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shy-nightmare · 7 months ago

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The Toonz Twins: Toontown Sleuths

Chapter Three: Eddie Valiant

Summary: Now that they’ve been hired, the twins meet their new partner, retired Toon private investigator Eddie Valiant who is also hired to investigate the rumors at Maroon Cartoons Studio CEO R.K. Maroon’s request. The three do not hit it well with first impressions.

Credit for inspiration goes to @imaginarytoon1, author of “The Birchwood Twins: Toontown Investigators” and @its-metal-mistress, author of “Bendy and the Ink Machine: Learning How to Live”. Please check out their own wonderful content ^^!

Special Guests Tags 😊: @marinerainbow, @slashingdisneypasta, @los-angeles-toon-patrol, and @weaselnerd (BTW, I have a favor to ask. If you guys received this, can you please comment you saw my chapter? I’ve been having WiFi issues lately ☹)

Warning: Eddie being biased towards the twins 😑

The twins followed the lady down the hallway to R.K. Maroon’s office. As they walked, they marveled at the sight of various Toons and Toon celebrities walking around the streets at the studio. The walls were embellished with posters of Roger and Herman’s cartoons from Babes in Arms to Tummy Trouble and The Wet Nurse.

“They must be the stars of the studio,” Tom said to his sister, who gave a little shrug as if to say, “Guess so”.

The lady knocked on the doors polished in oak wood. “Mr. Maroon? Our guests are here.”

“Ah! Terrific!” a man’s voice responded. He clapped his hands, “Send them in, please.”

She opened the door for the twins, and they thanked her before stepping into Maroon’s office. It was a classy, organized room with walls painted in ivory decorated with golden statues of Toon celebrities and posters of Roger and Herman’s cartoons near a single green sofa chair on the right. The floor was polished in dark green and red, and only had two little stairs to the office desk. The desk itself was shaped in a curved style, decorated with more cartoon memorabilia and the chair was tufted in vintage green leather. Two velvet green curtains spread open, giving a splendid view of the Acme Factory. And sitting on the office chair and another in front of the desk were two men.

R.K. Maroon was a tall, but stout man. His skin was olive, and his hair was black peppered with streaks of gray. He wore a dark silver-grey jacket accented by a crimson handkerchief over a white dress shirt, a tie threaded in streaks of black, white, and red, and matching silver-grey trousers with polished black dress shoes.

And the other man, judging by his washed-up detective getup, had to be Eddie Valiant. He was slightly shorter, but a little stockier. He wore an old, coffee-colored jacket with a surprisingly clean white dress shirt, holding a black tie dotted in diamond shapes marked with single red x’s and dark suspenders with scuffed shoes. But unlike Maroon, he kept his short dark brown hair hidden in a classic brown fedora. He raised a brow at the twins’ appearances, giving them both a once-over look before his brown eyes darkened. Tom returned his glance with a concealed warning glare, which did manage to tell the man to keep his trap shut. At least, for now.

“Hello and welcome to Maroon Cartoons!” Maroon walked over to meet the twins, extending his hand out. “You must be Mr. Valiant’s assistants. I’m R.K. Maroon, the proud owner and CEO of the studio.”

Tom accepted his handshake, “Tom Toonz. And this is my sister, Twyla.” He motioned to his sister, who shyly held her hand out for a handshake.

“It’s very nice to meet you, too.” Maroon shook her hand before he turned to the brooding man. “OK, Eddie, you’re free to go.”

“Great,” Valiant grumbled, taking another gulp of his flask and stuffing it in his pocket before storming out of the office.

The twins sighed and shared a deadpan look. “Let’s get this over with,” he grumbled, and they followed him, not noticing Maroon’s smile turn a little…less sincere.

_____________

They followed their “partner” all the way across town, where he decided to hitch a ride on another trolley without them. Asshole. The Red Car stopped near an archway building called The Terminal Station Bar. Just as Eddie was about to take the first step, a young gruff voice spoke from behind him.

“Leavin’ us out in the open?”

“Jesus!” Eddie whirled around, but he glowered when he saw the twins with their arms crossed. “Didn’t anyone ever tell ya it ain’t smart to sneak up behind people?”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell ya it ain’t polite to ditch your coworkers?” Tom answered his question with another question, raising a brow.

“No shit, sherlock,” Eddie grumbled. “Look, I got no time to deal with you Toons—”

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder before Eddie was forced to make eye contact with the young gunslinger. Tom’s tone was even but had a firm undertone do it. “I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you. Where we come from, we don’t take kindly to racists and that does not exclude you, Mr. Valiant.”

Eddie’s glare faltered a little, his brown eyes slightly widening from the stoic, but intense glare in Tom’s darker eyes and his slightly tightened grip. After a long tense moment, he sighed and let go of the human’s shoulder. “Look, buddy. We get that we’re Toons, but like it or not, Maroon and the fuckin’ man-brat requested all three of us for this job. So I’ll offer you a deal, let us help out and I’ll split our cut 50-50 considering the time of the century we’re living in. And after that, we’ll be gone by sundown. Deal?”

The disgruntled man glared down at the floor, as if he were blaming it for all his troubles right now, then he sighed. “All right. Deal.” He shook Tom’s hand, then pulled back. “So Herman brought you two in for the same favor, huh?”

“Yeah. Apparently, there’s a rumor going around saying Jessica’s cheating on her husband. Then he sent us your way, but the problem is we don’t have a camera. And with what we got right now ain’t enough to give Herman the proof.” Tom glanced at Twyla, who nodded.

“I see.” Eddie sighed, “Wait here. I don’t want the guys to see me in the bar with you runts.”

He turned around and headed into the entrance. Tom flipped him off behind his back. He nearly bumped into a drunk who reeked of bad B.O. and booze that almost reminded him of the Hellhole and walked over to his sister who leaned against the wall while looking at her cell phone.

“Have you reached Adam and Echo yet?” he asked.

Twyla shook her head, “No. Apparently, there’s no signal in this time period.”

“It’s the 40’s, sis.” Her brother reminded her, taking his hat off to rub his temple. “We’ll try again later. Last thing we need is to make Echo sick with worry and Adam beat the shit out of us with his fuckin’ laptop.”

“Agreed.”

Suddenly, Eddie stormed out of the bar, clenching his fist. Tom saw some pieces of eggshells falling out of his palm and could tell some shit went down. “We’re going straight ahead. My office is in that building.” He spoke gruffly with teeth gritted in fury, jerking his head at a large suburban-styled apartment building across the bar at Hope Street. The trio entered the building and walked up a set of stairs leading to a long hallway with doors. After a few blocks down, Eddie led the twins to an office door labeled “VALIANT & VALIANT, PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS”, and in the center was a badge-designed symbol written “Veritas”. Eddie opened the door to his office.

His office…was a one-room apartment. The walls were tawny brown, hanging up portraits and photographed frames. It had a small kitchen with enough room to fit little a card-playing table and chairs, refrigerator, oven, sink, and thank God there was a bathroom. On the left side of the office stood a couple of dark oak shelves scattered with documents and more bottles of Jack Daniels while a dark brown leather chair stood a few feet away from them. And standing in front of the blinded window stood two office desks connected to each other with a single vintage chair. One was polished, though littered with picture frames, papers, booze, and debris. And the other was organized and well-put but covered in thick dust. There was only an unfinished scrapbook, a magnifying glass, an adorable Betty Boop figurine, rounded spectacles, and a pipe next to two organized pens. Everything was dusty, but untouched.

Eddie sat on the chair where the scattered desk was, obviously his office desk. He motioned for the twins to sit on the chairs around the table and they each grabbed a chair.

“Now if you’re going to work with me, I have to lay down some ground rules for you.” He began, making eye contact with them. “First, never—and I mean never—sit on this desk.” He pointed at the dust-blanketed office desk without taking his eyes off his “partners”. “Second, don’t slack off or goof around like you Toons do.” He added, and Tom held back a murderous growl while Twyla’s fur lightly bristled with equal rage though she was in more control of her composure. “And third of all, don’t do anything even remotely stupid that will embarrass me or get us killed while we’re on the job. Got it?”

Tom and Twyla both silently nodded. “Yes, sir.” The older twin spoke.

“Good. But before I tell you my plan for the evening, I want to know you two more. Who are ya and where are ya from?”

Tom, who was always one step ahead, did all the talking. “The name’s Toonz. Tom Toonz. And this is my twin sister, Twyla,” he motioned to his sister who greeted the man with a curt tilt of her head. Then, he dug down into his pocket to pull out a file containing two copies of their credentials that Twyla so kindly upgraded a while ago. Tom handed the papers over to Eddie. “We were hired by Baby Herman as covert investigators from Chatham, Chicago.”

“Chatham?” Eddie raised a brow, as if he were perturbed by the fact. He looked at the papers’ contents again for confirmation. “Uh, that’s a rough part of town, ain’t it?”

“Yeah, well, Chicago is rough.” Tom responded with a shrug. “But it’s one of the biggest joints out in the city to pull a sleuth job.” When Eddie furrowed his brows in confusion, the male halfie elaborated. “Before we came here, we’ve done some favors, too. Folks would show up on our door, asking us to find some dirt on people on their lists. Cheaters, scammers, liars, folks pilfering and selling recreational goods for their clandestine businesses, you name it.” he finished, trailing off, “Chicago ain’t as big as New York, but the streets are just as tough and crawling with creeps and sleazeballs of all kinds, and thugs itchin’ to take a crack at you.”

Eddie observed the scar on Tom’s right eye, then looked down. He nodded, “Yeah? Is that why you’re packin’ heavy heat?”

Tom followed where he was looking and saw the hostler of his gun coiled around his right hip. He softly cursed and tried to hide it better when Eddie cut him off. “Ah, don’t sweat it, kid. I get it. You’re trained to prepare, and that’s good. You need to use your eyes and ears, or else the pigs will be blowing your house down.”

“Ha-ha, hilarious. You’re a real fuckin’ Charlie Chaplin,” Tom snorted, but Eddie didn’t get irritated from hearing the swear.

Eddie turned to Twyla, “What about you?”

Twyla’s ears drooped, but Tom was kind enough to answer for her. “Um, sir.” He spoke to Eddie, softening his tone while keeping the eye contact firm but steady. “She doesn’t feel comfortable talking just yet.”

The detective rose a brow, but he didn’t get upset. “Just yet?”

“She struggles to speak when she’s out in public and she’s very shy, but once she gets to know you better, she’s only a lady of a few words.” Tom replied.

Thankfully, Eddie dropped it. “OK, I got ya. So you can say she’s more of the silent type?”

“Yeah.” Tom nodded, “But she’s learning some of the same skills as I am. While she struggles in conversation, she makes up for it with tracking skills and finding clues. Plus, she as a keen attention to detail and is an excellent master of stealth.” He grinned proudly at his twin’s adorable attempt to hide her embarrassed, blushing face while trying to shove her brother off his chair. However, she managed to punch him roughly in the shoulder. “Ow!” he rubbed his right arm gingerly, “And did I forget to mention she hits like a guy?”

Unbeknownst to them, Eddie pulled up their papers to hide an amused chuckle. He cleared his throat and lowered the papers, folding his hands together. “All right, back to business.”

“Right.” Tom fixed his jacket before facing the human. “So, what did Maroon tell you?”

“He told me that the rabbit’s got his tail all up in in knots because of his wife, Jessica.” He tossed Tom a folded newspaper, and the twins huddled together to take a closer look. Written in bold black, the headliner read, “Seen Cooing over Calamari with Not-So-New Sugar Daddy was Jessica Rabbit, wife of Maroon Cartoons Star Roger Rabbit”. Eddie continued while the twins read, “Like you said, there’s always a cheater crawling around. Maroon says Jessica’s poison, but Roger thinks she’s Betty Crocker. Maroon wants us to go to the joint she sings at, a little evening hotspot called The Ink & Paint Club and dig up some dirt on her.”

He glanced up at the twins warily. “There’s just one problem, though.”

They looked at him, tilting their heads confusedly. “What’s up?” Tom asked.

“Toons do work there, but the club is Toon-Revue. Strictly humans only,” he responded, hiding his concealed apprehension when the twins’ faces darkened. “I got some trench coats and hats you can borrow, so we’ll pull the old cloak-and-dagger trick and—”

Tom cut him off. “Oh, trust me. There’s no need for that,” he waved dismissively. And then, he pulled into a mischievous grin. “You just leave that to us.” He chuckled.

The twins shared a toothy smile that made Eddie’s blood run cold. Oh fuck, what have I gotten myself into? He thought.

#The Toonz Twins: Toontown Sleuths #Gunslinger Tom Toonz #Twisted Twyla Toonz #Eddie Valiant #who framed roger rabbit #wfrr #my story #my ocs <3 #my ocs #The Twisted Toonz Twins #shy nightmare #movies #Eddie will warm up to them...eventually #R.K. Maroon #I hope you guys are able to read this despite my WiFi problems right now

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ozuzo · 6 months ago

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Ultimate Homestuck ask game! (100 questions)

1. When did you start reading Homestuck?

2. What made you want to check it out?

3. Had you heard about Homestuck prior to reading it?

4. What does Homestuck mean to you?

5. Has Homestuck influenced you in any way?

6. What's your fondest Homestuck memory?

7. Have you meet friends through Homestuck?

8. How long did it take you to read Homestuck? Have you read it in its entirety?

9. Fave character? (overall)

10. Least fave character? (overall)

11. Fave "problematic" character?

12. Fave beta kid?

13. Fave alpha kid?

14. Fave beta troll?

15. Fave dancestor?

16. Fave ancestor?

17. Fave guardian?

18. Fave carapacian?

19. Fave cherub?

20. Fave sprite?

21. A character you'd be friends with?

22. A character you wouldn't be friends with?

23. Fave quirk?

24. Least fave quirk?

25. Fave pesterlog?

26. Fave flash?

27. Fave song/songs?

28. Fave fan song?

29. Fave Broadway Homestuck song?

30. Fave lyricstuck?

31. Fave Homestuck AU?

32. Are there any non Homestuck songs that make you think about Homestuck?

33. Fave fanfic?

34. Fave Homestuck writer/fan artist?

35. Fave ship? (alternatively: fave ship in each quadrant?)

36. Have you read any fan adventures?

37. Have you watched any Homestuck video essays?

38. Who's your patron troll? And do you identify with them in any way?

39. What characters are most like you?

40. If you do cosplay, which Homestuck characters have you done or would like to do?

41. Prospit or Derse?

42. Meat or Candy?

43. The Felt or The Midnight Crew?

44. Beta kids or alpha kids?

45. Red team or Blue team?

46. Canon or fanon?

47. What's your classpect?

48. Do you like your god tier or would you modify it to better suit your taste?

49. If you were in Homestuck, what would your color and typing quirk be?

50. Your strife specibus?

51. If you have one, what's your chumhandle?

52. What character interactions would you have liked to see/see more of?

53. Do you have a kidsona or trollsona?

54. Have you ever made fan kids or fan trolls?

55. Do you have any Homestuck OCs?

56. What's THE Homestuck reference for you?

57. Quick! You gotta prototype your kernel sprite, what are you dropping in there?

58. Would you play SBURB?

59. Do you think you'd win SBURB?

60. Have you read The Epilogues?

61. Have you read/are you reading Homestuck^2?

62. Have you played Pesterquest?

63. Have you played Hiveswap?

64. Have you played Friendsim?

65. Have you read the Intermission?

66. Have you read Problem Sleuth?

67. Have you read Jailbreak?

68. Have you read Paradox Space?

69. Have you read any of Hussie's other works?

70. What's an aspect of Homestuck you feel you know more about than the average Homestuck fan?

71. What's an aspect of Homestuck you'd like to know more about?

72. What's something you like about the fandom?

73. What's something you dislike about the fandom?

74. Would you recommend Homestuck to new readers/friends?

75. Do you have any Homestuck memorabilia/merch? (official or not?)

76. A hot take or hill you'd gladly die on?

77. What are your popular opinions?

78. What are your unpopular opinions?

79. If you could canonize one thing and one thing only, what would it be?

80. If you could uncanonize one thing and one thing only, what would it be?

81. Are there any panels you particularly remember or enjoy?

82. Is there any character you like aesthetically, but not personality wise?

83. Is there any character who's grown on you over time?

84. Is there a ship you don't particularly like/straight up hate?

85. Do you have any crackships or rare ships?

86. Any headcanons you'd like to share?

87. Do you have any voice claims for the cast?

88. Did you find any part of Homestuck boring?

89. If you're a creative, do you have any Homestuck related projects?

90. Do you celebrate 413?

91. Do you remember the characters' birthdays?

92. What's your favourite art style within Homestuck?

93. Karkalicious definition?

94. Has Homestuck influenced what you look for in fiction?

95. What's a non Homestuck thing that you think has strong Homestuck vibes?

96. Others could clock you as Homestuck fan because [blank].

97. You recognise fellow Homestuck fans because [blank].

98. What's your extended zodiac sign?

99. How normal are you about Homestuck?

100. Will Homestuck stay somewhere inside you forever and ever wherever you go?

#homestuck #ask game #text post #I really like ask games but I don't see them nearly as much so I made the ultimate Homestuck ask game! Have fun!!!#👀

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