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sugarswampsiren · 1 year

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Clone Caution

Hi, I was super euphoric today thinking about Pizza Tower, so consider this a Part II to the writing I did last night of Voise's origin! This is about Voise again, but is more a character exploration piece on beloved cowboy the Vigilante. Takes place just shortly after the last.

Since the destruction of the Pizza Tower, he's taken it upon himself to be the guardian of the small 'town' they've created, which is just everyone's residence and establishments. He's training the toppins to be on the look out for the possible return of Pizzahead, as foretold in one of the ending images.

So, prior to the writing of the origin story, we were planning stuff for the bond between Voise and Vigilante, but as we realized, things weren't gonna start perfect. Them being a clone sets him off into.. vigilance. to a bit of an extreme degree.

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It was an awkward evening for the Vigilante. From what he could tell just making his rounds through their settlement in the middle of nowhere, Peppino was more on edge than usual, and things were quiet from the local couple. Too quiet. There always had to be something rustling from Noisette's cafe, and usually Noise was skipping around, causing mayhem in his wake, or standing outside for a smoke. Really, when thinking about it, he hadn't seen them since this morning.

"Sir?" Spoke one of the toppins, the pineapple to be exact. Vigert was very serious about teaching all of them how to defend themselves, and he had to teach them to keep a watchful eye, danger could be lurking everywhere. "Do you, like, feel like you're being watched?"

He ceased his movements, rotating his slimy head to get a look at his surroundings. He couldn't immediately see anything, but come to think of it, something seemed off. Pulling out his gun, he slid his way around some of the establishments. No one was hiding. "You seem to be onto somethin', li'l one." He spoke.

He continued to survey his surroundings before the toppins looked upwards. "False alarm, I think it's just Noisette watching us."

Confused, the Vigilante turned his gaze upwards, and he saw a brief silhouette of what appeared to be her on the roof, but it didn't say anything and disappeared as soon as he saw it. Putting away his gun, he grunted. "That's weird. Best I go check on her. Go get yourselves some rest." The toppins cheered as they quickly ran away from their training, while he slithered to Noisette's cafe.

Placing a gloved hand on the door, he opened it, hiding his slight concern for his best friend, as he saw her waving towards him. "Hi Vigi! Oh my gosh, you would not believe the day I had!"

"Why were you just starin' at me outside?"

"I wasn't? I've just been standing here."

"… Where's Noise?"

"In the back."

Balling his hand into a fist, he focused on her with concern. "I think somethin's up, there was someone who looked like you on the roof and---" Shifting his eye away from her for a second he saw something in his vision. It took him some moments to realize it was the same figure, now just looking at him from behind the counter. Pulling out his gun, he shouted, "Noisette, take cover!"

"Huh?" She was oblivious for a moment, though she soon turned behind her, where he was aiming his pistol. Realizing Voise had come back from being outside, she soon got in front of them. "No, no, no, don't shoot! This is Voise! They aren't harmful!"

"How do you know?!"

"They're my clone (and Noisy's). They just showed up today, and I'm adopting them!"

"So that's why things have been quiet… I'm sorry, but this has to be some sort of trick from Pizzahead. He's the only person I know who has cloned one of us."

"You don't know a lot of people, Vigi."

"Then where do they come from?"

"The ruins of the tower!"

"That just proves my point, Hazel! They are clearly meant to be spying on us, getting our secrets. You can't just house this thing."

"You're assuming so much. They wouldn't do anything harmful. Just look at them."

Noisette moved out of the way, and Voise was still completely dead silent, just looking back and forth between them. Smiling towards the cowboy, they spoke. "Hi. Heard about you."

"I bet you have." He muttered.

"I like your gun."

"You'd like your hands on it, wouldn't you? Why are you here?"

"No direction. Needed home."

"Oh really now? You got no clue where Pizzahead is?"

They shook their head in response. "Do you not trust Noisette?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

The bunny eared baker soon stepped in. "I think they are trying to say that in your care for me that you think I wouldn't handle myself. Just because something came from the Tower doesn't mean it's some sort of scheme. We were raised in the Tower!"

"That's different!" He responded. Yet, he was beginning to put away his weapon. Maybe he himself was too on edge. Sure, he still couldn't feel himself trusting Voise, this entity was still too suspicious, still too many questions, but could he really allow himself to treat his best friend like a defenseless damsel? No. "Does Noise know about them?"

"Yeah, he decided he's taking them in as an apprentice."

"Oh. Goody. Well, I'll take my leave. Sorry I almost opened fire in your establishment."

"No harm, no foul, Vigi."

"Right. Be seein' ya tomorrow." As he slithered away, he looked back at the clone, squinting and pointing at his eyes before pointing at them. His glare intensified as they crossed their arms and titled their head.

Soon the night passed, and it was a couple days after the incident. Another morning had arrived, and things between the Vigilante and the Voise hadn't improved. Sometimes they had left somewhere with Noise, but on a morning like this, they were 'helping' Noisette around the cafe. Didn't seem like they were doing much other than sitting quietly on one of the stools.

Both he and Peppino usually arrived in the cafe for their morning coffee, but for the past while, when Peppino saw them around, he usually bolted, just like today. He didn't really budge as he sipped on his coffee. Occasionally he would turn his attention to them as they started chewing on a honeycomb. Why Noisette had raw honeycomb somewhere in her kitchen was anyone else's guess. "Still here?" He grumbled to them.

"Yep."

"Haven't been slitherin' away from your caretakers in the night, have ya?"

Noisette soon piped up as she was brewing another pot of coffee. "Sometimes before bed they would go into the yard and collect leaves while walking on all fours. We've got cameras and they've never strayed far."

He wasn't very satisfied, still not believing that their act was a genuine one. Though, that was too specific of a story and they were under enough surveillance.

"Pizzahead probably forgot about me." Voise spoke up.

"How can you be so sure?" Vigilante asked.

"Was unconscious for a while." They paused, lifting up their mask and hair to show their wound from getting hit in the head with a brick. Pulling down their mask, they surprisingly continued. "Probably seemed preeeeeetty dead."

He grunted in response. It had been too soon of knowing them, they weren't the lying type quite yet, and Noisette hummed as if she knew that this was a fact. He briefly dwelled on the fact that Fake Peppino didn't have any loyalty to his creator, and in fact was more dependent on who he was cloned from. But that seemed too coincidental, it couldn't be a case that happened twice, especially since Voise wasn't as goopy and more capable of speech, the short sentences appearing more as a quirk.

But he wasn't ready to let his guard down. Life was too good, having people to protect and being free from Pizzahead's deception, even if that meant losing what his grandpappy established. "Well. I best get the toppins ready fer their trainin'." He said, slipping off of the stool and making his way to the door.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Noisette had a smile on her face. Unknown from him was the fact that it was a very plotting, knowing kind of grin. She had a plan. "Noisy and I are going to go on a date tonight. We need someone to watch Voise, and we were hoping you would."

"They can't be on their own?" He immediately asked, rather impulsively. Wait, this was perfect, he could keep his eye on them. "Er, forget I said that. I'll do it."

"Yay, thank you so much, Vigi!!" She ran over to give her friend a hug. She did feel some guilt that she was lying to her bestie, but he needed to give her new family member a chance. He was being stubborn and she wasn't entirely having it.

He soon left and the day continued as normal. The toppins were brushing up on their target practice, and he tried to take his mind off the matter until he noticed Voise behind the fence. He jumped slightly realizing their presence and saw them motion their hands, indicating that the target was crooked. They soon left soon after, returning to the cafe, mouthing 'see you later.'

Later quickly came, and he entered the cafe just as the couple was about to leave. Noise gave Vigilante a look, all the while adjusting his hair. "Now, cowboy, you don't have to show off that you're the fastest shot from nowhere by gunning down my protege."

"Don't be silly, Theo!" Noisette chirped. "Vigi's a much kinder soul than to shoot family. He's going to protect them. See you two!" She couldn't help but giggle, giving a wink towards her boyfriend as they left. Once they were out of the establishment, Noise grabbed onto her, utilizing his jetpack to get them where they wouldn't be easily seen, which was the roof of Peppino's pizzeria.

"Gotta say, this is a pretty clever idea. And I know clever ideas." He told her, looking at his girlfriend with utter pride that she was capable of withholding the truth.

"Maybe. You don't think he's onto us, do you?"

"He's a person prone to focusing too hard on something. I think the thought that you'd lie to him to get him to let go of his paranoia isn't even a concept in his head."

"True. Oh no! I just realized I might have left my lemon and bacon pie in the oven!"

"…Oh. …. Well, we can't blow our cover. They'll probably discover it."

As they looked in the direction of the cafe, it turned out that inside, in the two minutes that had passed, was complete silence. It was pretty awkward, and Vigert didn't exactly feel like saying the first word.

"Evening, Mr. Lantte" Voise eventually spoke.

He tipped his hat at them, very slowly. "Howdy. What exactly are you going to do without them? You can't really do anything funny with me around."

"Are you sure?"

"… What're you planning?"

"Nothing. Can do stuff, though."

"Not without me trailin' right behind ya."

"Of course."

They both continued to sit, Vigilante expecting Voise to just sprint off, but instead they pulled out their sketchbook and doodled, looking up at him occasionally. He looked over their shoulder, stretching his slime to do so. They didn't exaclty mind, as he got to see the page that included their beginnings. He could feel himself worried at how they depicted their abandonment under the ruins of the tower, everyone was so eager that all was said and done, and didn't think anything else was left.

Was that all there was, was just someone who was finding their purpose in life, finding where they belong? They turned their attention towards him, breaking him out of his thoughts. He squinted at them. "I still don't exactly trust you."

"You will."

"Ya know, you don't exactly help yer case by speakin' the way you do."

"But it's fun." They smiled at him, appearing much more innocent. Noisette's charm definitely still existed in them, and that's how they knew they'd win him over. "So. Who's the ghost?"

"Figures you've been watching me enough to see him. That's my grandpappy. He had a pretty nice livin' back at the Pizza Tower. Lived there all his life, practically raised me. He was a humble farmer, taught me all I knew. … Then a chicken killed him."

"The long one?"

"Yup."

"That's pretty cool."

"Cool?!"

"Died as he lived."

"… Surrounded by chickens?"

"Yeah." He stared in shock before leaving a small chuckle. "Okay, you got me there. It's not like he's really gone, his ghost hangs around, still watches over me. I still don't like that chicken though."

"Right."

"… What're you even drawin', by the way?"

They showed their current page. It was the Vigilante depicted as a very slimy cat with a cowboy hat.

"Well. I can say I never saw that drawn before. Pepperman would never."

Voise blinked a couple times, unsure of why everyone kept bringing up this Pepperman. Then their eyes widened, sniffing the air. "Does… something smell like burning?"

A drop of sweat oozed out of the cowboy as he realized how terrible of a sign that was. Running to the kitchen area, he saw a very smoke-y inside of the oven. "Oh shit! Kid, get me the fire extinguisher!"

Leaping up from the stool, they ran to the aforementioned extinguisher, struggling to get it to activate. He saw them struggle and swiftly grabbed it, managing to crack it open and get some foam to spurt out. It seemed to start to suppress the disaster waiting to happen. They both stood there, scared…

Then the oven promptly exploded, the whole cafe going down, Vigert swiftly using himself to cover Voise's body to protect them. He didn't realize what he was doing before it happened, but it was the right thing to do, his instincts knew that and got the better of him.

As only ash remained of the cafe, the Noise couple stared in complete awe. Not the good kind of awe. It was pretty bad. Leaping up from where they were hiding, they ran towards the two of them. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! That was my bad!" Noisette yelled.

What remained of the establishment was the burnt pie, which Voise promptly picked up and started to eat. The Vigilante watched them, before seeing Noise look at him with a rather smug expression. "I saw that, y'know."

"Saw what?"

"You protected Voise. The so-called thing you thought would be giving information to Pizzahead."

"He did that!?" Noisette yelped, running to hug her best friend. "I'm so proud of you, Vigi! You truly do care!"

"The place was about to blow up, what was I supposed to do?" He responded. He turned away from them, but he was pretty proud of himself. Maybe it wasn't worth getting so worked up over this clone that was eating literal ash pie. Maybe it was way more important to be concerned over what they were going to do now that Noisette's place of employment went down in flames. Eh, who are we kidding, the place will regenerate in its next appearance. Cartoon logic!

#fanfic writing #fancharacter #pizza tower

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