Back in October of 2022, I did fanart of Theodore the chipmunk and got hooked. Now, a year later, we're goin strong. Theo is my protagonist (cuz you know I like my little chonks), and I've been doing a lot of world building since the beginning. I'm VERY behind on posting any of it here, so stay tuned. There's a lot...

TRIGGER WARNING: This post will briefly mention child abandonment.

USEFUL INFO:
Since this is about their younger experiences, Amy and El will be referred to as Alvin and Eleanor, since that was how they were addressed at the time.
The animals in this AU are accurate sizes to real life (kinda like Zootopia). They are divided into 10 sizes which are referred to as their “Scale”, and cities tend to be structured for similarly-scaled animals in order to maintain safety (don’t want anyone accidentally stepping on someone or destroying a small building).
Chipmunks, and most rodents, are Scale 1, and they can commonly cohabitate in cities with scales 2 and 3 animals. Scale 2 would be more the size of a skunk, while scale 3 is closer to beavers.
The city they live in is called Las Logias (“The Lodges”) since it was founded by beavers. The area encompasses a moderately sized lake and houses a range of animals from scales 1-3. There are various districts, personalities, and types of architecture to accommodate the diversity.

As young children, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were unwanted. Their mother was single and largely disinterested in taking care of anyone. She spent most of her time entertaining friends, or dragging the kids over to said friends’ houses, where they were expected to entertain themselves separately from the adults. While visiting an apartment in the scale 3 district, their mother abandoned the boys in order to skip town with some acquaintances. The space was trashed, and visibly hazardous, but the three of them managed to survive on whatever food was left in the cabinets.

Eventually, however, Alvin punctured his foot on a discarded needle, prompting them to try leaving the apartment. A nearby coyote by the name of Dave Seville heard Alvin’s wailing and came to investigate. Upon seeing their distress, and piecing together that they hadn’t seen their mother in several days, he immediately bought them some food and carried them to the local Response Station. All three were distraught the moment Dave left and began asking for him. Likewise, he couldn’t stop worrying about them when he got home, even calling the station once or twice to check in.

NOTE: A Response Station is a replacement for a Police Station. Rather than law enforcement only, there are multiple departments trained for different types of assistance.

Dave was 28 and, despite never having planned to be a parent, was actually very good with children. All of his siblings had them, and he’d been a proud uncle for almost a decade. Even so, he knew it was risky to continue any involvement with the orphaned boys, although this did nothing to stop him fretting about them constantly. When he confessed this to his elderly neighbor (one Miss Cindy Miller), the two finally returned to the station to visit them. It took all of five seconds for the brothers to tackle him and Dave knew he didn’t have a choice after that. Against his better judgment, he wanted to get involved and help them.

What started as fostering, naturally evolved (through A TON of trial and error) into adoption. The boys no longer clung to Dave out of desperateness, but rather out of a sincere fondness for him. After all, they’d never had an adult genuinely want to take care of them. Things remained understandably challenging, and took a lot of help from his family/friends, but Dave was eventually able to establish a good routine with his adoptive trio. He worked for a music production company at the time and spent most days at the recording studio (which they quickly became familiar with). They did what most children do best and absorbed everything like sponges, routinely mimicking the different talents that came through and learning by observation. Dave and his coworkers were all impressed to find that not only were the boys good at copying the artists, they excelled at it. They could sing and pick up choreography easier than most adults.

This led to a surprise record deal from Dave’s boss, who saw an opportunity in the unlikely family unit. It was rare for larger animals to adopt smaller ones, mostly from a practical standpoint. Dave was a scale 4 animal living in a larger city where rodents didn’t normally cohabitate, which would make a touching story for the public. Coupled with the boys natural talents, there was a good chance of success.

Dave, despite initial hesitation, was only too relieved to take the deal. Children were expensive, and the extra funds would be monumental for them moving forward-- the fact that the boys enjoyed singing so much only made the decision easier. When his brother commented that it might be overwhelming for them down the line, Dave waved it off. He’d seen how much his adoptive sons enjoyed the studio, and besides, his boss was willing to be flexible around their education.

Once things were announced, the two of them began marketing the kids in distinct ways.
Alvin was the most charismatic of the trio and an obvious pick to be the frontrunner. The producers chose the color red to match his bombastic personality, which he lived up to in every way. He was loud, athletic, and even a little pompous (mostly things he picked up from observing his mother’s rowdy friends), and these qualities were a sure-win to appeal to other boys. For this reason, the band was called “Alvin and the Chipmunks”.
Simon, the more calm and observant sibling, was portrayed in a contrasting blue. It was decided that his glasses gave him an air of intellect which was a marketable character trait-- he would be the smart one. And oddly enough, Simon thoroughly enjoyed this role since it gave him a sense of importance he’d never really had before. He fully immersed himself in it, learning about as many subjects as possible so that he would have something to quote.
Theodore, who’s most notable qualities were timidness and affection, was more of a challenge for the team. These traits did not relate well to little boys per say, but they DID appeal to older women. It was therefore decided that he would be “the cute one”-- i.e. something for the parents to dote on. He was assigned the neutral color of green.

These marketing tactics proved to be effective, and after releasing some experimental singles, the public became hooked. Their first album was a colossal success which gained them unprecedented popularity not only around the state, but around the entire country. The story of their adoption, which was only a little embellished, made them a draw-in for families everywhere.

When news of another orphaned chipmunk trio (who happened to be the same age) broke a year later, the adoption facility reached out to Dave’s studio in order to coordinate a meet-up. The initial hope was that the temporary contact-fame would help the sisters get adopted, but as could be expected, the six children ended up getting attached to each other. Dave’s elderly neighbor, Miss Miller, couldn’t stand the thought of separating them and decided to take them in herself.

Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor were warmly welcomed not only into the family, but also into the band. The production staff viewed this as an un-passable opportunity to market to little girls, and were sure to design complementary personalities that the sisters could adopt in order to match the boys. They were assigned similar, albeit more feminine, colors as well as being coached on what personality traits they should present to the public. This went over surprisingly smoothly since, like the boys, they were excited to have a social activity to do with their new families. Still, it could not go unnoticed how different the girls actually were off set.
Brittany adapted to the role just fine, learning how to play off of Alvin the way they were coached to. At home, though, she was far more creative and prone to building/assembling things which made her a good friend for Simon. The two were both technically minded, and what started with legos eventually evolved into card castles, toothpick towers, and assembling small bookshelves for their bedrooms. Brittany was more artistically inclined, and had plenty of her own projects involving paper mache, whittling, and sewing.
Jeanette was cripplingly shy and latched on tightly to Theodore, who’s gentleness was reassuring. She loved reading, like Simon, but her interests were considerably less technical. She preferred fantasy novels and spooky, whimsical stories about monsters and folklore. She didn’t cite off random blurbs the way her counterpart liked to, but she could easily go into depth rambling about her favorite books (usually to Theodore, who was the only one patient enough to listen).
Eleanor was the most flamboyant of the three and naturally gravitated towards Alvin, although their relationship was less copacetic. Alvin did not like sharing the spotlight and made it very clear that he found Eleanor annoying. It was bad enough that he had to partner with Brittany, so there was no way he was going to deal with her chatty sister at home. Eleanor, for her part, didn’t get along particularly well with any of her siblings which taught her early on to seek companionship elsewhere. She was very animated, so making friends came naturally to her. Being forced to present as “docile and mild-mannered” like Theodore was nothing short of torture, and usually manifesting in tantrums with the staff.

Up until the age of twelve, all six siblings were privately homeschooled with a handful of teachers. However, when it finally came time to start the sixth grade, Dave and Ms. Miller made the decision to put the kids in public school for the sake of them learning how to socialize. This inevitably meant terminating their contract with the studio which was VERY hard for the siblings. While their reactions ranged from despair to excitement, it was nonetheless a colossal change to the only way of life they had ever known. Having it end abruptly brought on a multitude of challenges that each had to cope with for the remainder of their time in school.