Chapter Text
A long time ago, a man in his late 40s had created a new book titled 'The Lorax' with Its intentions on entertaining while also teaching children the horrors of treason and deforestation due to peoples hunger for greed and their sickening pride. Said story had a character that was loved by many thanks to Its incredible writting. The man had made countless of other stories that grew overtime, but this one in particular got quite the attention. There are those who compliment Its writting and depiction of reality, while among them exists haters who complained how it was too 'dark' for children to handle.
Sometimes you can never truly return.
...
5th February, 1991
~
" Are you sure about agreeing to this whole plan? "
A brown man (who looked like in his near 50s) asked with concern as he looked above a woman shoulder's as they both read the note beside the dying man
" I thought it was obvious, is it not?
The woman responded. She's way younger than the man next to her (around her 30s). Both of them can be seen walking out of the patient's room as they talked.
" It is. I just think it's strange on why he would offer such thing... "
'Arthur Walton' felt suspicion run through his veins the longer her processed the information. His appearance consists of streaked short brown hair and dark skin. He wears a pair of dull colored jeans and a rainbow-themed waist coat over a shirt, along with a faint green-striped tie and white shoes, face covered in light wrinkles.
" You're overthinking it, Arthur. Don't you realise how big of an opportunity this is? "
'Delilah Keen' reassured her friend from the worry. She has long, straight brown hair with low bangs and light skin. She is seen wearing a pair of rainbow colored pants and a white/light pink turtleneck coat and light blue gloves.
-
Both of them are no ordinary people, they are the founders of Gardenview center and creators of the show 'Dandy's World'. Construction of Gardenview and their characters (Toons) have been thought of and made a couple of years ago, Arthur being responsible for each toons design and one of the show's lead animator, while Delilah manage to create the toons into actual live beings using a black substance called 'Ichor'. The first episode just aired on Television yesterday tagged along a few short videos as introductions of each toon, both owners waiting for the publics opinions.
Dr. ***** was a great friend for both of them, yet he could sometimes be quite selfish when it comes to sharing, so it felt kind of abnormal to the middle-aged man. Delilah in the other hand, didn't thoroughly thought of it, and just see it as another step for their success.
" I'm aware, but this is unlike him. What did we exactly do to receive such- "
" Arthur; "
The younger woman cut off mid sentence with a commanding tone before turning around and placing both hands on the other's shoulder with a straight face as their eyes met
" Do you not want this? Why? We made a promise, this is a one in a lifetime chance, Arthur. "
And with that, the British man didn't know what else to say. He felt his breath hitched, before sighing;
" Very well, you have a strong opinion. "
And with that, the Russian woman smiled, proud that she managed to convince him to go along with said idea. She let go both her hands off his shoulders as they both pressed forward and continued on another conversation topic which are mainly just small problems occurring among the toons.
Delilah can't believe Arthur was pulling another all-nighter.
After waiting for a good week, the amount of views and wonderful comments made both creators drop their jaws. Delilah reacted hyper-ly while Arthur's motivation increased with insane speed. The money was coming in fat stacks of cash in only a small periode of time, they could finally hire people to work for them! Animators, writers, including caretakers for the each toon!
Delilah recently went back home to their decent rented apartment after spending more than two hours on meet-ups with children or even higher companies alongside checking up on Gardenview center to see if everything is going smoothly.
The Russian last expected Arthur to be asleep at this hour. She went into her room to put away her coat and change into something more comfortable. But as she head towards there, she passed by (their rooms are beside eachother) and noticed that the old man was still awake. He seem to be drawing something with a stack of paper on his table , piled up crumbled trash in his bin, and two finished cups of black coffee.Turns out, popularity could both burden and motivate those who achive it. She sighed, not knowing if Its a sign of dissapointment or if it's just the exhaustion catching up. Delilah then push his door even more to reveal herself and check what he's doing to keep him up so late.
" Arthur, what are you doing right now at this hour? "
The British brown-skinned man jumped and gasped as he heard the other's voice, is she home already?
Arthur spinned his chair to look at his friend and is slightly embarrassed that she saw him in this tired yet energized condition. Perhaps she might not notice the work he's been prepping up and not force him to go to bed-
Before he could even utter any word out, she stomped her way into his room and snatched the papers he was working with.
" Hey! What do you think you're doing- "
Delilah's curiousity is something Arthur is often annoyed about, always interested in knowing everything about the other person without reconsideration. She inspect said papers, it was filled with episode and poster ideas, sketches of toons designs, and the most eye-catching one;
A reference sheet of a unique toon that had similar information based from the book character that was given to them from an old (now dead) friend. Wait, could this be-?
" Arthur, is this...? "
Delilah's eyes widen from shock and amusement from the papers she's looking through
" Yes, is there something wrong with it? "
No, it was just sort of mind-blowing how the man that didn't trust the intentions of said former author now is skipping some of his supposed sleep hours just for story and design ideas of the new owned character that was given to them.
" Of course not-, you may continue on what you're working on. "
And with that, the Russian woman returned the papers to the other and pat him on the shoulder before walking out of his room.
Arthur exhaled after what just happened, thankful that Delilah didn't ask any questions. He turned and readjusted his chair and papers so it dosen't appear to much of a mess. But before he could continue, he heard her;
" Just don't sleep in too late, we still have to sort out a bunch of things tommorow. Just- try to get enough sleep, ok? "
The man turned his head to look at at her one more time for the night and smiled warmly as a sign of reassurence. That was a good enough answer for Delilah, so she closed the door to his room and left.
Arthur looked back at the papers he was working on, coming up with a good design for the toons he's currently working on that dosen't butcher up their story and can get their point across.
He still remembered her words a few days ago;
' We made a promise, this is a one in a lifetime chance, Arthur. '
He exhaled once more as he ran his hand through his hair before continuing on his drawings. The scent of coffee from his unfinished cups filled his nose (he's probably gonna need a few more-)
" Hopefully she won't get too irritated if i stay up a little longer... "