#like they always have some snarky sadistic line that makes them feel so artificial

[goosewhumps]

idk maybe it’s just me but i’m a bit annoyed that so many prompts on whumpblr need to have a whumper in them. don’t get me wrong, i get the appeal and i do like whump with whumpers in it sometimes but there’s so much you can do without one and it feels like most people just ignore it

[ask-soul-bendy]

Ascending the Ink Pit pt.1

More like escaping the hellhole, am I right? Jokes aside, this is yet more continuation of The Ink Eater, and now we get into the brunt of actually leaving the god forsaken deathtrap that is Joey Drew’s Studio. Enjoy~

Ascending the Ink Pit pt.1

"So, how do you presume we get through this mess?" Henry asked his smaller companion with his arms crossed, standing before a collapsed section of the ceiling, ink ceaselessly leaking heavily from the hinged broken angle. Bendy simply shrugged as Henry looked at him.

"Why do you expect me to be the thinker?"

"Well you've been here for years, I figure you'd know the layout of this place like the back of your hand."

"You'd think, wouldn't ya? Sorry, Henry, but honestly I've never been down here before you arrived."

"Really?" Henry's expression turned from expectant to puzzled.

"Yup. Haven't you noticed? The design of most everything down here is a little different from upstairs; it all was constructed post-haste, just for you~"

Henry stared at the ink demon with wonder, not sure how to feel about the statement. "... Uh, okay then. But then shouldn't you know where everything is then?"

Bendy shrugged again, going into a somewhat snarky pose. "I wasn't down here long enough to memorize everything. But come on, Henry, you've got an axe! You know what to do with it when a bunch of wood's in your way!" He started skipping from one foot to the other almost dance-like in encouragement, grinning widely. The spontaneous motions made Henry curious, before he turned his view to the wreckage, and decided to try his luck with smashing the debris to pieces. His main concern with clearing a way through what was broken was if he wouldn't just make the predicament worse, or worse yet, he could rattle the damage and cause it to collapse on top of him; only luck would have it at that point if he was able to avoid any severe injuries or not. He tried to ignore the ink dripping upon his head and arms as he thwacked the woodwork, having to compensate for the cramped space by crouching and swinging the axe in a relatively awkward arc. But it got the job done soon enough, and save for the precarious splintered edge, there now was a hole to scuttle through. "See? You did it, Henry!" Bendy gave a congratulatory jazzhands. "And you were doubtin' me~"

Henry rolled his eyes at the enthusiasm before carefully crawling through the hole, just glad that his concerns didn't happen this time. "Ah shut up, ya smart alec." He smirked though as he pushed a barrel out of the way, and stood easily, patting his clothes down. The amount of ink stains on him reminded him just how long he'd been down here, or at least too long for sure; a number of hours was too sketchy to guesstimate. It could even be days at this point for all he knew. Bendy followed him through the hole and looked around at the ink covered room before them, frowning when he recalled what had happened here... He shook his head to rid the ink eater from his mind, pervasive as it was, he was beginning to hate the damn thing and its terms. "Bendy, you alright?" Henry inquired, noticing the troubled gestures from the little ink demon as he gazed down at him.

"Yeah, just... Trying to forget the events of these last couple of floors." Bendy waved a hand dismissively, before pacing onward, his mind sidetracking to when he chased Henry around in this room. He couldn't help but smirk mischievously at the memory, it was quite fun, especially since Henry reacted just the way he anticipated. Henry on the other hand felt a bit disgruntled recalling the same event. How Bendy was tearing after him was probably the most freaked out he'd been thus far, he could practically still see the images of when he glanced back at the homicidal demon, how murderous he looked... Though when he looked down at Bendy now, the little imp seemed like he could do hardly more than prank you to your nerve's breaking point. His monster form definitely wasn't one to take lightly, but hopefully there no longer was a need for Bendy to reform to it. "You doin' alright in this darkness, Henry?" Bendy asked, breaking the human from his train of thought.

"Oh uh, yeah. My eyes are used to it by now. But now that you mention it, was it always this dark down here?" He rubbed his head in wonder as he looked around the dank and dreary environment, focusing back on any little hazards in their path. "I could have sworn it was more lit up coming down."

"You're not wrong." Henry looked down at him again, locking eyes with Bendy. "All the light coming from spontaneous locations, some where it kinda shouldn't have been. Don'tcha remember Alice? She was providing all that illumination for you, and we kept getting in each other's way."

"... What do you mean by that?"

"She was the one helping you escape me for the first couple of encounters, when I was eager to play havoc on you. And I had to compensate for her meddling to keep my plans going. As time went on, I became more accustomed to toying with you, letting you escape on purpose. Though, if you'd slipped up and died early, it only meant that we couldn't play anymore." He shrugged, though it disturbed Henry a fair bit. So Bendy really was going off of the instincts of a sadistic predator; he wasn't giving the pursuits his all, and he could have easily been killed at any time... "I'm a demon, Henry, I can't see how you couldn't have figured that I wouldn't hold myself back if there was no benefit for me to do so..." Bendy's grin turned a tad sinister, before he shifted to a light-hearted pose, spreading his arms out with a joyous smile. "But that's in the past, I'm your pally pal now, Henry! I won't try to kill ya anymore, promise~"

Henry only made a perturbed expression at the little ink demon, baffled at how easily he could swing between strict facades. Bendy shrugged the look off and carried on, while Henry stood for a moment in thought before following so as not to lose him. Ironically, the studio seemed a little smaller when they didn't have to commit time to puzzles and backtracking for things, though the black ink that was bleeding through almost every single crevice made the feeling somewhat claustrophobic, and the suffocating darkness wasn't helping either. Henry had his axe and a powerful ink demon for a companion, yet he still didn't feel much safer. The only instances that allowed him to let up the unease was Bendy offering his iconic enthusiasm, though every now and then along the trek, he could hear faint music reverberating off the walls. And he figured Bendy could hear it too, since he'd start nodding his head slightly when the music came up. Henry wasn't sure to take the music as a good thing or a bad thing; he wasn't sure just how the dancing demon reacted to it. Either way, it probably meant that they were getting closer to the above floors, the silence and periodic music only disrupted by the sound of Henry's axe clearing paths through fallen ceilings and whatnot. Henry also noted the lack of enemies, or maybe Bendy was leading the way around them for the most part, or maybe they simply weren't concerned with him anymore, or maybe Bendy's presence was keeping them at bay.

Whatever the case, the studio had a hold on his fear like a leech, and only now when his business with Bendy was done with was he allowed to make his way out. He'd completely forgotten what the outside air felt like anymore, but before he could start reveling in the artificial sensual fabrication, he had to focus on getting to his destination. Bendy led the way through the corridors, occasionally seeing shadowy figures slinking through the halls. They seemed to be avoiding detection from Henry, but Bendy knew who they were... It didn't stop Henry from feeling like he was being watched in the most unsettling way possible. All he could do was try to suppress it and keep up with Bendy, he had some fraction of comfort with the little imp after all.

"... H e n r y..." A whispered voice that didn't belong to Bendy suddenly sounded, causing Henry to pause and look back, subconsciously shivering from the ghastly sound.

"... D'you hear that, Bendy?" He scanned around as Bendy hummed in wonder to him. "Something called my name just now..."

"Could be ghosts, Henry~" The little devil smirked in amusement at him.

"Ghosts...? Well, I guess if demons exist, it could be ghosts." He slightly chuckled trying to settle his unease.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bendy quirked a brow line at the human, though his tone was rhetorical. "There's nothin' that's gonna bother us, Henry. Come on, we're getting close to the next floor up. Finally." He waved a hand beckoningly as he continued on, although he was amused at Henry's perception of the phantoms going around. Henry went along with Bendy, growing a little nervous with the thought that spirits may be calling him now. He glanced behind them frequently, and when he looked forward, Bendy out of nowhere jumped at him with a mischievous cry. "Henry!" This caused the human to yelp and fall back, grunting while the imp sat on his chest with a snarky grin, then going into cruel laughter. Bendy held his stomach with glee as Henry covered his face with an exasperated growl.

"Bendyyyyy... Why do you do this to me...?" He wasn't sure to scowl or smirk at the shenanigans; it was in Bendy's nature to do these things, but hadn't he had enough with the jumpscares, for pity's sake? Bendy only laughed deeply with small tears in his eyes, cracking his eyes open to glimpse Henry's expression, which was sternly concealing amusement, but that only made the demon laugh more, flopping back with a hand to his head. Henry bent his legs up for Bendy, smirking more at the light-hearted sound of the laughter. Admittedly it lifted some of the tension of the atmosphere, while his heartbeat slowly calmed down again. "... You are such a little punk, you know that?"

"Hahahahahahah! Sorry, Henry, I couldn't resist~" He giggled, his expression turning sheepish as he calmed down.

"I know you can't, but that's why you were loved." Henry laid his hands over his chest as he gazed at Bendy like he was a mere child having fun. Morbid fun, but still.

"Eheh..." Bendy looked back at Henry with a look of both curiosity and reminiscence, before glancing to the side. "Yeah, the good ol' days... But hey, entertainment still exists just like back then, we just gotta make it popular again." He raised his hands encouragingly with an optimistic smile.

"Teh, good luck with that tall order, buddy. People have changed since thirty years ago, and evoking joy out of a collective audience isn't as easy as it used to be with old time shticks."

"Right. So then we'll find current time shticks and mix some of the old time stuff with them, that'll work, right?"

"Aah, maybe. Some people do still enjoy vintage entertainment after all. We might get lucky and lure in enough of them if'n we bring enough good stuff to the table."

"Oh you can be sure I'll keep an eye out for the best stuff~" Bendy winked before hopping off of Henry's abdomen, allowing the man to pull himself back up to his feet, ink now caking his back, but he didn't really care anymore. He did notice that while spending time with Bendy that the ink demon wasn't always so bloodthirsty, and he did enjoy harmless fun when he wasn't hellbent on destroying something. It was a nice image for the little dancing devil; hard to imagine that he came from Henry's imagination once upon a time, with no trace of actual black-heartedness. But that was only what he knew of...

"Also, Bendy, the only way I recall up is through a two-story vertical chute. How do we get back up to the 3rd basement floor?"

"Hmm... I have an idea." Bendy smirked mysteriously, which made Henry quirk a brow at him, before trekking onward. Henry followed him wondering what he had planned, looking around along the way seeing all the puzzle components he went through. Now that they were all done with, they were kind of fun in retrospect, save for Bendy being the only real one out for his blood the whole time, but other than that threat, this journey would be quite the interesting story for future generations of his. "Alright, we're here." Bendy announced, looking up through the shaft that connected to the above floor. "Now let's see if I remember how to do this." He spoke to himself as he went to the corners where puddles of ink rested and scooped up some of it like it was mud, and plopped it down under the chute, before starting to draw lines around himself with the black liquid. It turned out he was creating another pentagram.

Henry watched quietly, becoming curious how this pentagram had some different symbols and runes than what he typically saw of them, also that it didn't seem to be upside down from Bendy's facing direction. Maybe they really did work differently depending on how they were drawn. "... So, you're-"

"Shh..." Bendy hissed, stopping Henry from breaking his concentration. The runes weren't the easiest to recite, and he didn't need a question interrupting his focus and making him mess up. Henry decided to hold his tongue until the demon was finished, crossing his arms and twirling the axe in idle. When the pentagram was done, Bendy moved to spread the ink pile out some, and uttered some alchemic word before starting to pull a pair of stalks out of the ink. They seemed to be made of the stuff as a prong connected them the more they were pulled up. Henry then realized that the prongs were a ladder that Bendy was pulling up from what he could only assume to be Hell magic out of the pentagram, dropping his arms and moving closer to look up the chute as the ladder rose higher to the other end. "Henry, could you step off the linework...?" Bendy warned, pausing his pulling of the ladder, as it'd become shaky and unstable in his hands.

"Oh uh, sorry." He stepped off the rim of the symbol, seeing that his footprint had scuffed the runes slightly, but thankfully they still worked.

"I don't think you'd wanna know how peeved I'd be if you smeared this pentagram and caused this ladder to collapse."

"Sorry, sorry." Henry slanted his brows back while holding his hands up, not meaning to upset the little devil. "I'll wait till you're done."

"Thanks." He responded curtly and resumed pulling the ladder from the symbol, soon reaching it up to the top of the chute. He then stood and faced Henry. "Now it's done. Come on, up we go. It'll stay together as long as I'm touching it."

"Um, you first." He gave a vague smirk, feeling like Bendy was still slightly annoyed with him accidentally scuffing the pentagram.

"Me first? What, are you afraid that I'd deliberately let go just to collapse all this ink on you?" Bendy tilted his head at Henry's somewhat accusatory expression. "... Fine, as you wish." He shrugged and started climbing the ladder, soon followed by the slightly skeptical human. Henry was a bit surprised that the ink ladder was able to support him, though a few of the step prongs did bend at his weight, likely from the runes being made imperfect, which unsettled him, but they both got to the top. Bendy held onto a prong to let Henry get up, and let go once the ladder was no longer needed, watching the ink making it up collapse like a waterfall with a resonating splatter from below. Henry watched as well, before following Bendy through the rest of the way up the floors of the studio.

Shortly after the two left though, some shadowy figures climbed their way out of the shaft with little sound and slinked along after the pair. They were humanoid, and seemed to be made of black ink and some hazy substance, moving in fluid blurs with luminescent red eyes, and following the faint echo of music. However, when the four ventured into a larger room from the hall, the leading figure looked to the side seeing a strange large shape on the floor, pausing the pack to observe it almost curiously. The mass was the ink eater, though its eye was laying against the body, the legs pulled in with only the blue claws sticking out, and the tails wrapped around the body. It appeared to be asleep, though of course it didn't breathe or shift otherwise, but being near the creature seemed to unsettle the four phantoms, as they glanced to each other for a moment. Not wanting to rile the demon, the four resumed their following of Bendy and Henry with quiet movement, soon catching up to the two and kept out of sight for the most part.

[demonsheyd500025]

Ascending the Ink Pit p.1

"So, how do you presume we get through this mess?" Henry asked his smaller companion with his arms crossed, standing before a collapsed section of the ceiling, ink ceaselessly leaking heavily from the hinged broken angle. Bendy simply shrugged as Henry looked at him.

"Why do you expect me to be the thinker?"

"Well you've been here for years, I figure you'd know the layout of this place like the back of your hand."

"You'd think, wouldn't ya? Sorry, Henry, but honestly I've never been down here before you arrived."

"Really?" Henry's expression turned from expectant to puzzled.

"Yup. Haven't you noticed? The design of most everything down here is a little different from upstairs; it all was constructed post-haste, just for you~"

Henry stared at the ink demon with wonder, not sure how to feel about the statement. "... Uh, okay then. But then shouldn't you know where everything is then?"

Bendy shrugged again, going into a somewhat snarky pose. "I wasn't down here long enough to memorize everything. But come on, Henry, you've got an axe! You know what to do with it when a bunch of wood's in your way!" He started skipping from one foot to the other almost dance-like in encouragement, grinning widely. The spontaneous motions made Henry curious, before he turned his view to the wreckage, and decided to try his luck with smashing the debris to pieces. His main concern with clearing a way through what was broken was if he wouldn't just make the predicament worse, or worse yet, he could rattle the damage and cause it to collapse on top of him; only luck would have it at that point if he was able to avoid any severe injuries or not. He tried to ignore the ink dripping upon his head and arms as he thwacked the woodwork, having to compensate for the cramped space by crouching and swinging the axe in a relatively awkward arc. But it got the job done soon enough, and save for the precarious splintered edge, there now was a hole to scuttle through. "See? You did it, Henry!" Bendy gave a congratulatory jazzhands. "And you were doubtin' me~"

Henry rolled his eyes at the enthusiasm before carefully crawling through the hole, just glad that his concerns didn't happen this time. "Ah shut up, ya smart alec." He smirked though as he pushed a barrel out of the way, and stood easily, patting his clothes down. The amount of ink stains on him reminded him just how long he'd been down here, or at least too long for sure; a number of hours was too sketchy to guesstimate. It could even be days at this point for all he knew. Bendy followed him through the hole and looked around at the ink covered room before them, frowning when he recalled what had happened here... He shook his head to rid the ink eater from his mind, pervasive as it was, he was beginning to hate the damn thing and its terms. "Bendy, you alright?" Henry inquired, noticing the troubled gestures from the little ink demon as he gazed down at him.

"Yeah, just... Trying to forget the events of these last couple of floors." Bendy waved a hand dismissively, before pacing onward, his mind sidetracking to when he chased Henry around in this room. He couldn't help but smirk mischievously at the memory, it was quite fun, especially since Henry reacted just the way he anticipated. Henry on the other hand felt a bit disgruntled recalling the same event. How Bendy was tearing after him was probably the most freaked out he'd been thus far, he could practically still see the images of when he glanced back at the homicidal demon, how murderous he looked... Though when he looked down at Bendy now, the little imp seemed like he could do hardly more than prank you to your nerve's breaking point. His monster form definitely wasn't one to take lightly, but hopefully there no longer was a need for Bendy to reform to it. "You doin' alright in this darkness, Henry?" Bendy asked, breaking the human from his train of thought.

"Oh uh, yeah. My eyes are used to it by now. But now that you mention it, was it always this dark down here?" He rubbed his head in wonder as he looked around the dank and dreary environment, focusing back on any little hazards in their path. "I could have sworn it was more lit up coming down."

"You're not wrong." Henry looked down at him again, locking eyes with Bendy. "All the light coming from spontaneous locations, some where it kinda shouldn't have been. Don'tcha remember Alice? She was providing all that illumination for you, and we kept getting in each other's way."

"... What do you mean by that?"

"She was the one helping you escape me for the first couple of encounters, when I was eager to play havoc on you. And I had to compensate for her meddling to keep my plans going. As time went on, I became more accustomed to toying with you, letting you escape on purpose. Though, if you'd slipped up and died early, it only meant that we couldn't play anymore." He shrugged, though it disturbed Henry a fair bit. So Bendy really was going off of the instincts of a sadistic predator; he wasn't giving the pursuits his all, and he could have easily been killed at any time... "I'm a demon, Henry, I can't see how you couldn't have figured that I wouldn't hold myself back if there was no benefit for me to do so..." Bendy's grin turned a tad sinister, before he shifted to a light-hearted pose, spreading his arms out with a joyous smile. "But that's in the past, I'm your pally pal now, Henry! I won't try to kill ya anymore, promise~"

Henry only made a perturbed expression at the little ink demon, baffled at how easily he could swing between strict facades. Bendy shrugged the look off and carried on, while Henry stood for a moment in thought before following so as not to lose him. Ironically, the studio seemed a little smaller when they didn't have to commit time to puzzles and backtracking for things, though the black ink that was bleeding through almost every single crevice made the feeling somewhat claustrophobic, and the suffocating darkness wasn't helping either. Henry had his axe and a powerful ink demon for a companion, yet he still didn't feel much safer. The only instances that allowed him to let up the unease was Bendy offering his iconic enthusiasm, though every now and then along the trek, he could hear faint music reverberating off the walls. And he figured Bendy could hear it too, since he'd start nodding his head slightly when the music came up. Henry wasn't sure to take the music as a good thing or a bad thing; he wasn't sure just how the dancing demon reacted to it. Either way, it probably meant that they were getting closer to the above floors, the silence and periodic music only disrupted by the sound of Henry's axe clearing paths through fallen ceilings and whatnot. Henry also noted the lack of enemies, or maybe Bendy was leading the way around them for the most part, or maybe they simply weren't concerned with him anymore, or maybe Bendy's presence was keeping them at bay.

Whatever the case, the studio had a hold on his fear like a leech, and only now when his business with Bendy was done with was he allowed to make his way out. He'd completely forgotten what the outside air felt like anymore, but before he could start reveling in the artificial sensual fabrication, he had to focus on getting to his destination. Bendy led the way through the corridors, occasionally seeing shadowy figures slinking through the halls. They seemed to be avoiding detection from Henry, but Bendy knew who they were... It didn't stop Henry from feeling like he was being watched in the most unsettling way possible. All he could do was try to suppress it and keep up with Bendy, he had some fraction of comfort with the little imp after all.

"... H e n r y..." A whispered voice that didn't belong to Bendy suddenly sounded, causing Henry to pause and look back, subconsciously shivering from the ghastly sound.

"... D'you hear that, Bendy?" He scanned around as Bendy hummed in wonder to him. "Something called my name just now..."

"Could be ghosts, Henry~" The little devil smirked in amusement at him.

"Ghosts...? Well, I guess if demons exist, it could be ghosts." He slightly chuckled trying to settle his unease.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bendy quirked a brow line at the human, though his tone was rhetorical. "There's nothin' that's gonna bother us, Henry. Come on, we're getting close to the next floor up. Finally." He waved a hand beckoningly as he continued on, although he was amused at Henry's perception of the phantoms going around. Henry went along with Bendy, growing a little nervous with the thought that spirits may be calling him now. He glanced behind them frequently, and when he looked forward, Bendy out of nowhere jumped at him with a mischievous cry. "Henry!" This caused the human to yelp and fall back, grunting while the imp sat on his chest with a snarky grin, then going into cruel laughter. Bendy held his stomach with glee as Henry covered his face with an exasperated growl.

"Bendyyyyy... Why do you do this to me...?" He wasn't sure to scowl or smirk at the shenanigans; it was in Bendy's nature to do these things, but hadn't he had enough with the jumpscares, for pity's sake? Bendy only laughed deeply with small tears in his eyes, cracking his eyes open to glimpse Henry's expression, which was sternly concealing amusement, but that only made the demon laugh more, flopping back with a hand to his head. Henry bent his legs up for Bendy, smirking more at the light-hearted sound of the laughter. Admittedly it lifted some of the tension of the atmosphere, while his heartbeat slowly calmed down again. "... You are such a little punk, you know that?"

"Hahahahahahah! Sorry, Henry, I couldn't resist~" He giggled, his expression turning sheepish as he calmed down.

"I know you can't, but that's why you were loved." Henry laid his hands over his chest as he gazed at Bendy like he was a mere child having fun. Morbid fun, but still.

"Eheh..." Bendy looked back at Henry with a look of both curiosity and reminiscence, before glancing to the side. "Yeah, the good ol' days... But hey, entertainment still exists just like back then, we just gotta make it popular again." He raised his hands encouragingly with an optimistic smile.

"Teh, good luck with that tall order, buddy. People have changed since thirty years ago, and invoking joy out of a collective audience isn't as easy as it used to be with old time shticks."

"Right. So then we'll find current time shticks and mix some of the old time stuff with them, that'll work, right?"

"Aah, maybe. Some people do still enjoy vintage entertainment afterall. We might get lucky and lure in enough of them if'n we bring enough good stuff to the table."

"Oh you can be sure I'll keep an eye out for the best stuff~" Bendy winked before hopping off of Henry's abdomen, allowing the man to pull himself back up to his feet, ink now caking his back, but he didn't really care anymore. He did notice that while spending time with Bendy that the ink demon wasn't always so bloodthirsty, and he did enjoy harmless fun when he wasn't hellbent on destroying something. It was a nice image for the little dancing devil; hard to imagine that he came from Henry's imagination once upon a time, with no trace of actual black-heartedness. But that was only what he knew of...

"Also, Bendy, the only way I recall up is through a two-story vertical chute. How do we get back up to the 3rd basement floor?"

"Hmm... I have an idea." Bendy smirked mysteriously, which made Henry quirk a brow at him, before trekking onward. Henry followed him wondering what he had planned, looking around along the way seeing all the puzzle components he went through. Now that they were all done with, they were kind of fun in retrospect, save for Bendy being the only real one out for his blood the whole time, but other than that threat, this journey would be quite the interesting story for future generations of his. "Alright, we're here." Bendy announced, looking up through the shaft that connected to the above floor. "Now let's see if I remember how to do this." He spoke to himself as he went to the corners where puddles of ink rested and scooped up some of it like it was mud, and plopped it down under the chute, before starting to draw lines around himself with the black liquid. It turned out he was creating another pentagram.

Henry watched quietly, becoming curious how this pentagram had some different symbols and runes than what he typically saw of them, also that it didn't seem to be upside down from Bendy's facing direction. Maybe they really did work differently depending on how they were drawn. "... So, you're-"

"Shh..." Bendy hissed, stopping Henry from breaking his concentration. The runes weren't the easiest to recite, and he didn't need a question interrupting his focus and making him mess up. Henry decided to hold his tongue until the demon was finished, crossing his arms and twirling the axe in idle. When the pentagram was done, Bendy moved to spread the ink pile out some, and uttered some alchemic word before starting to pull a pair of stalks out of the ink. They seemed to be made of the stuff as a prong connected them the more they were pulled up. Henry then realized that the prongs were a ladder that Bendy was pulling up from what he could only assume to be Hell magic out of the pentagram, dropping his arms and moving closer to look up the chute as the ladder rose higher to the other end. "Henry, could you step off the linework...?" Bendy warned, pausing his pulling of the ladder, as it'd become shaky and unstable in his hands.

"Oh uh, sorry." He stepped off the rim of the symbol, seeing that his footprint had scuffed the runes slightly, but thankfully they still worked.

"I don't think you'd wanna know how peeved I'd be if you smeared this pentagram and caused this ladder to collapse."

"Sorry, sorry." Henry slanted his brows back while holding his hands up, not meaning to upset the little devil. "I'll wait till you're done."

"Thanks." He responded curtly and resumed pulling the ladder from the symbol, soon reaching it up to the top of the chute. He then stood and faced Henry. "Now it's done. Come on, up we go. It'll stay together as long as I'm touching it."

"Um, you first." He gave a vague smirk, feeling like Bendy was still slightly annoyed with him accidentally scuffing the pentagram.

"Me first? What, are you afraid that I'd deliberately let go just to collapse all this ink on you?" Bendy tilted his head at Henry's somewhat accusatory expression. "... Fine, as you wish." He shrugged and started climbing the ladder, soon followed by the slightly skeptical human. Henry was a bit surprised that the ink ladder was able to support him, though a few of the step prongs did bend at his weight, likely from the runes being made imperfect, which unsettled him, but they both got to the top. Bendy held onto a prong to let Henry get up, and let go once the ladder was no longer needed, watching the ink making it up collapse like a waterfall with a resonating splatter from below. Henry watched as well, before following Bendy through the rest of the way up the floors of the studio.

Shortly after the two left though, some shadowy figures climbed their way out of the shaft with little sound and slinked along after the pair. They were humanoid, and seemed to be made of black ink and some hazy substance, moving in fluid blurs with luminescent red eyes, and following the faint echo of music. However, when the four ventured into a larger room from the hall, the leading figure looked to the side seeing a strange large shape on the floor, pausing the pack to observe it almost curiously. The mass was the ink eater, though its eye was laying against the body, the legs pulled in with only the blue claws sticking out, and the tails wrapped around the body. It appeared to be asleep, though of course it didn't breathe or shift otherwise, but being near the creature seemed to unsettle the four phantoms, as they glanced to each other for a moment. Not wanting to rile the demon, the four resumed their following of Bendy and Henry with quiet movement, soon catching up to the two and kept out of sight for the most part.