get…” he murmured, feigning interest in the cereal.

Out of the corner of his vision he stared at some shopper who had stopped whatever they were doing and looked directly at him. Eyes bore into the side of his head and he held his breath, doing his best to give a genuine nonchalant smile only to fail miserably and look even more disturbed. Maybe shifting back into his RatBit look was a bad idea now that he was looking at it, it was probably a better idea to just keep his human disguise on until he went back home, even if it did disgust him. Besides, he did come to the grocery store with the intent to buy food after all. He admittedly didn't have much to his name, his hoodie pocket filled with a crumpled 5 dollar bill was all he had at the moment. It wasn't much but it was money he could spend and it would hopefully be enough to buy himself something to hold him over until he could get some more.

Releasing his breath, Toon stood up and no longer pretended to look at the cereal. With the presence of whoever was staring at him being dismissed, he surveyed the breakfast goods lined up on the shelf ready to take away what little he had left. Oatmeal, prepackaged pancake batter, the main allure of course being the several boxes of cereal that took up 1/3rd of the shelf towards the end. There wasn't much variety, it was a very ghetto store so stock was limited. The entire lower shelf consisted of some very bland honey coated cereal called JoyHoops which Toon passed over almost instantly. The two upper shelves were what caught his eye, more colorful boxes depicting a cartoon mascot chicken with the words “Morning Crunch” were what he was drawn to. Naturally preferring to look like an anthropomorphic animal himself he was enticed to buy the one with more childish marketing, one box specifically called out to him louder than the rest though. There sitting by its lonesome surrounded by different brands was a light blue cereal box sporting a lop-eared rabbit with a hat and magic wand.

“Frankie's Fruit Flakes…” Toon read aloud.

Toon reached out and grabbed the box, his hand brushing against the cold metal shelf making him shiver. Much to both his suprise and delight the box was strangely heavy for a cereal box. In comparison to the JoyHoops and Morning Crunch brands, the Frankie box held a tad bit more girth in both its packaging and feel. Toon picked up the other boxes just to make sure he wasn't going crazy and yup, sure enough the box holding colorful frosted fruit flavored flakes with marshmallows would probably be the best bang for his buck. He wasn't exactly a bargain shopper—he probably should have been—but he still knew buying this one would give him the best bang for his buck. Besides, he did have an odd fascination with the mascot of the cereal. His eyes sparkled seeing the friendly smile of the rabbit that had lured him in. It was just a capitalist and predatorial way to trick small kids into consuming their product, but it still worked on the disguised rodent and he began to feel a weird sense of nostalgia for a childhood he never had. Considering he was only partially a rabbit it wasn't really a vain thought to think the mascot was in some way cute, was it?

“Um excuse me?”

Toon froze up and felt his stomach tie into a knot, someone had spoken remarkably close to him. He prayed it was just someone talking to someone else but he could hear it was not only close but directed right at him. With a feeling of unease he tilted his head towards whoever this person was but suddenly felt a whole lot less anxious.

“... What the–?”

Sitting there was one entire shopping cart loaded over to the brim with boxes upon boxes of Frankie’s Fruit Flakes. The baby blue boxes were in one giant mountain, unevenly placed and all clumped together with a select few looking like they were about to fall to the side. Toon was immediately taken aback by the sheer absurdity of the sight and his mouth hung open as his eyes snapped to the man who called out to him.

“Um… can I help you?” he asked.

“Yeah I was just wondering if I could maybe have that?” The man pointed to the box Toon held in his palms “I already asked for all the boxes they had in the back and I was just coming to get what they had on the shelves so–” The man opened his palm as if expecting Toon to hand it over.

Being the nervous creature he was, he initially would have given up the cereal box just to avoid anything. Something about the box drew him in though, he didn't wish to depart with it at all. It was stupid to cause such a scene simply because he liked the mascot, but he did find it first as such he felt at least a little entitled to it. Toon swallowed a ball of spit that had built up in his throat and got ready to speak, doing his best to steel himself to reply concisely.

“...no…” Toon said as he clutched the box, pressing it close to his chest “I uhh–kinda want it? I'm hungry?”

Desperation filled the man’s eyes seeing Toon hold it. He took a step closer and reached into his pocket to retrieve a wallet which he flipped through in a panic “okay, yeah no, I get that I just REALLY need that box, I'd be willing to pay you if you let me have that, I know this may be a lot to ask it's just something I need right now”

Toon slowly crept backwards, his voice got softer and his gaze was averted back down to the floor “Um n-no, sorry I just want this?”

“Please, I'll give you a hundred dollars for it I just REALLY need it” The man took a few more steps closing the already limited amount of distance there was. Toon did his best to look away but had a handful of cash shoved in his face, the man still ever so insistent “Please– 500! 500 dollars!”

Toon let out a small squeak and covered his mouth. He had nowhere else to go and he found his back pressed against one of the cold walls of the store. Trying not to let anymore sounds slip he spoke with his voice now shrill and frightened “I'm really sorry, but I'm just taking this one box only and you have–”

drip

“Uh–.... Oh fuck…”

Toon could very clearly see a small drop of ink had fallen down off his face and onto the floor below. The hanging bay lights gave the small droplet a glint and for a split second Toon saw his disguised face completely malformed. His nose had shifted off to the side, his pupils were dilated and pitch black, worst of all most of his skin had started to droop like a very thick face mask about to be washed off. His entire disguise was coming undone and he looked like some misshapen wax figure that had gone out too long in the summer sun. The silence was deafening and even if Toon couldn't see the man’s face he knew he was getting a look of disgust. He had to get out, go far, far away.

The disguise he wore slipped away with his nerves, more drops of black fell onto the floor and Toon stumbled past the man. “I'm sorry, I'm just gonna take this and go” he mumbled.

“WAIT! Please give me that box!”

The man reached out towards Toon and time seemed to slow. For a split second in that moment Toon stood completely still, this random person grabbing at his hoodie making him react like a deer in headlights. The cearl box felt like nothing in his hands as they went numb, although not actually having blood nor a heartbeat he nonetheless heard a pounding in his ears that went off like sirens. His entire body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing as his mind raced, the finish line on his thought process telling him to do one and only thing:

Run

It was a spur of the moment thing. It was stupid and Toon cursed himself internally for doing such a moronic act but he couldn't help himself. The second his brain told him to, he ran, ran right out the store and into the cold rain. He could hear the shouting from the cashier, man. and the grocery store anti theft alarm but he never once cared to look back. His body had begun to melt with the human face he wore coming off, his body reverting his visage to its primordial state of pitch black with small glowing white dots. Puddles of water splashed and muddied his feet as he dashed through them, even his shoes were apart of the human disguised and those two began to deform. He deeply prayed no one saw him running through the parking lot, clutching a box of cereal like his life depended on it. When he first arrived to the store the rain was a light sprinkle that was almost pleasant, now it was a complete torrential downpour with the dark clouds casting shadows everything under them.

By the time the adrenaline—or at least his bodies’ version of it—wore off the pain began to set in. Toon had run 3 blocks straight, never once looking behind himself until now. A ragged sigh of relief flew out between his lips which were almost completely melted together. The disguise was almost completely gone but he couldn't care less as he found himself alone.

”The fuck was that guy’s problem?” He thought, his mouth currently incapable of speaking.

Taking a quick look around Toon tried to calm himself, assessing his surroundings to the best of his abilities. He was in not too unfamiliar territory, there was an abandoned warehouse, residential apartments, and even a few suburban houses that had long developed rot since they were in use. Potholes lined the black asphalt streets that were only made blacker by the rain which drenched everything and even the lights set up on the sidewalk to give people the comfort of safety at night in such a dangerous area held nothing but dead bulbs. To say the scenery was dreary would be an understatement, it was plain old depressing giving an unnerving sense of isolation. Even most of the residential apartment buildings were abandoned with a possible select few having tenants in them. The exact reason for such an abandonment of an area was the fact this was the part of town that was simply neglected, stricken with poverty and homeless; it was much easier for city officials to merely ignore this entire area rather than invest money to improve it. It was a sad reality but one the sentient ink creature came to understand not too long after waking up. They simply wanted nothing to do with any of this area. Well, most of this area.

With a pull of his hoodie drawstrings Toon hid himself and carried on, his feet still aching and heart palpitating. He was no longer in danger but the weird interaction was going to be engraved into his brain for the next week, at minimum. It was so odd, and for what? This weird frosted flaky cereal with marshmallows in it? He looked at the box and couldn't find what was so special about it, it was family size and heavy?... That was about it? The RatBit was just an honest to God loss on what the hell could be so special that someone would be willing to pay 10 times the amount the box cost if he handed it over. It was a box—a bit heavy sure but still—a box of cereal. Was this some sort of limited edition type thing and this dude was just a hoarder buying up every box the store had? All questions that would go unanswered, there really wasn't any logic he could apply to why the man had so many boxes in his cart and wanted this one as well. Toon just dismissed it as another bizarre display of man’s lunacy at its finest and left it at that.

Doing his oh so hardest to shove that out of his mind, Toon finally looked up when he was approaching his neighborhood. With only a quick glance given towards both ends of the road he made a direct beeline across the street to his home. A small concrete studio that was once used by animators one and a half stories high awaited him with its door partially hung open, big letters that once used to shine bright were just as broken and dull as everything else hung on the front part of the building. What was left of the old sign specifically held deep significance to the disguised ink creature, whatever the building was called had been lost to time leaving no letters other than “toon” as a label. The entire thing he held dearly but for him but it was the sign that gave his name, it was one of the few things he had when he awoke.

Toon finally got out of the rain and stepped inside with the cereal box he held in tow. Once inside he slammed the door behind him, the hinges filled with rust made an awful scraping sound and he prayed it would stay closed. The building lacked locks—because Toon broke them when he awoke—so he resorted to blocking all the entrances as a way to keep out unwanted guests. Today was different though, today he had no care and didn't bother blocking the main entrance. Instead he walked all the way over to the small part of the building he fashioned into a somewhat livable area and flicked on the lights. His sole company of roaches that infested the building skittered out of sight into unseen cracks and crevices, a sight that most would find revolting had become all too commonplace. He didn't care about the roaches or any other insects that lived with him, what he cared about and was focused on was a small box that sat on a table. Inside of the box rested small bits of drawings, doodles, and scraps of film reels that had been cut out focused on singular cartoon character from the 30s. This was Toon’s reference for his face, it's what he found when he awoke and quickly grew to acclimate to. It was something that felt familiar in an odd way and he had a connection to, he liked to believe those drawings were him, or at least apart of him.

Alas the reconnection with his body was short-lived. A small red envelope he had forgotten about was stuffed into the box by the RatBit earlier that week poked out.

”SHIT! I forgot about that!”

Toon swiped the envelope and he let out a gurgled groan reading the words “URGENT” on it addressed to some fake name he utilized. While the place appeared abandoned on the outside he was lucky enough to abuse the systems enough to be able to make a claim to owning it, squatters rights and all that. The unfortunate part of this was the fact that if he wanted to continue owning it it meant paying what property taxes that would be sent to his address and fake name. Another tragic detail was the fact that he had the unfortunate luck of dwelling in the only building actually wanting to be changed. He couldn't remember when but a couple months back he was offered a very miniscule amount of cash for his residence, they wanted to turn the old studio into some store or something. Toon didn't pick up on the exact details and time muddied them in his mind, but what he could clearly remember was the bottom line of them wanting to demolish and remodel the only place that he could call home. Needless to say he rejected the offer in an instant, but now that he was getting letters in the mail regarding the building he knew that if he missed one more payment he'd be evicted and no doubt the walls that were filled with unknown amounts of history would be wiped clean. Toon felt bitter towards the entire situation and looking within his pocket which held a 5 dollar bill he'd have to go back and give up just made him feel worse. He cursed himself for not taking the money the man offered if he gave up that box, but he'd rather die than go back desperate for the cash.

Between that bullshit that happened at the store, his current hunger, and now the revelation of this letter resurfacing it felt like life was becoming all too much and hectic. He just needed to gather his thoughts, take a breath, and take one thing at a time. Right now he was going to focus on the thing preventing him from taking a breath, the fact that his face was just a blank slate of ink with 2 glowing eyes. Toon tossed the envelope to the side and picked up one of the more intact drawings of the cartoon studio’s mascot, his face shifting to mimic what he saw.

Long snout, fluffy spike-like fur on his cheeks, black stripe running vertical across his eyes, black triangle nose, long floppy ears, pecut pupils located in a conjoined eye that also acted like brow, tuft of fur on his head—

“THAT'S WHAT IT WAS!” he exclaimed, the earlier feeling of something amiss being answered.

Toon licked his fingers and pressed them to his forehead, the fur beneath his fingertips melted allowing him to quickly mold it into a type of cow-lick before it hardened back into soft white fur. While he was at it he also ditched the pants he wore and added a few more details to his body based on the design papers he held. His hands kept the look of gloves but from his fingers and palms grew grey digital pads mimicking paws, his feet did the same. Sopping wet shoes covered in small bits of dirt and debris from outsidewere now white furry paws that he was quick to wipe on the ground. One final detail he added to his body was a monochromatic rat tail that emerged from his behind. With his body reshaped into that of the cartoon character he looked over at a small mirror he had hung up, it's glass cracked from him accidentally dropping it with the first attempt at trying to mount it on the wall.

Sure enough looking back was the cartoon character that probably was the studio he lived in’s mascot. He did do research on the place he dwelled in, a trip to the public library allowed him to look up what this place was but it netted minimal results. It was a small indie studio run by a group of friends who wanted to draw, it held no actual details regarding any creations that came from it nor any sort of report why it closed. All Toon knew was that the people who founded it were long dead since the 60s all that remained from them being a shelter, a few drawings he could use as an identity, a face and–”

gggggrrrrrrowwwe

–Hunger…

Toon groaned and lifted up his hoodie to look at his body, his inky stomach caving in on itself. Unlike his limbs which held proper fur on them his body was just a smooth inky shape vaguely resembling a torso of androgynous appearance although it became more unstable and harder to maintain with each day it was deprived of nutrients. Thankfully in his grasp he held the family sized cereal box, he'd have to ration it out until he could afford more food and perhaps it wasn't the most nutritious considering the box did sneakily hold small facts on the side stating it's high sugar contents, but it was still food. Food he could happily munch on. who needed milk? All he needed was the tasty flavor of the dry–

“tape?!”

Toon’s fur stood up and he retracted his hand, a VHS tape in his grasp. He was beyond confused and immediately noticed most of the weight the cereal box held vanished when he pulled out what was clearly not a bag full of cereal out. Heck, there wasn't even a bag the cereal was held in, the fruit flakes were just stuffed in with the tape leaving them crushed at the bottom. Instead of a nice box of cereal all he got was some stupid tape that took up 2/3rds of the box leaving him with barely anything.

“... What?” He muttered in disbelief “wha–WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?”

The RatBit buried his entire snout into the box to see what he had left. It was about a single bowl’s worth, definitely nowhere near what he thought he was getting nor what he should be getting for what he paid for. Well, he didn't pay for it and had to actually go back and give them the money, BUT STILL!

“I thought these things came with toys not whatever the hell this is!? What the fuck is this bullshit!”

Toon unlodged his snout from the box and firmly gripped the tape. He had effectively been robbed and all he had for food was a few handfuls of stale cereal and some shitty tape to show for it. He wanted to get mad, lash out and throw the tape against the wall letting it smash into thousands of little pieces before using his teeth to bite through the celluloid film reels. Just do anything to express his anger and what was soon becoming grief as he realized he wasted what little he had for a singular serving of food. But he couldn't. With everything that happened and what was going to happen with the place he lived in he honestly couldn't care anymore. Everything was becoming too exhausting and he'd just do what he'd always do, take the problem on the chin and try to press on even if he was feeling mad and on the verge of tears.

Toon let out a sigh, trying his best to relieve his frustration. His ears were drooped downwards and he looked at the tape in his hands. This actually snapped him out of his rage, the tape had the clear image of that cute cartoon rabbit on it in the background with the big words “PLAY ME!” in the foreground. Under it was small text which he had to squint to see. “Finding Frankie, season:1” it read in very small text. Now while it was neat having a piece of physical media of a TV show come with a box of cereal, Toon still felt pissed considering he bought cereal. He expected to get you know—maybe cereal!?

“Well… I guess I might as well watch this, nothing else to do after all and I ain't going back to the store while that weirdo is probably still there” Toon threw his hands up in the air in a fit, a few bits of the colorful flakes and marshmallows flew out of the box and he sighed.

After scooping what fell out back into the box Toon shuffled over to a storage closet that he knew kept small pieces of hardware from its hay day. Admittedly a cartoon studio from the 30s having a VCR in a closet was a bit bizarre but considering Toon also found his red hoodie in the building he just assumed there was an attempt to bring this place to life or turn it into something else before it was scrapped. Whatever the case he had a small CRT TV and a VCR which he dragged back into the livable area and plugged it in into an outlet. A small spark emerged making the RatBit flinch back, a side effect of the power being haphazardly directly connected to another building’s power grid. It was dangerous—and highly illegal—but it worked and allowed Toon to not only turn on lights, but now watch whatever was on the thing that had tricked him. Unlike the weight of the box, the tape didn't lie to him and was actually what it claimed to be and be a cartoon aired with the intent to educate kids and in no way garner an adult’s entertainment.

Oddly enough though, Toon did find entertainment in it. The show enamored him, probably because of the rabbit character, and he found himself sat on the floor with his pie cut eyes glued to the TV. With the box in his hands he rummaged around and scooped out a handful of the cereal. It was definitely stale, the taste comparable to that of fruit flavored dust that left an unpleasant aftertaste. Toon’s face scrunched up as he chewed but he knew he would be fine, he couldn't get sick like humans did. The horrible taste quickly became barely noticeable with each minute that ticked by, the rodent’s attention becoming more and more absorbed into what the television displayed.

“Finding Frankie” was the title just as the name on the VHS indicated. It starred the mascot of the cereal brand and the one plastered on the cover of the tape, a small lop-eared magician rabbit. The cartoon was very formulaic in its setup, usually the episode would start with Frankie attempting to impress unnamed characters with his magic trick only for something disastrous to happen and he'd rope in another character by the name of Henry Hotline who had a telephone for anyead to help him fix it before a third character named Deputy Duck with a tablet body found out what he did. A common gag in the show would be Frankie making himself “disappear” as a magic trick only to reappear in the background, whenever this would happen Henry Hotline would break the fourth wall and ask the audience to help him find Frankie which is probably where the title came from. After the initial 20 or so minutes of Frankie and his animated hijinks the show would then switch to a live action format, a man in a Frankie suit would come from off screen and greet a bunch of children and with the help of a tablet modeled to look like Deputy Duck they'd advocate for kids to exercise or whatever message the animated segment built. After the show there would also be one bonus segment, no longer than 5 minutes in length. It was a bit called “Calling Henry Hotline!” with the gist of it being an animated Henry would be sitting in what looked like some sorta kid version of a talk show setup where his head would ring and he'd pick up the phone listening to some question from a child. The questions ranged from life advice like how to deal with bullies or what to do if you break something all the way to questions about the characters in the Finding Frankie world. In a bit of charming characterization from the creators Henry would always initially answer these questions with intentionally poor, sarcastic or downright misleading advice, often saying the direct opposite of what one should do only for the quack of Deputy Duck to come off screen prompting him to reluctantly give a more helpful answer.

It was generic, childish, and oftentimes cheesy but dear god was Toon so fascinated with it all.

The little rodent never once looked away, not even bothering with pretending to need to blink. The world seemed to fade away and he subconsciously munched on the stale cereal with laser focus on the incredibly charming character of Frankie. He didn't know why but whenever the animated rabbit would be on screen he felt that odd feeling deep within his inky body that he felt at the store. It was a sort of bubbling and warmth that he never had felt before and saved him from reality. It allowed him to dissociate from all of it, the poverty stricken area, the bad tasting dry food being shoved into his muzzle, what happened at the store, the oncoming threat of his home being taken away, and even the discomfort he felt from merely existing. All of it just ceased to exist when Frankie would stretch with his mechanical limbs to climb something, bounce around or pull a human out of a hat. The Henry segment was humorous and the live action segment was delightful, but it was always those first 20 minutes at the very start of the episode that would force Toon to patiently sit and wait till the next played. Episode after episode he watched solely for the endearing rabbit that would make him feel a special sort of way.

All good things had to come to an end, eventually Toon’s bad luck came to tackle him to the ground. For some inexplicable reason the show he suddenly grown an attachment too started to not feel like itself. The animation segment in the very beginning was shortened down to 10 minutes with plots feeling a lot more rushed and nonsensical, the animation following along as it became very choppy with numerous errors made along the way. Henry’s 5 minute segment was removed, or at least it might as well have been. The telephone head no longer answered questions but now simply advertised products, one of these products being the very cereal the rodent found the tape in. The absolute worst was the live action segment that took up most of the cartoon’s runtime. What originally was supposed to be an educational segment intended to teach kids a lesson that would connect in some way to the animated part was now tried to be the entertaining part. It was filled with mediocre jokes or physical gags that would have been a thousand times better in an animated and more exaggerated format. The creepiest part of all of this though was the suit. The original Frankie suit was nowhere to be seen and now it was just this one mascot costume that resembled Frankie but was definitely not his cute magician rabbit. It had a permanent smile on its face with large teeth, beady eyes and movements that were stiff. The entire thing just got worse and Toon was forced to watch the death of something he had just fell in love with not to long ago. Thankfully it was only the last batch of episodes that had this horrendous format, once over the rodent couldn't help but feel worse. All the joy, happiness, and charm he garnered from Frankie and his show had its throat slit in front of him and like always he just had to take it.

When the final episode finished Toon stood up witnessing what was probably the most devastating event of the day “well… that was nice? M-most of it…” he said, the bright side not exactly shining the brightest.

With a melancholic smile he reached forward to eject the tape, his hand faltering the second he heard some extra footage that made his ears perk up.

”[CONGRATULATIONS! If you are watching this that means you are one of the only FOUR lucky people around the world who have the honor of participating in a gameshow located in the WORLD’S largest indoor trampoline, water, and parkour park!]”

Toon’s arm slowly lowered and he watched the screen. Real footage of a place that Henry advertised showed on screen as well as a few shots of what the indoor parts of the entertainment park looked like. It all went by so fast he could barely make out the scenery expect for a sign that read “Frankie’s Parkour Palace” which the camera lingered on.

”[To participate in this thrilling adventure simply bring the season one VHS you found in your winning box of Frankie’s Fruit Flakes to our main location in order to have a chance at winning FIVE MILLION DOLLARS!]”

The world lurched to a halt and Toon's eyes turned into small dots “five– five– five–”

The rodent continued to stutter as the tape continued with its message.

”[With over three stories of action-packed parkour obstacle courses, this is sure to be a gameshow you won't NEVER forget!]” The announcer suddenly spoke rapidly, his voice quieter and easily missable to the untrained ear ”[FindingFrankieanditsbrandtakesnoliabilityforanydeathdismembermenttraumaorotherwiseadverseeffectsthatmaycomefromparticipatinginthisgameshowmust beeighteenyearsoroldertoenterinvitationisnon-eligibleifanyoneotherthanthewinnerismadeawareofitsexistencewewillfindout]” and just like that it spoke loud again ”[We hope to see you there, lucky contestant…]”

Toon blinked slowly, his face blank. Quite literally blank, the ink that made up his expressions had dripped off and was a puddle on the floor.

The rodent was quick to bend down and smear the ink back on, reshaping his face as he gave breathless mutters, the shock of everything making him forget how to breath “holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck, HOLY FUCK!” black ink streaked down his face from his eyes, this time out of joy.

He could hardly believe his luck, no wonder that man wanted the box at the store he was trying to find the winning tape. He didn't though, instead Toon managed to find it and he was thankful to gods he didn't even believe in for allowing him a chance to change the horrid streak of luck that always befallen him. Ideas of what he could do swarmed in his mind, with a million dollars he'd be able to eat a proper meal for once in his life not once but probably an entire year or maybe two. With the remaining millions he could fix up the crappy building he called home. Heck, with all that cash he could go one step beyond and kick the place back into working order, hiring animators to come and make a new cartoon starring the character he took the form of. Maybe those creatives would be able to make changes to the design he found himself drawn to. Maybe they could be the ones to design him a body that he'd be able to be comfortable with.

All these thoughts put a big giddy smile on his face. Rewinding backwards to find the exact location of wherever this place would be, Toon began to mentally brace himself for whatever this game show would entail. This was a chance to not only better but entirely change his situation. It was a chance he was not willing to waste.

#fanfic #fanfiction #finding frankie #f“f” au #oc x canon #my fanfiction #finding frankie fanfic #finding frankie fanfiction #frankie the magician rabbit #henry hotline #oc #original character

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