Chapter Text
It’s the 40’s, and computers are a thing. Who’d thunk humans could be so resourceful?
Sadly, it’ll take a good couple of decades until the home computer pops up. But in the meantime, scientists are working relentlessly to advance their technology.
It was only a matter of time someone tried to adapt tech into toon-proofing.
Yakko was scared. He couldn’t show it to his siblings of course, but he knew they’re almost out of cash, and there’s no way they’d be able to afford Wakko’s food for next week.
He had to figure it out fast.
Nonchalantly, he went to the newspaper stand, thumbing through it until he found the job searching page.
His eyes scanned the page for anything related to toons, or something he could do and didn’t belong to a place that banned him from stepping in it ever again.
Looking for: cashiers, gardeners, verbal toons, housekeepers, babysitters, yak yak yak… Nothing of interest.
Wait, verbal toons?
Yakko pushed his nose against the newspaper, almost bearing holes into the thing. It was too good to be true, but it’s there in plain sight.
Looking For: Verbal Toons Of All Ages
Are you a verbal toon ready to make a change in the world? Join us at ACME laboratories!
We’re looking for a verbal toon for an experiment yak yak yak yak… No prior knowledge needed… 1 thousand dollars per experiment?!
That’s all Yakko needed to see. He quickly memorized the number and went to pay for the groceries his siblings picked.
Later that day, under the guise of an impromptu meeting with Plotz, Yakko went to the nearby phone booth. With shaky hands, he put in the number he memorized and waited.
There were two or three rings before an annoyed-sounding lady picked up on the other end.
“ACME laboratories, this is Michelle speaking. How can I help you?”
Yakko cleared his throat, he was nervous. He was always nervous when doing something he could NOT mess up. He didn’t let his voice show it, though.
“HellOOOOOO phone nurse! Uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhh is this the right number for that one experiment looking for verbal toons? Saw it on the morning paper and figured I could, yannow, help advance the technology. For the environment.”
There was the clear sound of paper being flipped and something being scribbled.
“Please hold.”
“I would babe, but this is a phone ca-” the line went back to its annoying beeping. “-ll. Rats.”
‘Did I mess this up somehow?’ he thought to himself frantically rolling over the very short exchange between him and the phone nurse. ‘Was I too obvious? Naaah… Can’t be it.’
“Ah, hello?” a voice came from the other end. “I was told you’re here for the toon proofing experiments?”
Toon proofing? Yakko really should’ve paid more attention to the nature of this. ‘Oh well,’ he thought to himself. ‘Can’t be too bad!’
“Hello?”
Oh shhhhhoot! Ah, quick!! Quick say something!!
“Why yes, I did call about the experiment! Just to make things clear, if I do this, I get paid, right?”
“Oh definitely! I see you’re from Cali, you can come down to your nearest ACME lab so ACME can get familiar with you and your abilities. May I ask what’s your name?”
“You may.” Yakko snarked.
“Ha! Good one. Your name please?”
Yakko shook his head with a sheepish smile. Why must this be so formal?
“Name’s Yakko Warner, don’t wear it out! People would look at you strangely!”
There was the sound of keyboard clicks, then a thoughtful hum.
“I see you in our files, you worked for Warner Bros., correct?”
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhh yes.” Does he have access to my files? “Fun times!”
“Well, come on over whenever you’ve got a bit of free time. The first time would take about half an hour, but after that, it depends on… Several parameters I won’t get into in a phone call.”