Welcome to Toontown

**"Welcome to Toontown"**is the fifth episode of *Contact* and the 40th episode overall.

The episode was published on January 12, 2020.

In the episode, the Toon public puts pressure on the Toon Council to make a decision regarding the Cartonians, and the new arrivals share their stories.

## The Episode

---Pajama Place---

-One Week Later-

Doctor waited with other members of the Toon Resistance for Flippy to drop a building on Pajama Place. Tex Ewing was eagerly waiting to see what would happen. This mouse literally brought popcorn and a lawn chair.

Dr. Hyla Sensitive monitored the building repellant device on her tablet. They knew that Flippy couldn’t walk through the door in case anything happened to him. So he was sending a Robber Baron to take over the building. At his last meeting with Eileen, he informed the Toons that the battle on Pajama Place had resulted in the deaths of 200 Cogs. That left less than 1,000 Cashbots to defeat. More than 1,000 Toons lived in Dreamland alone.

“Get your chair and popcorn,” Eileen snapped at Tex. “We have to hide so the Cogs don’t suspect anything.”

They went to Mata Hairy’s apartment, which overlooked Tex’s shop. They waited.

Finally, a Robber Baron emerged from the tunnel. It made a beeline for Tex’s shop and entered the door.

“It’s active!” Hyla said excitedly as the tablet beeped. The laff inside the device activated, and the Robber Baron stumbled backward out of the shop. The light on his chest changed from green to yellow to orange to red. Then, it exploded.

“Oh!” Kilo bellowed. “Wow!”

“That was wicked!” Tex shouted.

“Did you know it was going to explode?” Piggy Pie asked Hyla.

“Um…no.”

“*WICKED!”* Tex reiterated.

“I’ll tell Flippy,” Eileen said to Kilo and Hyla, “your device works!”

“We need to start installing them in all the shops,” Constance Miller said. “When can we start distribution?”

“This afternoon,” Hyla replied instantly. Everyone began to trickle out. Tex spilled popcorn all over Mata’s floor as he shut his lawn chair.

“Hey,” he said to Doctor as they headed for the door, “how did that Cog know to go for my shop?”

Doctor just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it. The good thing is that it works.”

Once those devices were installed, the Cogs would never be able to take over Toon buildings again.

---Toon Hall---

-Two Weeks Later-

February came, and so did the snow. The Brrrgh, as always, got hit the hardest, but Melodyland and Dreamland got several feet over the weekend. Toontown Central had one solid foot, and the Docks had a flurry. Only the Gardens was untouched, the weather too warm there to allow for it. With the snow came paranoia. Not about the weather, but about the Lawbots. Toons in the Brrrgh were extra vulnerable with the streets unplowable and most holed up in their homes waiting for the storms to pass. Since the Lawbots could easily fly, many Toons had begun moving off Polar Place to live with residents elsewhere. Citizens on Walrus Way and Sleet Street were equally concerned, but there had been fewer evacuations.

The building gadgets had been installed in every home across Toontown, but Toons were still worried. Fighting the Cogs had been simpler when they were everywhere. But the Cashbots and Lawbots remained hidden. And no one knew what the Lawbots were plotting.

The Toon Council spent the morning debating how best to provide disaster relief to those affected by the strong blizzard. Some Toons in the Brrrgh were reporting running low on food, but the snow was too high for them to get out of their homes. The Council broke for lunch, and returned to find their invited guest already seated at the table: Head Banker Bob Barker of the Bank of Toontown.

“Hi, Bob!” Vidalia said in greeting, sitting next to him. “I’m sorry again that we couldn’t get Clarabelle out of your bank last week. We’ll vote on it again today.”

“Thank you,” Bob said quietly. “I have…”

“Shall we begin?” Constance said, bringing the meeting back to order. All the Council was present, including Aleck Harding, Susan Fletcher, and Eileen Irenic. “Bob, the floor is yours.”

Bob used a slideshow presentation to illustrate his points.

“As you can see,” he said, showing them some graphs, “police spending has plummeted the government’s budget into the negative. Each neighborhood is spending about the same to bulk security on their jail cells for the Cartonians. In addition, we’re operating a seventh unlicensed prison in my bank, which was only allowed by the Toontown Central residents if they could receive a tax break. So we’re losing money twofold on that.”

“If I may,” Aleck said, standing, “this is partially my fault. We’ve had to pay our officers extra to do the overnight patrol shift, and that’s draining us. Three neighborhoods have had to lay off Toon Patrol staff to compensate.”

“And I,” Eileen chimed in, “am thinking of cutting some members of the Resistance from payroll. We can’t afford to pay people when there aren’t Cogs to fight.”

“We have had some breaks,” Bob said, “with Ms. VaVoom waiving her Council salary and her father’s generous donation to the town.”

“Sure,” Constance said, “but personally I can’t waive my salary. I need the pay to live.”

“I do too,” Barbara said quietly.

“Sorry,” Bob said, “that wasn’t supposed to sound like a suggestion. I’m just talking numbers. Look at this chart here. See that red line? That’s the economy’s rate. Right now it’s dropping. As the government keeps spending on incarceration, we have to allocate spending from other departments. This means education and public works will lose funding. Toons notice differences in their environment, and stop spending as much.”

“What do you mean?” Ichabod asked, trying to stay alert. Vidalia knew how much Ichabod hated math and economics.

“Let’s say you go outside and see there’s a crack in the street. It’s been there for months and the government still hasn’t fixed it. You ask around and someone says the government can’t afford to fix it right now. You start to fear that the town is going bankrupt, so you save all your money. You don’t spend anything, and the economy stagnates. Businesses don’t sell as much, so they cut their staff and hours. Unemployment rises, inflation soars, and the economy completely collapses.”

Everyone was agape.

“It’s that serious?” Doe Clark muttered.

“I’m afraid so. We need to act now. We need to consolidate the Cartonians to one prison, or enact that petition’s request.”

“I don’t understand,” Mulaney Chortle said. “We didn’t have this issue when all the Togs were in Toon HQ. There were 27 of them, compared to the seven prisoners we have now.

“That is a good point,” Bob said. “But they were a different story. They required minimal security and we only had to staff one prison. We didn’t even have someone on the overnight most of the time, according to Aleck’s report. Can you confirm?”

“I can,” Aleck said. “The Togs were often silent, and we had volunteers helping us. Alice Carver, Drema Yawn, and Bradley Wolfe, to name a few. I was often the person on duty during the day, and I had one person in the evening. No one had to be compensated extra. We have difficulties getting anyone to stand guard over the Cartonians, especially Blair Fawkes and the deer—Tick Hunter.”

“How about the hippies that put the survey forward?” Mulaney joked. “They can be their jailers.”

With that, the debate about the house arrest program reopened. Bob advocated for an end to Clarabelle’s imprisonment in the bank and that she be moved back to the Toontown Central HQ.

“I think that’s fair,” Eileen said. “Jerockle seems harmless.”

“I don’t care if it’s the chicken or the fox,” Barbara said. “I am *not* releasing the Cartonians.”

“Didn’t you hear anything Bob just said?” Mulaney asked her. “We can’t just let them run our economy into the ground. We’ll be the Toon Council that brought Toontown to financial ruin!”

Barbara huffed.

“I change my vote to yes,” Mulaney said. “I think we should do a house arrest program.”

Doe squirmed. She and Barbara were now the only two nos.

“Here’s how I propose it works,” Constance said, thinking. “Each of the six Cartonians…”

“Not the fox,” Slate said.

“Right…each of the five Cartonians are released into the home of someone extremely trustworthy. People like us, or members of the Toon Resistance. There is safety in numbers, so preference will go to those who have multiple inhabitants in the home. There is an option for immediate arrest for any transgression. They are walking on thin *thin* ice. We can find them a part-time job in Toontown so they can contribute, and earn their keep. We can finalize the tenets of the plan later.”

“I like the sound of it,” Aleck said. “The Toon Patrol can do weekly checks too of the Cartonians and their sponsors.”

“The five Cartonians have been on excellent behavior since their incarceration,” Susan said. “Honestly, all six of them have, but I don’t trust a fox.”

“Never trust a fox,” Barbara scowled.

“I vote yes,” Doe said suddenly. “The petition’s strength has grown, especially in Melodyland. Toons aren’t idiots. They know we’re draining our budget. We have to act now.”

“I’ll take Evelyn Quin,” Slate said. “I have already expressed interest in getting to know these BioFreaks better and helping them assimilate. I would take Cale, but I think it best to only allocate one per household.”

“That’s fine,” Constance said, making a note. “Slate can take Evelyn.”

“I can take one of them too,” Eileen said. “But I don’t think anyone else on the Council should do it. My rangers can help.”

“Wait, *wait*,” Barbara stressed, holding up her paws, “we haven’t approved anything yet! I’m alright with Clarabelle being moved to Toon HQ, but I don’t think this house arrest program should be implemented until we can finalize details!”

The room was quiet, until Bob stepped forward.

“I believe,” he said, “that Toontown’s economy will collapse this week unless these changes are made immediately.”

Barbara looked around the table, from face to face. Everyone was waiting on her.

“Fine,” she growled. “I vote yes.”

“The petition to release the five non-fox Cartonians and assimilate them into Toontown has been approved,” Constance said, “by a unanimous vote. Each of these five will be closely supervised by a member of Toontown, and regular reports will be delivered to the Toon Council. Any Cartonian found in violation of any Toon law will be immediately rearrested and interred in Toon HQ.”

“I suggest we move Blair out of the Docks,” Aleck said. “Put her in Toon HQ with Clarabelle on opposite sides of the cell block. Either Susan or myself will monitor them during the day and we’ll find willing Toon Patrollers to fill in the other shifts. This should help alleviate budget constraints.”

“And restore the layoffs,” Eileen murmured.

“I’ll formally announce the motion,” Doe said with a smile.

“Seconded,” Ichabod lifted a paw.

“All in favor?”

Six paws were raised.

Constance sighed.

“Well…they walk among us now.”

---Dreamland---

Rook James, the crocodile, was shocked when the cell door opened. Aleck Harding crossed his arms at him.

“Do you understand the terms of the house arrest program?”

“Uh…”

Deputy Linda Lawla snapped at him.

“Hey! Step out of the cell. Before we change our minds.”

Rook sauntered out, the first time since his transfer from Melodyland.

“I understand the terms…are the others being released too?”

“Yes,” Aleck said, hooking his arm around Rook and leading him out of Toon HQ. Linda snapped handcuffs on him. “Except Blair.”

Rook stopped walking.

“What? Why?”

“She’s a fox,” Aleck said simply.

“But!” Rook sputtered. “That’s not fair! She deserves freedom just as we do!”

Aleck turned to look at Rook.

“What would you do,” he asked, “if for your entire life you were told about a mythical being more evil than anything you could ever imagine, and then that being arrived in your town? If the only thing you know about this creature is its wickedness, would you trust it?”

Rook was silent.

“This way,” Aleck said, and pulled Rook along. Eileen Irenic was waiting for him outside the Toon HQ door. Rook stared up at the starry sky.

“I thought it was afternoon…”

“It’s always night in Dreamland,” Eileen explained. “My name is Eileen Irenic. I’ll be sponsoring your house arrest. We’re teleporting.”

“Blind me…” Rook gasped. “Not that hole thing!”

“Hang on tight!”

“Please!”

Aleck watched as Eileen disappeared with her new roommate. Then, he moved on to the next one. Slate took Evelyn Quin, Piggy Pie and her brothers adopted Cale Metfin. Horace Calves, Tori Dorrance, and a few other Rangers moved into Horace’s estate and took Tick Hunter. Doctor accepted responsibility for Jerockle Padraic, with volunteered help from Bradley Wolfe and Alice Carver. And no one took Blair. She was moved to Toon HQ in Toontown Central.

Each of the five were upset to hear that Blair was remain imprisoned, but Aleck didn’t care. They could be upset, but at least they were free. Cale was the only one who wept in joy at being released. She actually hugged Piggy Pie.

“Thank you,” Cale had muttered.

“It’s nothing,” Piggy Pie replied. “Welcome to Toontown.”

---The Ingalls Estate---

Professor Pete missed being involved, and knowing what was going on in town. He heard things, sure, but he wasn’t at the table. He didn’t go to Council meetings anymore. He was too busy providing round-the-clock care to his son. Dr. Tom Foolery released Ash to home care, and Pete had to take an extended leave of absence from the schoolhouse in order to care for Ash.

He had stopped muttering “Cog Nation” and switched to muttering the different types of Cogs. Pete found it disconcerting when Ash would mention Cogs that didn’t exist.

Quacks, Pinkys, Sergeants…

Pete tried to record everything Ash said, just in case it was important. It had only been a few days since Ash came home, and Pete was already exhausted.

It wasn’t until that evening when he watched a live interview with Declan Antlin that Pete learned the Cartonians had been released into society.

---Toontown Television Studios---

--Melodyland--

-Two Days Later-

“We’re live in one minute!”

Declan Antlin composed himself and eased into his chair. In a line to his right, facing the camera, were the five Cartonians recently release from prison. They were all acting nervously. Two were tapping their legs against the chair. One was picking at her paws. One was literally doing breathing exercises. The last was assiduously chewing her lips.

The television studio wanted them to wear their Cartonians robes, the outfits they were wearing when they crashed at the Docks. But the Cartonians refused, stating the robes represented the life they left behind, and so they wore Toon suits and dresses. Both Tick and Jerockle had unseen body forms in Toontown, and the suits they wore barely fit. Rook James was fortunate because the parameters for crocodiles were still on record at one of the tailor’s.

“In 10!”

“Don’t be nervous,” Declan said to his guests. “I’m just going to ask some simple questions. Just answer them and look at me. Pretend the camera’s not there.”

Cale Metfin smiled weakly. She and her sister, Evelyn, were tightly gripping each other’s flippers.

The cameras switched on, the lights dimmed, and Declan began. He introduced himself, even though everyone in Toontown knew who he was, and the program, even though everyone in Toontown was watching and knew exactly what they were viewing.

“Tonight I am joined by our five newest citizens, who first arrived at the shores of Toontown last November. They are the first to enter Toontown from beyond our borders. They have recently been released from detainment, after a period of time during which they were closely surveilled by our Toon Patrol and deemed by the Toon Council to be fit to enter society. I’ll give each of them a second to introduce themself.”

The light moved down the line to the end. Tick flicked his eyes at the camera.

“I’m Tick Hunter.”

“Jerockle Padraic,” the chicken gobbled.

“I’m sorry,” Declan interrupted, “would you mind enunciating your last name for our audience?”

The chicken blushed.

“Puh-dray-ick.”

“Thank you.”

After a few awkward seconds, the crocodile chirped his name.

“Rook James.”

“Evelyn Metfin Quin,” the black duck said clearly to the camera, lifting her flipper an inch in a wave. This was the first time Declan heard her use her maiden name.

“Cale Metfin,” the green duck finished.

“Wonderful,” Declan said, donning a grand smile. “We’ll get to know them a little more in a few moments. First, I’d like to address tonight’s program. Two days ago, these five Cartonians joined Toon society, and will begin a pathway to citizenship. Before we unroll the welcome carpet, we want to ensure that they pose no threat to anyone in town. It is imperative for you at home to see these people for who they are, and that we all do our part to ameliorate the assimilation process.”

Declan cleared his throat. “We would also like to address the elephant in the room. And no, we do not mean that our visitors have brought us an elephant from Phantine.”

Declan waited for the chuckles from his producers to die down. The Cartonians did not smile. “Blair Fawkes, the fox who joined these five Cartonians on their voyage south, has not been released from detainment. Nor will she be in the foreseeable future. This is due to the historical perception associated with foxes from the Kingdom of Vulpus. I personally abide by the wisdom in the Diary of War, and I will never trust a fox.”

Rook James was openmouthed.

Declan turned to the Cartonians and smiled.

“Hello,” he said, eager to begin, “first things first. We don’t know anything about you! We are all very curious to learn more about not only your expedition here but your lives before and what makes each of you unique. Let’s start down there with Tick. Tell us a bit about your upbringing, what your career was, and why you chose to flee Cartonia.”

The other four swiveled in their chairs to look at Tick, whose deer face was drawn in a scowl. His antlers cast shadows over his face in eerie streaks.

“Hi,” he grunted. “I’m Tick. I was born and raised in the Kingdom of Cervidium. I worked at a supply depot in the capital as a laborer. My family and girlfriend became embroiled in a crime spree, and they were executed. I feared I was next, so I fled the capital. There wasn’t really any place for me to go since as a deer I’m not allowed to leave Cervidium, but I thought I might be able to charter a boat to one of the smaller provinces. I met Blair Fawkes in the harbor, and we agreed to sail south instead of north.”

“I see,” Declan said. “And did you know Blair before?”

“No. But when desperation sinks in, you’ll trust anyone.”

“Do you usually trust foxes?”

Tick frowned.

“No. But I don’t see many foxes. Generally, the Vixen Queen leaves Cervidium to its own devices.”

“Now,” Declan transitioned, “we know from you all that Vulpus has become an Empire, expressing dominance over the Kingdoms formally aligned with the Granite Bloc. What is Cervidium’s relationship with this Empire?”

Tick shrugged.

“The deer retained most of their borders, and are almost wholly independent. But they do fall under the Vulpus Empire’s umbrella. We pay a portion of our taxes to supporting the monarchy.”

“If I may,” Jerockle interjected, “it’s a system similar to the one under the Harmony Crown.”

Declan paused, not sure how to respond. The Harmony Crown was a successful system of monarchical unity, but the Vulpus Empire seemed more malicious.

“When you met Blair Fawkes,” Declan asked Tick instead, “was she alone?”

Tick cocked his head, sending his antlers down toward Jerockle’s head.

“She was. I was her first recruit, I suppose. We knew instantly we would never be able to escape alone. We needed a navigator, and someone who was familiar with the seas. We rented a room in the coastal capital, under assumed names. That way we wouldn’t attract the suspicion of the Vulpus police.”

“Sorry,” Declan said, “I thought the Cervidian police were after you?”

“For me, yes,” Tick said. “Blair was wanted in Vulpus.”

Declan proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes on Tick, showing the audience diagrams of Cervidium and asking Tick to clarify how it looked today. Declan would describe Tick as serious, unfit for the camera, and skeptical. Several times he tried to turn the interview around on Declan, and it took all the years of experience and deft savviness to keep Tick in line.

“Jerockle,” Declan stated to imply the end of his 1:1 with Tick, “would you mind speaking to your own personal history and how you came to join Tick and Blair?”

“Sure,” the chicken gobbled. “I was born in East Cluck, a chicken commune in southern Cervidium. There are not many career paths for chickens. Most of us make a living by acting as participants in the laboratories of Doestag College or the University of Cervidium…”

“*What*?” Declan interjected. “Chickens are lab rats?”

Jerockle was taken aback.

“I wouldn’t say lab rats. It’s an honorable profession. The deer have always been the heart of the scientific community and we willingly offer our expertise to forward advancement. But it was not *my* chosen career. I wanted to pursue knowledge. But chickens cannot be teachers or professors…”

“Why not?” Declan asked. The chickens were hardly mentioned in the Diary of War.

“Our brains are small,” Jerockle explained as if that were obvious. “I became a librarian. A book in my library went missing, and I was the only chicken on staff so I became the prime suspect. Against my better judgement, I ran. I have family that lives in Stag’s Head, but they turned me away when they learned I was a fugitive. I ran into Blair at the market. She helped me…she took me in. I would have died on the streets or in a Cervidian prison if not for her.”

Declan remembered his producers, and Eileen Irenic, telling him not to let them praise Blair for too long or the Toons may clamor for her release. He immediately moved on to Rook.

“Rook James,” Declan addressed to the crocodile, “your turn.”

“I was born in the former Kingdom of Eusuchia,” he said. “That island is now a territory of the Vulpus Empire, though it is still predominantly occupied by crocodiles. I moved to Cervidium to attend their University. Afterward, I became an administrative assistant in the Cervidian Patrol. I began a clandestine affair with a deer, which is obviously prohibited…”

“I’ll stop you there,” Declan said. “Is interspecies love still illegal in Cartonia?”

Rook’s eyebrows fell.

“Of course…”

“Ah!” Declan turned to the camera. “Those who are familiar with the Diary of War know that the War began in part due to the interspecies romance between Victoria Vixen of Vulpus and Bentley Connelly of Canis. Such restrictions on love no longer exist in Toontown, but Rook has just confirmed that Cartonia has not changed that law in the three centuries since our ancestors fled.”

Rook blinked.

“Deer and crocodiles can…be together here?”

He looked genuinely surprised. Declan nodded. He didn’t bother to say that technically no since there weren’t any deer or crocodiles in Toontown.

“Wow. Well, uh…where was I? Oh. Donner and I were both arrested for our relationship. Donner was executed, but they released me on parole because of my clean record. I had to drop out of the university, and took a job as a logger in Stag’s Head. I ran into Tick one day. I recognized him from the University; he was a senior when I was a freshman. He probably saw the desperation in my eyes. I was…*petrified* of being rearrested and strung up like Donner…”

Rook trailed off, and Declan let him recompose himself. “I’m lucky to be here. I’m lucky to be alive. I want nothing more in life than to be a Toon of Toontown.”

Someone in the studio audience clapped, but everyone else was quiet. Declan finished his line of questioning with Rook by having him elaborate on Eusuchia’s relationship to the Vixen Queen. Rook was not, as it appeared, too heavily involved in the political discussion and could scarcely name the current leaders of Eusuchia.

“Evelyn?” Declan turned to the black duck. She clucked her tongue.

“Me and my younger sister, Cale, were born in a duck commune where Mallardia used to be. We worked on the seaports by the Gulf of Cartoon. I did ocean conservancy, and Cale did wildlife preservation.”

“If you don’t mind,” Declan said, “speak only for yourself. We’ll get to Cale in a moment.”

Evelyn glowered.

“My sister is nervous. We’re being pilloried for all of your town to see. She asked me to speak for her. And so I will do that.”

Declan sighed and didn’t argue.

“As I was saying, we had a cozy life on the Gulf. I married my childhood sweetheart, Des. The three of us all lived together in this cute white cottage overlooking the Gulf. We could watch the sunsets every night, and the foxes left us alone. Our seaport was quite profitable, and those in charge—chipmunks mostly—were fair in their authority. I only ever witnessed one public execution while we were there.”

She shifted. “But Des started getting involved with the F…with the wrong crowd. He…well I think he was thinking of staging a coup against the Scuridians on the port. The chipmunks found out and carted him off to Vulpus to stand trial. Cale and I pretended to head for Vista, Vulpus, but in actuality we were trying to get away from the chipmunks. We were weary of Vulpus, so we aimed for Cervidium. Most of the seaside towns we visited didn’t have any room vacancies. Only Stag’s Head. Blair, Jerockle, Rook, and Tick were all living in the room next to ours. We checked in two days before they had planned to leave.”

“When was it that the others learned that you and Cale were BioFreaks?”

Cale gasped, and Tick rose out of his chair. Rook’s eyebrows shot up. Jerockle’s head sunk into his shoulders. Evelyn, however, was perfectly calm.

“Soon. I met Rook at the ice machine, and we began chatting. The next morning, I followed him to the pier where he and the others were loading a derelict ship. They didn’t even have a sail. I was intrigued. You don’t often see a chicken, a deer, a fox, and a crocodile working together on something. I found a ratty, torn, and basically useless sail from Scuridiae buried in the sand under the pier, and I brought it to them as a gesture of goodwill. I was hoping, deep down, that they were trying to flee the country. They could take Cale and I with them. I gave Rook the sail, but it didn’t really buy much favor with them.”

Evelyn reached over and grabbed Cale’s shaking hand.

“We found out they were going to go south, past the cliffs, and toward the hurricanes. BioFreaks are despised throughout Cartonia, but they would need us to survive the storms. I told them who we were. We had the ability to control the water.”

“How did you all react?” Declan asked the group.

Tick shrugged.

“Evelyn is right. They were necessary.”

“We are *so* grateful for them,” Rook added. “Without them, we would have drowned at sea.”

“Blair loves them,” Jerockle said with a smile. “She called them our two miracles.”

Evelyn grinned.

“We didn’t know what the reaction to us would be here. BioFreaks are few in Cartonia, and almost all live in hiding. I’m sorry were weren’t more forthright when we arrived here.”

“That’s alright,” Declan said. “I understand. Were you born with your affliction?”

“Yes,” Cale muttered. She was staring at the floor, as if reliving a painful memory. “We were. Our mother was a BioFreak. She passed it onto us.”

Evelyn rubbed Cale’s shoulder.

“And why are BioFreaks hated in Cartonia? Are they not byproducts of wicked deer experiments?”

Declan had directed the question at Tick Hunter, who remained poised.

“We are bred to hate them,” Tick replied. “They’re viewed as second-class citizens because they’re different. The six of us disagree with that notion, but that has been the culture of Cartonia for three centuries.”

Not exactly the full answer Declan was hoping for, but he had to move on. Their backgrounds were established, and that was the first part of the program. The second half would be devoted to having them speak on their hopes and ambitions for their assimilation into Toontown.

As Declan shifted his notes and glanced at the viewing figures glowing in red beneath the camera, his heart flipped in excitement. Nearly everyone was watching!

---Oak Street---

Eileen and Constance wore their pajamas and cradled glasses of wine as they watched the interviews. They were unsettling. The Cartonians were clumsy on camera, and Eileen thought the network could have done a better job with lighting to avoid having so many of their features cast in shadow. The main goal of this was to reassure the town that the Toon Council found them harmless, and that their release into society was not going to cause disruption.

Eileen did not fully believe that, and had she been on the Toon Council she wasn’t sure she would have voted for their release, despite all the talk of economic turmoil. What if the Cartonians had something up their sleeves?

Constance had ordered their ship to be locked in the dry docks of the harbor and their access to it be severely restricted.

“What happens if the house arrest sponsorship program fails?” Constance asked, downing the rest of her glass. Eileen sighed.

“I don’t know. What do we do if we realize they have ulterior motives for coming here?”

Constance glanced at her.

“Do you mean…how do we eliminate the threat?”

Eileen stared at the photograph of Paul, Constantine, and Irene on the mantle.

“Yes.”

Constance swung her legs onto the floor and faced her friend.

“Are you asking how we know when it’s time to kill them?”

Eileen swallowed hard.

“How do we know when we must do what it is necessary to protect this town?”

---Toon HQ---

-Toontown Central-

Aleck Harding and Alice Carver held their grip firmly on the manacled paws of Blair Fawkes, guiding her to her new cell in Toontown Central. Her comrades were currently in the midst of their interview with Declan Antlin, and all of Toontown was watching. She would never get to see their broadcast.

“In there,” Alice pointed, and Blair walked into her new cell. Once she was behind bars, Aleck removed the handcuffs.

“You have a neighbor now,” Aleck grunted, gesturing six cells down. “Clarabelle Cow. Traitor to Toontown.”

“Best not to listen to her lies,” Alice advised.

“I can hear you!” Clarabelle shrieked from her cell. “It’s rude to talk about people when they’re present.”

Alice leaned backward to see the cow’s snout sticking through the bars.

“It’s also rude to sell bugged vases to the entire town for your own selfish purposes.”

Clarabelle narrowed her eyes.

“I liked you better when you were silent in hiding.”

“You and the Cogs both.”

“That’s enough,” Aleck said. “Come along, Alice. Ms. Fawkes, do let us know if your conditions here are better or worse than in the Docks. Depending on the answer, certain Toons may be elated or devastated.”

Aleck and Alice scampered up the stairs, and sealed the cell block for the night.

Mere seconds after the door shut, and Blair was just beginning to take in her new environment, the cow began hollering for her.

“Fox! Fox!”

“What?” Blair muttered, knowing she wouldn’t be able to see her from the cell.

“Does Bovo still exist? Up north?”

Blair thought for a moment.

“Yes, in a way.”

“Tell me everything! Tell me everything you know about Bovo.”

## Production

### Continuity and Story Arcs

Dr. Kilo Byte and Dr. Hyla Sensitive tested their Cog building repelling device, which successfully prevented a Cog building takeover. The Toons began installing these devices in every building, preventing the Cogs from using buildings as a strategy ever again.

The Toon Council heard a financial report from the Head Banker, who warned of total economic collapse if the Cartonians were not released soon. The Toon Council finally conceded, unanimously voting to release the five non-fox Cartonians into society.

For the house arrest program, Eileen Irenic adopted Rook James, Slate Oldman adopted Evelyn Quin, Piggy Pie and her family adopted Cale Metfin, Doctor adopted Jerockle Padraic, and Tori Dorrance and Horace Calves adopted Tick Hunter.

The Cartonians partake in a televised interview with Declan Antlin, in which they spoke of their experiences in Cartonia and the circumstances that brought them together. The interview was a mild success, though Eileen feared that the Cartonians did little to convince the town they were harmless.

Clarabelle Cow andBlair Fawkes were moved together into the Toontown Central jail cells. Clarabelle instantly demanded information about the cow Kingdom of Bovo.

### References

Ash Ingalls switched from constantly muttering “Cog Nation” to naming different types of Cogs. In addition to the 32 well-known Cogs, he also mentioned Quacks and Pinkys, which were earlier models of the Cogs that Dr. Molecule had been unable to reproduce.

## Trivia

* The title of this episode references the Cartonians' induction into Toon society.
* Ash muttered “Sergeant” as a Cog type. This suggests that Dr. Molecule or the Chairman had planned to create more Cog types.
* Stag’s Head is named after Nag’s Head, North Carolina.
* Doestag college is named after the male and female terms for deer: does and stags.
* Rook’s boyfriend in Cartonia, Donner, is named after one of Santa’s reindeer.