#surely he or Joey don’t want more room abominations

[movedtodykedvonte]

Some Bendy and the Divorce Court AU (that’s what I’m calling it officially) creepiness:

Another reason Susie is kinda dismissive about Bendy in the co parenting au is he constantly tries to lead her to unknown locations around the studio. Through locked doors or places that say do not enter, stairways she’s never seen, places where the moaning of pipes and sounds of machinery are abnormally strong and off putting. Where the ink pools higher and seems ever flowing. Deeper and deeper into the studio.This puts her right on edge and into the nope zone and she never goes past level 9 (storage area in the au).

It doesn’t help that he specifically is more intense about her following after hearing her recording or her indulging him with the Alice voice.

[realm-sweet-realm]

Repeating the Cycle

I thought I’d write a little story about ink infection, as well as Sammy’s role after he was transformed. It’s inspired by Shazzbaa’s theories (I’d say which, but we don’t want spoilers, now do we?)!

I’ll tell you guys later tonight about the future writing projects I have planned.

---

Sammy awoke in his sanctuary, as he had many times before. He hadn’t been to his apartment in... well, days anyhow. He felt better when he was near the ink. He tried the door to exit his private sanctuary, and it was locked. “Is this a sign?” he asked his lord. “Is it time?”

Yes, his lord spoke back.

Sammy smiled- smiled rather weakly, as the pain from his ink infection had been wearing on him heavily. “Finally.”

All the waiting. All the sickness. All the fear. It was time to see what it was all for. And his lord had assured him, with the comforting voice of a father to a young son, that it would be worth it.

Sammy dragged himself over to the leaking pipe that hung from the ceiling of his sanctuary and turned on the ink supply. Ink sputtered down onto Sammy’s face and clothes, and he fell to his knees, hands outstretched and mouth open as though he was staring into heaven itself. His heart was pounding. He was shaking from adrenaline, and not even being surrounded with, covered in, and consuming the ink that normally numbed his symptoms seemed to be helping. This had to be fear instead of withdrawal.

Do not be afraid, the voice comforted, you will have ascended in mere hours. I promise, you will be safe and healthy. I promise, it will be better than anything you’ve ever experienced.

“Thank you! Bendy, hear my praise! I want what you have for me! I crave your embrace!”

Sammy took a long suck of ink from the pipe, then laid down on the floor. He was weak. so weak.

That’s it. You’ve made it. You need only wait now.

Sammy trusted Bendy. Bendy told him that everything he’d done and experienced in his life- even the nightmarish last few years- was leading to something. It told him that everything was okay.

Sammy didn’t know how much time had passed when he felt Joey tying up his ankles. With some struggle, he sat up and tried to push Joey off of him, but it had little effect. Before long, Joey had finished on Sammy’s ankles and was straddling his chest to tie up his hands. The last thing he saw with his biological eyes was Joey’s knife slitting his throat.

When Sammy woke up, the voice of his lord was gone. By trying to make a toon out of him, Joey had robbed him of his ascension and severed his connection to him.

---

Grant awoke in his office to the horrid ticking of his Bendy clock and the array of whispering voices that had plagued him since early in his infection. The clock’s small hand pointed to six, but Grant had no idea whether it was morning or evening. Months of ink infection had ruined his sense of time. He tried the door to his office and found that it had been locked from the outside by chain and padlock. Grant laughed at the absurdity of it all- his life had spiralled into a nightmarish fever dream.

“Does this mean it’s time?” Grant asked.

Yes. Your time is almost up, the voice answered, and for once, Grant trusted it. He felt almost too tired from illness to care.

“I’ll do anything you ask to stop it.”

No response, except for those muttered voices. Grant hadn’t expected one- the voice rarely had his best interests in mind. He shuffled over to his desk and pushed aside some papers to go back to sleep- possibly for the last time.

And then he saw it- a report from Joey that he’d received mere days before his symptoms had started- ending with the words “Fix this or I’ll have your head!” angrily scrawled at the bottom.

That was it. Joey had done this to motivate him. He just had to figure out how to keep the studio from bankruptcy and he’d be cured!

Yes! Yes! You’re right. Fix it! the voice yelled.

Adrenaline flooded Grant’s system as he jerked open his filing cabinet with shaking hands in search of the necessary files to fix the budget. This was his one chance to survive. The muttering voices were screaming in his head- ear-piercing. His head felt ready to explode.

“Shut up and let me focus!” he screamed.

Ink will soothe your symptoms.

That was something that the voice had told him frequently. He hadn’t given in to it yet- not much, anyhow- because common sense told him that ink was inedible. It was also his sincere belief that the voice wanted to kill him. The voice had told him, back before the physical symptoms had become obvious, that he was merely losing his mind and needed to hide it from everyone, lest he be institutionalized. Then, as soon as the physical symptoms had taken root, it had changed its tune- he was losing his mind, because he was ill with an incurable, supernatural disease, and no hospital could help him, and going to one would only guarantee that he would be a test subject for the limited time he had left. Listening to it then had gotten him into this position, and he wasn’t eager to listen to it again.

But this was life or death. He opened the supply on the ink pipe that Thomas- for some reason he didn’t understand- had installed in his office, and drank deeply.

The voice- the muttering- the headache- it all stopped. Silence. Finally.

Grant’s hands were covered in ink now, and were sure to soak any paper he used. I can’t let that stop me. He dropped to his knees and started painting calculations on the floor.

The numbers didn’t add up. Not a single one. Was his mind was too frayed to do basic mathematical functions?! How could he fix anything, let alone this insurmountable debt, while he could barely think straight?! Calm down. Stay calm. Try again. Life or death. Time is money. What will Joey say?!

From the cracks within the wall, Sammy watched as Grant spiralled into panic and tears, and turned his office inside out trying to find anything that could help, expressing his fears through wall-writing, and attempting escape the room. Poor thing, Sammy thought, remembering the pain and uncertainty of his own ink infection, but soon I’ll be able to teach him the truth.

It had been years since Sammy’s sacrifice. Not only did Sammy still work for Joey now that he was a failed toon, Joey had him on a schedule. Every day at 11:00 AM, Sammy would ooze through the walls of Joey’s office for their morning meeting. Sammy wasn’t particularly happy about doing anything for the man who had turned him into a failed Boris just as he was about to fulfill a higher destiny, but the voice had once told him that to follow Joey was to follow his lord, and now those previous words (which Sammy had recorded and studied every day) were all he had left as a doctrine to follow. Sammy hoped that with enough obedience and service, his lord would see past his ruined body and grant him his destiny.

Joey’s demands were often difficult, but they were simple: sacrificing specific people into specific toons, and looking after the infected. Joey rarely sacrificed people on his own anymore, and instead relied on Sammy to do the dirty work of knocking people out, killing them on pentagrams, and then dealing with the resulting dead body, blood and ink-stains on the floor, and whatever abomination came out of the ink machine. Looking after the ink-infected was easier: keep an eye on them, and once they become too infected to be useful, lock them in their offices or in infirmary rooms and take them to their prison in the basement come night. Sammy had overseen the infection of nearly thirty people by now and had sacrificed dozens.

Thankfully, Joey’s demands were not very time-intensive, and he had plenty of time for his passion: teaching the lost ones about their lord and saviour, Bendy.

The lost ones lived in a prison in the very basement of Joey Drew Studios, along with the failed toons. Sammy’s sermons were some of the only times they were allowed out of their cages, and so they were always happy to see him.

Some agreed with him. Often, these were the same ones who had heard a comforting voice as they were infected- generally those with a religious background. Others thought him insane. Their voice had been different- wrong- hallucinatory- and quite often threatening. Sammy had these lost ones do penance in order to find their way to Bendy. Some found him, leaving Sammy feeling accomplished, but also jealous that he could never have what they had. Hopefully, his lord would see the wonderful work he was doing and one day ascend him along with the rest of them- because surely, that was not their final form.

Today’s meeting was like any other. Sammy waited in the walls until Joey’s 10:30 client left, and then slithered out before him.

“Anything to report?” Joey asked casually, as he looked over some paperwork. These meetings were usually uneventful.

“Two people are currently under quarantine. Three more are infected but still able to work for now. Everything is fine- except for one small detail. One of the people under quarantine is destroying his office out of fear. If you’d like, I could tie him up snug until he transforms, or force-feed him ink to speed the process along.”

Joey considered this. "Hmm... well, I do need an Edgar. He would work as well as any. Are you sure he’s close to transforming?” All ink-infected people had strange beliefs and delusions (except for Sammy, of course- his visions were absolute truth), but by this point in their infection, they were generally too tired to do anything destructive- especially ones like this one, who had increased the duration of their infection by resisting the urge to drink ink.

“It will be a matter of hours,” Sammy assured.

“Well, that’s not convenient, but I do have lunch right after this. I’ll get the Charley down to the basement, and you get the Barley and Edgar. The Barley’s name is Lacie Benton, and I’d suggest you knock her out before taking her anywhere- she’s a tough one. But the Edgar shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“No... I suppose not.” Severely ink-infected people were, without exception, very weak, and Sammy was stronger now than he’d ever been as a human.

“Alright! See you down there as soon as possible.”

Sammy nodded, slunk back into the walls, and cursed everything, especially his order to obey Joey Drew. A severely ink infected person had never, and would never, produce a good toon- part of their souls had already been connected to the other lost ones. Joey must have known that, but he still insisted on stealing the people that were meant to be Sammy’s to guide, probably because in Joey’s mind, killing a person was murder but killing a lost one (or someone who soon would be a lost one) was not. Joey didn’t see his people as equally human, and it sickened Sammy. Nonetheless, he slithered through the walls until he came upon Grant’s office.

The office looked like a madhouse. The floors and walls were coated with repetitive writing. Furniture had been strewn about. Grant himself was curled against the ink pipe in his office, covered in so much ink that Sammy had thought he was already transformed before he realized he still had hair. The poor thing had tried so hard, while so sick, at something so futile. Sammy had his orders, but he wasn’t going to lay a hand on his sheep-that-wouldn’t-be until he had to.

Sammy slithered out of the wall- slowly, so as not to scare him.

“Who are you?” Grant asked. He sounded so tired of all the supernatural surprises that he barely cared.

“I’m here on behalf of Joey Drew,” Sammy began.

“I’m so sorry. I tried... but I couldn’t. I suppose you’re here to kill me, aren’t you?”

“No. I’m here to give you congratulations. The others in your department were able to use these brilliant calculations,” Sammy gestured widely at the messily scrawled gibberish on a wall, “to make a plan. The studio is going to avoid bankruptcy, and you’re going to be cured. Come with me.” Sammy offered Grant his hand. Grant took it, and Sammy helped him up.

“I-I don’t understand. I don’t understand how-” All of those calculations... Grant would have guessed that they were worthless.

“Shh... you’ll be clearer-headed soon. Just come with me, now. I can’t be out there where everyone can see me, but go to the elevator, go to the bottom floor, and I will be there. I promise- you will be fine.”

“Thank you so much. But, my door-”

Sammy slithered back into the wall. Grant heard the click of a door unlocking, followed by the clink of chains falling limp. His office door was unlocked. Do I trust him? Grant asked himself. This day kept getting stranger. If I don’t, I’m guaranteed to die. I have nothing to lose.

Sammy slithered into the wooden floor of the elevator and only reappeared once the elevator hit the very bottom.

“I’m sorry,” Sammy lamented “I want to lead you to Bendy. I want you to find peace as one of my followers. But it is not in the cards.”

The two made brief eye contact- or would have, if Sammy’s face weren’t covered in mask. Grant, obviously, had no idea what Sammy was talking about. Then, Sammy grabbed Grant’s hair, slammed his head against the wall a few times to knock him out, tied him up for sacrifice, and left to find Lacie Benton.

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

21. Redemption

The Ink Demon cannot redeem himself in his apostate prophet’s eyes, but luckily for him, Allison does a good job keeping it from killing him. (Set in FIFE, immediately after the Sin prompt.)

The Ink Demon, making what had to be one of the stupidest decisions ever, popped out of his Inkwell and stood to his full height, which while it was tall compared to human beings, the Ink Demon was rather short compared to the towering behemoth Sammy had become.

“Sammy, listen, I know I should’ve told you this way, WAY earlier but.. I’m Sorry.” The horrifying creature wrapped its body up in its largest pair of wings, steadying itself on a single arm as Inky tried to read the creature’s body language for either signs of approval or disapproval. Not knowing if he was getting through to it or not, he continued. “I know I really, really, really %#@!ed up with everything I did to you, I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness at all...  Maybe if I was a better person back then, I would’ve earned the praise you’ve heaped on me, but instead… *sigh* I’m sorry for how I treated you back then, I’m sorry that I pretty much… brainwashed you into worshiping me and then threw you to the side once I had what I wanted. I’m sorry that I hurt you and your loved ones for fun, And I’m sorry that I made you feel like you were nothing… I should’ve known better than to do any of that $#*!, Joey put me through similar stuff and I knew that it was &%#@ing awful when I was going through it, but I was too much of a Jack@$$ to-”

“Shhhh…” The otherworldly musician put a shushing finger over the Ink Demon’s lips which he retracted back into his wings. “It’s alright, little one. All is forgiven. No sin you have committed has been an infinite one, thus, you shall not receive infinite punishment.”

“Y-you really forgive me?! This soon?! H-how?! I hurt you the most out of everybody I’ve wronged, people who I’ve done a lot less to still avoid me because they still haven’t forgiven me… ...Does this mean you’re coming back home?”

Instead of answering him, a deformed arm shot out of Sammy’s form and straight through the Ink Demon’s chest, tearing out his heart in one fell swoop. The mouths on its arm already began chewing away at it like ravenous piranhas.

“Your sins are forgiven… but not forgotten…”

The Ink Demon ducked back into his inkwell to prevent further damage from happening to him, Allison gripped onto the inkwell tightly and ran like hell out of the ritual room. Partly to help protect the Ink Demon from the eldritch musician’s wrath, partly because she feared the beast, and mostly because the blessed bleach on the floor would eat her alive if she stayed in there any longer.

The being sped after her, moving its many distorted arms like the legs of a spider as Allison narrowly ducked and dodged incoming strikes from it, preferring to evade the eldritch monster as opposed to attacking it as like the Ink Demon, it could not be harmed by normal weapons, but unlike the ink demon, every time she cut off a hand, the stump grew and branched off to give it two more hands.

“D-don’t you think… *Cough* *Hack...* that we should try to reason with him?”

“Maybe we should,” she offered as she felt like it was too dangerous to argue with Inky during this. “But not while he’s trying to kill us in a maze filled with holy bleach!”

“Don’t flatter yourself, false angel...” The pursuing entity sounded like it was rolling its limitless eyes. “You may serve the divine, but you are not among their ranks... You will be spared, even if you believe you do not deserve it.”

“Gee, thanks Sammy...” She muttered under her breath while also rolling her eyes. “I totally believe you.”

Shortly after another close call with one the hands narrowly catching the inkwell, Allison grabbed her rope with the intent to tie the Inkwell to herself but then got a better idea.

“Inky, hold onto my waist as tightly as you can!”

She took a sharp turn, tied a lasso out of the rope, and swung it around to get momentum. Once she felt she had enough of it and sensed the upcoming pursuer, she turned and threw it behind her at the eldritch horror, almost stunned with shock and pride as she saw the rope perfectly hit Sammy’s muzzle. But luckily for her, adrenaline overcame shock and she ran between the entity’s arms and yanked the rope as hard as she possibly could.

As half-planned, the action slammed the beast to the ground. While it was still dazed by the action, The brave angel tied more of the rope around the horror’s muzzle, and jumped on its back as if she was riding a horse- -err a sheep, the creature was closer to a sheep than a horse. She jumped on its back as if she was riding a sheep made out of nightmares.

“HOLY *HACCK!* *WHEEZE!* $#*! ALLISON! WHERE THE %#^& DID THAT COME FROM?!”

“I panicked, and well…” She gestured at the rope and the beast. “When I trusted my gut, this happened.”

The beast shook the dizziness out of its head and rose on many unsteady limbs that swayed and staggered as it stood back up, almost as if the body remembered that it was supposed to be human, or at least humanoid, not whatever it was now.

One of the arms felt around its back for the Angel, and she drew her blade and put it against the musician’s throat while grabbing tightly to his left horn.

“You’ve won the battle, but the war is over. C’mon, Sam, we’re going home.”

She felt a heavy sigh come out from the beast, specifically, out of the tied up muzzle.

“Do you truly trust him? After all you have seen him do? After all he’s put everyone through?”

“We’ve all hurt people back there, all of us.” She lowered her blade off Sammy’s neck. “We’ve all done one terrible thing or another and tried to justify it to ourselves, and all of us regret them… I Don’t fully trust the Ink Demon, not yet… But I do trust that he regrets what he’s done too, and that he wants to change for the better as much as everyone else does, as much as you do.”

“I had no intent for changing for the better, I had valued the deaths of the false gods more than my own life. I expected to have my soul destroyed by the ritual, and yet, almost annoyingly, I still persist.”

“Because you believed that by destroying them, you’d set your flock free! You’re still here, because you know that you have people who want you back, people who love you and miss you, people who you inspired by your own redemption among them to change themselves for the better.”

“Including me!”

“...Including him.”

“...”

“So, would you like to see them again and go back home?”

“No. America never was and never will be my home, not even then, and especially not now.”

The angel and demon deflated partly.

“But… I’m sure I will make some visits here and there, everybody knows how to call me when they want.”

“Say Sammy… *HACKK!* About you wanting me to *COUGH* free you from an ‘Inky dark abyss you call a body’... Would… would you like me to try that, or do you have a sweet deal going on with the whole nightmare-abomination-god-thing?”

“...Well…”

-----

Weeks later...

“How’s progress going so far?”

“Uuuurrrrgghhh...!”

The Ink Demon pinched the nonexistent bridge of his nonexistent nose in frustration as his patient/canvas gave a so-so gesture.

“It’s terrible! Just terrible! I’ve managed to carve it back down to LOOKING human (most of the time), but every time I turn my back on this mother^@!&er, its got something ELSE going on, and the second I fix it, it’s got a new problem: First it was that its pectorals were replaced with a giant mouth filled with fangs that belonged to a sea monster, THEN there was the wasp problem, and THEN eyes are popping all over it like chicken pox spots, and THEN...”

“I have accepted that Eldritch demigodhood may be a chronic condition that I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life. At least most of my humanity is restored... and this condition is one that has its perks from time to time...”

“Well, according to the tests, you’re a human being, so at least you two on the right path.”

“Yeah… Still frustrating as &$@! Though. What makes it worse is that COULD’VE done better if I did this sooner! I could’ve saved it back at the studio but Nooo, I had to wait until AFTER getting freed from that place before getting a redemption arc. #%#@ing son of a...”

“While it’s not the most... Ideal, but it’s a lot better than it’s ever been before. Thank you for your assistance.”

“No, thank you for giving me another chance.”

[akiraidraws]

Imperfections AU: Beginnings

(Summary: This story takes place prior to any successful attempt at creating a living toon with the ink machine. Henry is nervous about a meeting with Joey. All he knows is that it has something to do with the new ink machine and the toons. Will he go along with Joey's scheme or will he refuse?)

Trigger warning: Implied anxiety, light swearing

Just going to leave this under the cut since it's a little long.

Chapter 1: When Dreams Take Hold

It was another usual quiet morning at Joey Drew Studios. The studio's employees were hard at work within their respective departments, winding down from a particularly stressful deadline crunch with the beginnings of a new Bendy short.

Henry sat at his drafting desk in his new private office space, drawing in silence as Sammy leaned against the opposite wall venting his grievances about the newly completed ink machine to the long-time animator. Henry was only half listening to to music director as he tried to stop his concerns about some 'project' that Joey had requested he be present for later that afternoon. He knew it had something to do with the new ink machine and the cartoons but he had no idea what Joey meant by 'bringing life to the toons'. Joey had insisted that his presence was extremely important and that the 'project' had something to do with the little devil darling himself. What Joey meant by that Henry had no idea. Had Henry been doing something wrong? Were the animations not living up to Joey's expectations? These thoughts were flooding through Henry's mind in waves. How could he possibly give the toons more life than he already had? He loved the toons. He poured his heart and soul into every single frame he drew.

Henry flinched when Sammy waved a hand in front of his face.

"Henry! Henry, are you even listening?" Sammy asked with the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh. Yeah, yeah, I'm listening."

"Really? Because it looked like you were zoning out." Sammy retorted with a scoff.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit tired is all. How about I take a break and we go grab some coffee." Henry suggested.

"Fine by me, I could use some coffee right about now." Sammy said as he turned on his heel leaving the room. Flinging the door open and starting down the hall.

Henry stretched his arms as he got up and followed Sammy down the hall to the small break room. The room was bustling with activity compared to the quiet of the other areas within the studio. Susie, Norman and Shawn were seated at the mid sized table and Wally was leaning back against the wall with mop in hand. Sammy grabbed his coffee first and joined the trio at the table. They were all buzzing and complaining to each other about the new ink machine that Joey had installed. Henry only caught small snippets of the conversation as he entered the room and grabbed his own mug, filling it with the much too old coffee that was left in the pot.

"And so he says to me 'Mr. Flynn, these smiles are crooked AND there's ink dripping down the faces!' like its my fault that those blasted pipes be breakin' right over the shelves!" Shawn exclaimed to the trio throwing his hands up in obvious annoyance.

"Tell me about it! Not even my dressing room is clear of ink anymore!" Susie chimed in.

"How do ya think I feel? I'm the one who's gotta clean up the mess! I swear if one more pipe bursts, I'm outta here!" Wally whined as Norman laughed and Sammy groaned.

Henry took a sip from his mug as he joined the crew at the table.

"Man, you all have me feeling lucky. It's like the animation department is the only one not swimming with ink." He said with a chuckle.

"Aint you a lucky son of a gun." Norman elbowed the man as he teased.

"Seriously though, Henry. Are you alright? you look a little tense." Norman asked.

He grasped Henry by the shoulder with a little more force than he meant to making Henry spill his coffee.

"Oh, shoot. Sorry."

"Nice one, Norman" Sammy scoffed as Susie chided him and Wally snickered, earning a glare from the music director.

"It's alright Norman. No use crying over spilt coffee." Henry reassured as he wiped up the coffee from the table with a loose napkin.

Shawn was enjoying the show as he quietly sat back and sipped his coffee with a smile.

"And to answer your question, yes, I'm fine. Doing just dandy actually. Just a little worried about a meeting with Joey later today but it's nothing you all should worry about. Really."

"If ya say so." Norman shrugged.

The six co-workers sat and exchanged ink machine mishap stories with each other well into the afternoon, laughing their heads off at each other's expense when a sudden knock sounded at the break room door. Joey stood in the doorway smiling at Henry and tapping on the face of his watch. Everyone looked up at Joey then back at Henry.

"Whoops. Sorry ladies and gents, looks like I'm late for that meeting."

Henry feigned a smile getting up from his seat. He waved a quick good-bye to his friends and headed out the door with Joey. The walk to the ink machine room was uneventful as Joey rambled on excitedly about 'dreams coming true' and 'imagination'. Henry simply nodded along to the banter with the occasional 'mhmm' too stuck inside his own worried thoughts to pay attention. The only thing pulling Henry from his thoughts being Joey suddenly throwing his arm over his shoulder and leaning into his side.

"Aren't you excited Henry?" Joey asked enthusiastically, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Huh? Excited about what?" Henry responded to the question with confusion.

"Henry, old pal, weren't you listening?" Joey laughed.

"Uh.. no, no I wasn't. Seems like I've had my head in the clouds all day actually." Henry confessed rubbing at the back of his neck with a small smile.

"Well that's alright, old pal. There's nothing wrong with a little day dreaming." Joey chuckled.

"Just try to keep your head out of the clouds during our little 'project' alright?"

"Sure, sure. Uh... hey Joey?"

"Yes Henry?"

"What exactly is this 'project' you insisted I help you with? Why is it so important?"

Joey let go of Henry's shoulder and turned to face him with the biggest smile Henry has ever seen on his friend's face. One would even say that it rivaled that of the little dancing darlin' himself.

"Why Henry old pal, we're going to bring the little devil himself into our reality. With the help of the ink machine and a little magic that is."

Henry's jaw practically hit the floor.

"W-what? Joey that's crazy! You don't actually mean-"

"Why yes, I do. Henry, I wanted you to be there for Bendy's birth because I know how much he means to you. You DID create the little devil after all and I just KNOW he'll be perfect!" Joey beamed clapping his hands together.

To be honest, Joey just needed Henry present so that he could take a piece of his soul and use it to stabilize the new little toon. He didn't want any repeats with grotesque soulless abominations like the ones he had created and destroyed during late night practice sessions within the studio.

But Henry didn't need to know that.

"Joey, what the hell-"

"I know how this sounds old pal, trust me I do! But with a little imagination and soul anything is possible!"

"Joey! Stop! Just. stop."

Henry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Bring Bendy into their physical plane of existence? He had never heard of anything so absurd in his life.

"Let's just say that I believe you. Why EXACTLY do you need ME there for your weird magic ritual stuff?" Henry asked skeptically.

"No reason. I just thought you might like to be there." Joey lied

Henry's skepticism didn't falter. He considered just walking away but something pulled at him from inside that urged him to entertain Joey's notion. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was a deeply rooted connection that Henry had always felt towards Bendy that he just never took notice of.

He decided that if anything went wrong he could kill Joey later but for now he just went along with whatever nonsense Joey spewed in an attempt to persuade him. It didn't. But Joey didn't need to know that.

Joey stopped abruptly outside of the room housing the large ink machine.

"Well here we are, Henry. Are you ready?"

"Yes. Let's do this."

[steve0discusses]

S4 Ep38: Awkward Hugs Episode

Remember how excited I was about the good storyboarder? Well this episode has the opposite of that. It looks a lot like they hit some sort of crunch and this entire episode got shipped to Singapore so that some other animation studio could deal with their problems. It’s got some jank.

And like listen, animation is hard, there’s a billion moving plates, there’s a lot of office politics and deadlines, this season in particular is very long and complicated, and I don’t know exactly what happened this episode, but it just...wow it’s a lot funny poorly animated moments and I was here for it.

So first off, Dartz died! I didn’t even cap it because it happened so quickly. He was standing there, a portal opened up, and then the Great Leviathan kind of munched him up in 3 frames of animation, and then dissolved away back into the portal. It was card shenanigans anyway, and I don’t go over card games here--just trust me he played cards, he lost, he died.

Once Dartz died, this happened, in the one place Roland thought he was safe.

Roland has spent a good amount of this time debating whether or not to go inside and now he’s got a situation. Is it safer in Soul Hut than...whatever this is?

I wouldn’t know either.

So he just decides to uh...look directly at it while everyone else deals with orb hell.

The three knights of Atlantis decide to revive the respective owners of their cards.

So Pegasus just has to sit back, relax, and find some other unsuspecting orb person to share his fanfiction deep cuts with.

PS, that was not an exaggeration on the lazy PowerPoint spiral-in transition--this episode was a marvel of “Oh crap we ran out of time!” last-ditch effort animation and I approve.

(read more under the cut)

And if you thought they were done being orbs now that we’re on a physical mortal plane--nah.

This is the closest Pharoah and Yugi have ever gotten to a physical hug. Just throwing it out there that this is the only time they’ve touched in any way as two separate entities. Also--I like that this is the same way Yugi holds his necklace when he’s talking to Pharaoh. Cute little parallel there.

And as I mentioned, there were a lot of people just hugging it out as if it’s the last episode of the season. First off, one of the most huggy people on this show, which I’m still surprised is the Kaibas.

(he did legitimately pretend to be asleep by the way, because as he was spiraling out of hell he was like “whaoooahahhh”)

So I guess if Mokuba, Tristan, and Tea woke up without being orbs first, then that really does mean they never died 2 episodes ago.

Fine. This is fine. I’ll append my headcanon.

...so Dartz really was just so tired of them that he decided to make them take a nap, huh? That Mokuba was so annoying he was just like “I’m turning them off ok? Not like OFF off, not killing them or anything, that would be rude--I just don’t like small one.”

Meanwhile Tea has a Yugi appreciation moment where she’s reunited with her very confusing relationship. Which is how she likes it best. Undefined in nearly every sort of way. A relationship made entirely out of subtext.

(and honestly, relationships made entirely out of subtext is like 75% of the teen dating experience, which I may have mentioned before, but I do not remember if I have because 2020 has wiped my memory of just so many things.)

I vocally, out-loud, went “Ahhhh!” at the screen because I FORGOT how big his eyes are. They are so wild usually, but with the animation B-team at the helm, I was just not ready for the eyes to return. Yugi’s eyes are just...an abomination in every way and I forget when I see them consistently. I get used to them, I get over it...But when I go an entire season without these hell eyes staring directly at me every five seconds, then it’s like I’ve seen them for the first time.

I’m glad he’s back but man his eyes.

Those eyes.

Anyway, on for some more awkward hugs. First off, Yugi’s visceral reaction to his pretty-much-a-wife-at-this-point giving him a...hug?

(she’s kneeling, by the way. Bro mentioned that it looks like she picked him up and held him entirely by the neck--that would have been great, and I would never doubt Tea’s strength, but she had the decency not to do that.)

And then to Yugi’s just overall confusion to whatever Joey Wheeler defines as a hug.

I am 5 feet 0 inches tall, much like Yugi, and can confirm that yes, some people do hug me like this.

This type of hug should be illegal, it’s very disorienting.

Then, Yugi got to do what he does best.

The FIRST THING he does from coming back from death is immediately hold back information. Mm. Yugi at his finest.

At the point that you’d assume that someone in this room would indicate that maybe this hell vortex is like...a situation...Roland comes in the room screaming for Kaiba to come outside and tell him what the hell to do with his life.

So they go outside and the city of Atlantis is popping out of the sea and flying directly into the air--which...sure, it doesn’t really go in the air usually...but I’ll take it.

And in case you’re like...wait, I thought Atlantis was in California, not in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, don’t worry, it’ll get even more confusing later on.

Also, this happened.

Most of the human race freakin died so like...not sure what we should be concerned about here. Gotta get that one last guy in Florida to board up his house, I guess.

I like that Tea is contractually obligated to beg Yugi to stay behind so she doesn’t have to live without him when...it’s like...Tea, your relationship is already a big ass question mark, and Yugi actually dying did not even mean you were living without him. He’s been around this whole season as Pharaoh, my dude. You have the only boyfriend who will not only never officially date you but will also officially never go away.

So like...earlier in the season it was mentioned that Florida had the pieces of Atlantis shoved in a museum so like...is Atlantis off of Florida now? Because the Battle of Atlantis was in the Bay Area, and Dartz lives in San Francisco, and they went on a helicopter and flew out to the sea so...

We GOTTA be in the Pacific, right?

Anyway, it could be that they’re worried it’ll hit the East Coast of Japan--which, yes--it would. That would also be way more pertinent to our cast of people who live in Japan, it’s just that if you’re doing a show in English that takes place in the USA and you say the “East Coast” it only means New York.

I don’t think the translation team got the memo, it was a very weird line.

Tea wishes Yugi luck instead of Pharaoh for once, and Yugi was like “I don’t know why you want to talk to me instead of the version of me with the fine ass.” and his confusion was kind of cute, but they didn’t actually go into any more deets than this.

Valon and Mai were almost making out with each other’s dead body like ten episodes ago, so maybe the team felt like they had enough practice to maybe almost approach something happening with their flagship couple? Almost.

But also...Yugi just has no idea that a few days ago Tea was trying to get Pharaoh to talk to her on a Caltrain by talking about wearing little swimsuits on a Florida beach date, and then Pharaoh got so upset he went to the tiny area between trains and started sobbing while punching a wall. Yugi doesn’t know this. I don’t think anyone will ever tell him.

And like...will anyone tell Yugi that Pharaoh woke up in Tea’s bed? Like no one, right? Like no one even knows that happened? The irony of how cautious Yugi is with this relationship after Pharaoh was just slicing and dicing for this entire season is great. It’s also probably unintentional, but I can still laugh at it.

Anyway, inside soul hut, Yugi got a little lost, and then his puzzle started glowing and brought him to the Macguffins from last season. Would have been really inconvenient if these got doused in the sea, honestly, and I don’t think the Ishtars would have appreciated it.

Also, this puzzle sensor would have been really, really useful in S2.

Meanwhile, I think Seto and Joey just stared at this glowy gate of hell thing being all “Do you know what this is, Kaiba? I was dead” and Kaiba being all “Hell if I know, I was also dead, I don’t know what this thing is.” And Joey being like “Well Yugi doesn’t know what it is, he was also dead.” and Kaiba being like “The only one of us alive was the dead guy who lives in Yugi’s imagination?”

And then Joey being like “Also, where the hell are we?”

So, frustrated that this obvious trap was simply too confounding, Dartz decides to explain to our dumb as hell cast what a “door” is.

Where we can then admire the sights of Atlantis! Which is mostly brick buildings and giant gates with snakes on them.

Also it would just be COVERED in dead fish but we’re gonna skip that and save it for what would be an extremely ill-fated Netflix live-action series that they will probably eventually make of Season 4. Netflix can’t help itself, you know it can’t. This is a spicy series. It would be terrible in gritty live action. Make it happen, Netflix.

I feel like the artist was trying desperately to fix Joey’s bangs and I feel that on an emotional level. We all want to fix Joey’s bangs. Why did they stop at Joey?

They find Dartz in some weird Gazebo which...OK. It was a whole lot of weird concept art that I didn’t cap because it’s like...nothing is terrifying about a Gazebo...

I straight up don’t understand Atlantis culture.

So, Dartz decided that he could just...use himself to raise the Great Leviathan. He had only one more soul he needed, and he was just as powerful as Yami--so lets just do it, lets just raise the snake!

MAN I just realized what a euphemism this season is.

Good job, Dartz.

Course this is how he spun his story to us, but he seemed pretty surprised when the Great Leviathan gobbled him up in the first 10 minutes of the episode.

But this is the story Dartz is sticking to. He, himself, will raise the Leviathan, himself, and he is very happy with his decision that he made all by himself. I mean, Dartz has been alive for 10,000 years, and maybe he got bored of immortality.

Dartz could have done this from day 1.

What’s up, Sephiroth? Nice little uh final fantasy thing we’re doing with this lizard’s face. I really can’t unsee these uneven man boobs (like what is that angle?) but it’s fine. Dartz doesn’t need hands or...legs...he’s a dragon now, like he can just bite stuff and fly around and stuff. Can’t be that bad.

But for reals, what is the dragon’s angle here?

what is it gonna DO?

Like after everyone’s dead. Is it just gonna...float around? Fly around outer space? Enjoy the sunrise?

Like what do dragons...DO?

Anyway, I’m sure we’ll never get the answer on why the Leviathan wanted to leave the core of the Earth so stinkin bad, but maybe--just maybe--this season might actually end next episode? Maybe?

Will I actually finish this season in 2020! I might! Y’all I MIGHT!

And for anyone reading these for the first time, here’s a link to read these in chrono order

[hazbincalifornia]

Shirt

Chapter 17:  The morning after chapter 16′s snuggle-times.

Likes, replies, and reblogs are all appreciated, both here and on ao3!

Warnings: Mpreg, mentions of masturbation but nothing descriptive

Ao3 link

The alarm blared some terrible pop-punk abomination with too many synthesizers as Blitzo groaned, fumbling around some fuzzy thing to slam his fist into the clock and feeling more than hearing it crack. Damned cheap plastic. He stretched with a yawn, smacking his lips before realizing that there was a feather stuck to his tongue.

“Gah!” He jolted back upon realizing that Stolas was laying on his bed, eyes open and the edges of his beak curled in a bemused expression.

“Good morning.”

“Nearly gave me a-” Blitzo cleared his throat before taking a deep breath. “Right. Why are you still here?”

“You called me over, remember?” Stolas lazily reached over to the bedside table, plucking up his phone and waving it. “You wanted help sleeping, and I helped. You were snoozing like a baby when I woke up a bit ago, all snuggled against me like a little stuffed toy…”

Blitzo’s tail curled idly around the pillow, lifting it up so he could pick fluff out of the tear in the side. “Right. Well, whatever it was, it worked. I at least stayed asleep until the alarm went off- aaaaaand you’re touching me again.”

Stolas’s hands had found their way to Blitzo’s gut, fingers pressing the fabric down so it contoured more obviously around the baby bump. “It’s just… oh, I’m so excited! It will be wonderful getting to see another child grow up, and seeing you playing with them! You seem fond of treating your hellhound above her station, aren’t you? You’ll do well with a normal child too!”

“‘Uh… huh.” Blitzo said, only half-listening and trying not to drift off again as Stolas massaged his fingers over the sensitive skin. Stolas didn’t seem to notice the pause, and Blitzo’s middle glowed red and warm as he started using magic. “Hey, don’t mutate them in there, I’m counting on them not ripping straight out from under my abs.”

“I’m just checking on them… I can’t tell any specifics, but they seem to be healthy enough, and I think I can sense a long tail. No telling what kind it would be, though, so that doesn’t tell us much considering we both have one, does it?” He gave a little hooty laugh before glancing over at the now-cracked clock. “I must be going, there’s plenty to do- Stella is going on a vacation soon, and we need to have things settled back at the mansion before she does.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Blitzo waved a hand, brushing feathers off his shirt. “Go ahead, do whatever boring rich-boy shit you normally do when you aren’t calling me up.”

“I’ll be seeing you soon,” Stolas said, pecking a kiss on Blitzo’s forehead before he pulled his shirt off.

“Uh, you leaving typically means you’ll be getting less naked, not more,” Blitzo pointed out. Stolas simply hummed as he rummaged around in his duffel bag, extracting a neatly-folded collared shirt that looked far fancier than the one he’d slept over in.

“Those were my casual clothes, silly. I didn’t want to get anything important dirty. Shouldn’t you be getting dressed as well? I assume you have things to do yourself.”

“Of course I do!” Blitzo hurried over to his closet, pulling his own shirt over his head. Stolas whistled as the now-bare muscles flexed, and Blitzo rummaged through his closet. “While you’re here, I need some cash for new clothes. You saw how I ran out of shit the other day, and I can’t work when everything’s suddenly a crop top. I mean, I could rock it if I did some crafting to make them look like that on purpose, but you get my drift.”

“I might have some in here, I wasn’t sure if I would need any on the ride home,” Stolas replied, unzipping one side and pulling out a seed packet and a small book. A second pocket contained a condom and a pair of scissors, but the third had a small wad of cash. “Would this be enough?”

“Probably. I haven’t outgrown all of my pants yet, I mostly need shirts,” Blitzo said as Stolas set the money down on the bedside table after extracting a few bills. “Do you just carry around giant hunks of dough like that?”

“I’ve needed it a few times, and it pays to be prepared.” Stolas shrugged. “Anyway, I must be off. Good luck at work.”

“You too,” Blitzo said, resigning himself to just sitting back behind his desk for the briefing and picking something that matched his skin so it wouldn’t be as obvious. M&M wouldn't make jokes if they knew what was good for them.

By the time he turned around, Stolas had disappeared along with his duffel bag, but he’d left his shirt behind. Maybe he was just used to servants picking up after him, ugh. Well, Blitzo wasn’t going to deal with that right now. It looked soft, though, and he idly rubbed his fingers over the fabric, wishing he had something similar in his size. It felt just as nice as it had last night. Smelled nice too- waitwhatwhywashesmellingit?

The imp only realized he was sniffing the shirt when it was pressed up against his face. He balled it up and chucked it across the room, groaning as he pressed his legs together to hide a rising problem. Fuck. This was a problem for later-Blitzo, he had to be at work in half an hour. He could just jerk off when he got there. The chair was a better angle for it anyway.

The TV was on when Blitzo made his way to the kitchen- some commercial about a new erotica store down the street. Loona was on her phone and halfway through a cup of coffee, and Blitzo glared at her for daring to be able to consume as much caffeine as she wanted before filling a cup with cold water and splashing it directly on his face.

“Have fun?”

“We just fell asleep. He didn’t try any shit, at least,” Blitzo said, grabbing a toaster pastry and popping it into the toaster.

“Huh.” She shrugged, going back to her phone, and Blitzo resisted the urge to grind his thighs together.

It was going to be a very long day.

__________________

“And then, and then Tommy got into a fight with Anna, and I couldn’t let that stand-”

Geez, the bitch never shut up, did she? Blitzo’s fingertips drummed on his desk as he watched the client pace around in circles. Her head looked like a megaphone, and satan, her voice was blaring out like one. The story probably would have been entertaining any other day- it had involved cooking meth and moonshine, a police raid, two trips to the psych ward, and the CPS getting involved- but her voice was a lot more annoying in person than it had been over texts. It had a deep accent, but he couldn’t tell exactly where it was from.

(Plus she’d already been waiting when he arrived, so he hadn’t been able to rub one out, and it was warm as fuck in there because the A/C must have broken again, sweat dripping down his back and making his underwear stick directly to his ass.)

“Anyway, I need you to take out Tommy, Kate, and Elodie Jenkins, and then Alex, Alex Jr, Sloth, and Amy Brigby. Do not kill the kids, but if little Joey in particular gets caught in the crossfire I can’t say I’ll be up crying about it.” She turned and Blitzo jolted back to attention- his elbows had settled on the desk, chin in his hands. “Hey, were you even listening to me?”

“What? Sure, sure, you want us knocking off Tommy and Katie and Ellie and the Alexes and… Sluth? The hell kind of name is that?”

Her hands curled into fists, and she stomped her foot hard enough to rattle the bobbleheads on his desk. “Sloth! It was a nickname- are you gonna take the job or not?”

“We’ll take it, just write them down with descriptions. When there’s multiple targets, especially when they’re close to each other, we want to make sure we don’t take the wrong ones,” Blitzo said, tossing over a notepad and pen. She narrowed her eyes at him before scribbling them down.

“There.”

“Works for me. We’ll get right on it, then.”

She stuck out her hand to shake, and Blitzo rolled his eyes before standing up to lean over the desk. Her eyes darted down and he reached for her, squeezing the fingers hard enough to hear a crack.

“Ow! What the fuck, asshole?”

“I said, we’ll get right on it.”

“Are you- you’re a skinny bitch, what’s with the gut? You an alcoholic or something?”

Blitzo had to resist the urge to see if the button on her neck could actually switch her voice off. “Is that any of your goddamn business?” He shot back.

“It is if it keeps you from carrying out the hit for me!” She snapped her hand away, and Blitzo snarled.

“It won’t. We can still all perform our jobs just fine, and we’ll bring back their heads on a pike if you want, got it?” His lip curled up. “And I’m not fat!”

“No need to be so moody about it. I’ve got the cash, just tell me they’re dead. I wanna sock Sloth a good one when he ends up down here.”

“I’m not moody either.”

“Just do the fucking job and you'll get your money, I didn't think this would be so hard." She rubbed her hand on the way out and gave a growl that doubled over on itself with static-y feedback. When the door clicked shut, Blitzo collapsed back into his chair, scrubbing at his warm cheeks.

He needed a drink, but was going to have to satisfy himself with a leftover doughnut stuffed in his horse-toy drawer. Joy. At least he’d have fifteen minutes to jerk off before his other employees got here- right now, he'd take what he could get as a feather fluttered down from his shirt when he stuffed a hand down his pants.

[princessjae92]

What if Kai Parker wasn't the sociopathic monster we, and he, have come to believe? What if all those years of isolation scrabbled his pretty little head with truth and fiction? A fiction he tricked everyone with(including himself) for one reason... because he loved his family.

He watched them come into the world, one after the other and though he wasn't allowed to hold them, play tag with them, he loved them.

His brother Joey became his confidont, his friend, even after years of differences somehow the ugly truth pushed the two brothers together.

They always new the merge was going to be a hard moment, but to discover that not only did they plan on Kai and Jo not merging at all (you know just incase the abomination didn't die) the only reason the rest of them existed was to replace the eldest twins; placeholders, spares.

It kind of broke Kai, he always new his father detested the mere fact he was born a Syphon, but he worked so hard, studied and trained (as much as he could without his own magic), he tried damn it!

He tried so hard.

Even after he'd smashed up his father's office in a fit of rage, he still huddled and almost begged for some sort of understanding, some sliver that proved his father loved him.

He didn't find it.

Then there's Joey.

Kid didn't know what hit him; 16 years old and he was nothing, he was a throwaway.

It felt heavy and hard in his chest.

He hated them.

So they came up with a plan, they were going to get the fuck out of this messed up family. One way or another.

Telling the younger ones was too dangerous, kids can be shitty liars, and they knew Jo could never find out.

Geminis perfect Glinda?

Yeah, no.

It was scary, actually it was fucking terrifying and Kai couldn't stop shaking, making the knife in his hand rattle against his rings.

Joey got it all ready, the spells they'd spent nearly two years perfecting. It was time.

Dad was gathering the outer sectors for the merge, to convince the rest of the coven to suspend his children's birthright.

The boy's knew, took to keeping a close eye on the old man's mail, especially coven business.

Kai was almost paranoid in the belief that their father would sent them a letter to sanction his death.

His nerves had been building all week, he knew what he had to do.

Joey was just about to head into the twins room, the worn spells he spilt soda on and the elixir it took more than a year to get right in hand, when he heard the car tires against the dirt road.

She wasn't supposed to be home, those were the rules, the night before was for preparation and acceptance, they couldn't damn well do all that in the same house. She'd been sent to an elder by their father, after all every advantage is always an advantage, he'd told them.

She'd screamed so loud when she saw what she believed with pained horror to be truth.

Her siblings torn open and displayed tauntingly.

Kai rushed the stairs as her keys scratched against the outer door, meeting Joey in the hall just in time for their sisters heart piercing scream.

They were so close.

The spells were proving their worth, that's for damn sure.

Each sibling resting comfortably in a dreamless coma-like-sleep. Unaware of the glamour spell that keeps their would be corpses from the effects of Kai's unsteady hand. He'd been nervous about that, that's why he'd wanted the preservation spell, just incase he slipped, he dropped them, he just wanted them safe.

When Josette raced up the stairs, screeching ceriius names into the dark Kai turned to her.

He couldn't tear his eyes from her face, he just couldn't, the widening eyes they shared staring in nothing less than shock, perhaps a little sadness.

Then he felt her buckle, that's the moment he acknowledged the growing stain on his sisters shirt.

He saw the blood, real blood. Because he'd fucking stabbed her, he screamed and shook her as she fell to floor.

Joey had to drag his temperamental brother back through the hall, perhaps that why Joesette never saw him, or perhaps hit has to do with her 'deranged' brother screaming that it was fault, that she shouldn't have come back...

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO COME FUCKING HOME?!"

***************************

Hi guys, this was going to be a paragraph, 'I had an idea' thing. Obviously I got a little carried away. Anyway hope you don't hate it, much love.

[ayma-nidiot]

“Don’t Speak Their Names”- Shrimpshipping fic Chapter 12

This chapter on AO3 can be found here.

Chapter 12 - Parental Lecture

“We sure have been finding ourselves here a lot, haven’t we?” Rex spoke as he sipped on decaf coffee.

“Should you even be drinking that, dino brain?”

“What do you mean?” Dr. Saurus asked.

That’s none of your- Rex wouldn’t have to complete his thought, as the “Dweeb Patrol” all came in at once.

“Ugh, you just jinxed it,” Amber whined.

“Hey, the pretty lady’s back!”

Duke chuckled, that was until Joey stepped on his foot. “Don’t you ever learn?” Joey talked to Amber more amiably. “I’m sorry, Amber. Please don’t leave.”

“...” Amber looked away from this group that joined her.

“Long time, no see.”

Rex couldn’t look at Mai when she spoke to him, not after remembering what her last words to him were. “Y-Yeah.”

“I haven’t been seeing you around lately,” Joey noted. “What have you been up to?”

“Oh, uh…” Rex wasn’t ready to let his “friends” know about his… condition. “You know, just dueling!”

“Very quietly, apparently,” spoke Tristan. “There was a tournament just last month in Domino City. I was surprised that neither you nor Weevil entered. Even though Amber won it fairly easily.”

“Hah, hah, hah…”

Joey could tell that Rex was running out of excuses. “Rex, you can tell us. What is the real reason you were AWOL?”

Luckily - or rather, not so luckily - an extremely angry phone call from Ptera would answer that question. “Rex Raptor! Where are you, young man?”

“I’m just at the café with friends. What’s the big deal?”

Ptera’s voice was so loud that everyone at the table could hear her, even without speaker. “For goodness’ sake, Rex, you’re pregnant! You need to rest! Come back here right now!”

“Sigh… Yes, Mom.”

When Rex hung up his phone, an awkward silence lingered in the air. Joey was the first one to break that silence. “What on Earth was that about?”

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.” Rex arose from the table slowly and showed everyone his baby bump.

“It can’t be… But how?” Tristan asked.

“Hmm, how can I simplify it for you dweebs? I had sex with this guy ,” Rex pointed to Weevil, “and thanks to the fact that I magically have a uterus, I am now four months pregnant. And if you’re wondering where I was, I was puking my guts out so badly that I had to be in the hospital for the past two months.

“I’m sorry, Rex…” Mai apologized. “It’s all my fault. If I didn’t give you that sex advice, you wouldn’t be this way.”

“Oh no, don’t worry your pretty head about it.” Rex patted his baby bump. “Truth be told, I can’t wait to be a fa- er, mother. Or whatever you want to call me.”

“And I’m sure you can’t wait to face your Mom’s wrath,” Weevil spoke as he checked the notification on his phone; it was a text from Roach. “I know I can’t wait to talk to Father when I get home.”

“Then I guess this is goodbye for now,” spoke Joey as Rex and Weevil laid some money on the table. “Let me know when your baby shower is so I can get your bundle of joy a little something.”

“Y-You got it, man…” After he parted with Weevil with a kiss, Rex began his way back home. “A baby shower, huh? I’ve got a lot more to plan for than I thought.”

While Ptera read the Riot Act to her son, Weevil was about to receive his own parental lecture. He stalled for as long as he could get away with before actually walking in the direction of his house. He ignored the greetings of Adelaide and all the other maids and butlers, and 

headed straight for Roach’s office. “...Father.”

“...Son.” After noticing that Weevil wouldn’t sit down, Roach continued, “You have a lot of audacity to be heading to town so often when you couldn’t even earn the top spot at high school.”

“...” Weevil glared at his father without saying a word.

“Don’t look at me like that! You have a lot to make up for! If you want me to accept you as my son, then you need to study so you can graduate from college magna cum laude!”

“...Who said that I wanted - or needed - your approval?” Weevil began to talk back for the first time.

“Excuse me?”

“All you ever do is treat me like I’m some perfect little plaything! At least Rex treats me like a human being. Actually, he treats me as more than that. He’s the one person I adore more than anything else in the world. And now that he bears my child, I have all the more reason to be with him.”

“What… did… you… just… say?”

“That’s right! Rex Raptor, that poor kid you hate so much, is pregnant with your grandchild!”

“Is that what you’re telling yourself?”

“What?”

“So you think you’re normal, huh? That you can marry another man and have kids with him like you’re not an abomination?”

“Father!”

Roach sharply arose from his seat. “Get out of my house right now, you faggot! You are no son of mine!”

“I’ve actually been waiting for this day for a long time.” Weevil smirked. “Unfortunately for you, I’ve already packed as much money and as many of my belongings as I could into one bag. So yeah, I’ll get out of your house right now, Roach. ”

Before Roach could say, “stop this instant,” Weevil had already raced for his now-old room, and began wheeling his giant suitcase out of the house. He had made it about halfway to Rex’s house when he realized he was being followed. Knowing immediately who it was, Weevil stopped in his tracks. “Adelaide, you bloody fool. You didn’t have to run away too.”

“I couldn’t bear to work for that snake anymore.” Adelaide had only a small handbag with a few clothes, a cheap phone, her Duel Disk, and ¥10000. “But more than that, I couldn’t bear to see him torture you so, Master Weevil.”

“Adelaide…” Weevil’s voice shook. “You’ve already taught me how to duel, and have taken care of me when Roach would not… Honestly, you’re doing too much.”

“I’d say I’m not doing enough. Ever since I moved into the Underwood household, you’re the only one who’s treated me with kindness… The only one whom I could call a friend.”

“S-Stop!” Weevil had begun to cry, even as his trusted maid hugged him. “You’re making me all sappy!”

“There is only one problem… Where will we go now?”

“I know just the place.”

_______

Rex looked up at the door when he heard a knock on it, but did not get up from his comfy supine position on the living room couch. “Mom, can you get that? I’m too busy studying and being pregnant on the couch.”

“Oh, so now you acknowledge you need rest.” Ptera’s smile dropped when she saw Weevil and Adelaide at her door. “Weevil!”

“Weevil? He’s here?” Now Rex wanted to get up, and he urged his boyfriend in the house. “Baby, what are you doing here? And with a big-ass suitcase, no less?”

“I’m not on speaking terms with Roach anymore. If it wasn’t obvious already, I’ve run away from home. I want to live here with you.”

Tricera came to the living room to see what all the commotion was about. “Weevil, honey, you’re more than welcome to stay here. We’ll even get you a job at the restaurant, if you want.”

“Thank you. I’ll probably take you up on that offer.”

Adelaide was still very confused about the situation, and felt left out. “Master Weevil, I can take your suitcase to your new room, if you would like.”

“Oh? And who might you be?” Rex asked.

“This is my maid and friend, Adelaide Windsor,” Weevil answered. “Adelaide, this is my boyfriend, Rex Raptor, who is also the mother of my unborn child. These two amazing ladies are his parents, Ptera and Tricera Raptor.”

Adelaide stared at these strangers absentmindedly before speaking. “I-I’m sorry! It’s just, I’ve never met people like you before. But if you have been kind to Master Weevil all these years, then you’re friends of mine.”

“Huh.” This new resident of the Raptor household piqued Rex’s interest. “I don’t suppose you know how to duel?”

In response, Adelaide took out her Duel Disk, and for a split second her demeanour did a complete 180º. “Young man, I’ve been dueling for almost as long as you’ve been alive. In fact, it was I that taught Master Weevil how to duel.”

“Sweet! I’ll show you what my duelin’ dinos are made of!””

“The only thing you’ll be showing anyone is how smart you are.” Ptera put her son’s duelin arm down.

“Yeah, yeah.” Rex returned to the couch and opened his laptop - a fancy one he received as a birthday gift from Weevil last year.

After she had put Weevil’s suitcase in Rex’s room, and the bug duelist had sat down to watch T.V., Adelaide turned to Rex. “Master Rex, is there anything you would like me to cook for you?”

“Takoyaki with chocolate syrup!” Rex held a thumbs up without looking up.

“You got it!” Adelaide noticed the mountain of dishes in the kitchen sink. “If you like, Madame Ptera, I can wash those for you after we’re done with dinner.”

“You’re too kind!” Ptera lightly hit Adelaide on the shoulder. “Oh, and just call me ‘Ptera.’”

“But if you’re letting me stay here, the least I could do is serve you, just as I’ve served Master Weevil.”

“Would you like a job at our family restaurant too?” Tricera called all the way from the loo.

“Could I? That way, I can actually pay rent.” Adelaide interrupted Ptera before she could say anything. “I insist on it, just like I insist on how I address you.”

Weevil smiled as he took a seat next to Rex on the couch. “This… I could get used to this.” He let his hand linger on Rex’s baby bump. “Finally, I can have a real family life. And now, I can help take care of not only the man I love, but also my child.”

[bendywackyadventures]

The Ink Demonth Day 17-Under Appreciated

When I saw this I admittedly thought of Wally and I needed no want to write a ShawnxWally fit because Half, your Abomination comic made me ship these two even more!!

It’s been a few years since Henry left, and to Wally Franks he felt like he lost a friend. Everything was fine for the start, but Joey started becoming weirder and weirder everyday. It wasn’t just Joey’s behavior; everyone else started acting weird, not a happy face in the studio. There would be days he would be yelled at, scolded, and even pushed away when he asked if they needed help.

Sammy was mainly the guy who would scold and yell at Wally almost everyday. It would go from, “Wally you left your keys again, you dolt!” or “When will you ever grow up Wally. This is a place of business not a playground.” The janitor would feel down and really just want to get outta here like Henry and a few other workers. Though he knew if he left he may never find a job that would pay him well as Joey does.

“WALLY!” A familiar voice yelled. Wally jumped escaping his thoughts and turned to see the music director facing him with a glare. Wally gulped knowing what Sammy could be upset at him for, in this case just about anything that pisses off the music director off.

Wally gave a nervous smile as Sammy loomed over the young janitor. “H-Hi Sammy.  How’s everything over in music department?” He asked hoping Sammy could forget about why he’s mad, which was unlikely.

“Not. So. Well.” Sammy growled spitting every word making the janitor sink low. “First of all a pipe blew up in the performance room and all the instruments are covered in ink! Joey won’t be able to pay for damages, and if he did I WON’T GET PAID!” He yelled.

“I-Its not my fault! The pipes are jacked up because of this place!” Wally snapped back.

“And who is in charge of the jacked up pipes?” Sammy replied. Wally opened his mouth ready to say Thomas’s name, but stopped when he remembered a few months ago he had to help Thomas with the pipes after a Gent worker named Eddie mysteriously stopped showing up to work.

Wally sighed. “Thomas Conner and I.” He groaned.

“And because I know Thomas is mature and knows what he’s doing. You take the fault for today’s inky problem along with early this morning’s mess over at the Bendyland department.” Sammy explained before putting Wally’s hat down.

Wally glared picking up his hat. “Hey those are the workers from your department! You tell them not making a mess in the carnival!” He yelled. Sammy ignored Wally’s complaint and walked off to his office. Wally frowned and went over to the recording booth to clean up the mess. Once he saw the mess, Wally groaned knowing this will take him till five minutes after lunch was over.

After he got done cleaning, and missing out on lunch Wally stayed in the Heavenly Toys to be alone sitting on a giant Boris plush not facing anyone. He didn’t want to do work after the clean up he did today, and rather rest and relax before heading home, even if he get scolded and in trouble with Joey or Sammy, he didn’t care he just wants to rest.

“Wally?” Wally looked up to see the toymaker, Shawn Flynn looking concerned for his friend. Wally was happy; delighted even that Shawn didn’t change and was still kind to him despite all this.

“Hi Shawn. What are you doing here?” Wally asked.

Shawn rubbed the back of his head. “Just check’n up on ya.” He replied. Shawn sat next to the big Bendy plush. Wally glanced at his friend, before just turning away. Shawn frowned and thought for a second what to do to cheer his friend up. He didn’t want to talk about his day; he knew it was everyone not appreciating the work Wally does around here.

Wally didn’t like the silence lingering around the two and faced his friend. “Has anyone under appreciated you with your work?” Wally asked. Shawn nodded, just yesterday Shawn and a few co-workers thought it would be funny to give the Bendy plush some silly faces and gave them to Joey. It only ended up with Joey cutting their pay, and throwing the plushes into an incinerator

“Did you hear what Mr. Drew did with the gag plushies we made?” Shawn asked raising an eyebrow. Wally gave a slight chuckle and nodded. “I can’t believe my pay is cut.” He whined.

“Sorry that happened. I guess everything’s been different since Joey mentioned his big changes. Everyone is being angry, yelling at me and not appreciating me.” Wally stood up and paced around as he continued to ramble. “Miss. Campbell used to smile and talk to me, now she avoids me. Sammy yells at me like there’s no tomorrow, and Tommy treats me like a little kid. You, Mr. Piedmont, Miss. Benton, and sometimes Grant are the only ones nice to me. Everyone else treats me like I’m a kid.” Wally sighed.

Shawn stood up and put his hand on Wally’s shoulder. The janitor looked at Shawn’s hand and up at his friend. “Wally Franks. You are not a childish kid. You’re you.” He reassured. Wally tilted his head not sure what his friend meant. “I mean, you love making jokes and being silly, right?” Wally nodded. “Then don’t give up or let anyone put you down for who you are. Your Wally Franks. The man who says I’m outta here, but never leaves or gives up.” Shawn exclaimed.

Wally blushed giving a chuckle and glancing away from his crush. “Thanks Shawn. That’s the nicest thing anyone said to me.” Wally hugged Shawn tightly. The later was surprised blushing as well before hugging his friend tight and rubbed his back. Wally started feeling better and hugged his friend tighter before they let go.

“So you want to join Grant, Lacie and I are drinks tonight?” Shawn asked getting up.

“I would love that.” Wally replied with a smile. Shawn took Wally’s hand and took him to the toy factory so he can stay there till work was over.

[paimaniagalaxia]

PATIM: Carnival Break

Written: @paimania​ and @jordanthecat11​

Bendy and the Ink Machine © theMeatly/Joey Drew Studios

Word count: 2,220

Characters: Pai(Skye Stein/Paige Drew)/The Ink Demon/Boris/’Alice Angel’

Summary: Pai decides to take a break from the loop that she is stuck in. During Chapter 3, she summons the Ink Demon to have some carnival fun. She, him, and along with Boris travel down and bond with one another. Just having a wonderful time.

Traversing through these halls was just mind looping, well being in a LITERAL LOOP, for Pai. Thy young protagonist of this ever changing story by the hands of the creator (that traitor). As much as she wanted to follow along with the tale and do the errands she had to finish for the angel-- The girl needed a break. Lucky, she was in a section in Heavenly Toys that lurked a certain demon. 

The Ink Demon. Since Pai was on the part where she was cutting down the cutouts, with her axe in hand she whacks one of them down but doesn't go into a miracle station once the demon's ink starts to coat the main entrance of Heavenly Toys. She wanted to see him, and this was the only option that came into her scattered mind.

The moment the last cutout was smashed, a black swirling portal appears from the top of the stairs.  It would always set him off, as he enjoyed looking at the little cartoon cutouts of himself.  But after going through so many loops, eventually becoming aware of them, he notices a pattern.

This was the work of that blasted angel, who would always send out her little ‘errand girl’ to do her bidding.  Fortunately, though, he knew that girl and found her to be quite interesting.  The moment he saw her, his smile grew genuinely wider and he proceeded to run down the stairs to her, only to slip and fall on his butt like the little devil himself.

Honestly, she would of been quite terrified of the demon but after each cycle-- She could understand they were stuck here together for a long time. Pai was basically one herself once she gets insane enough, but that was always used as a last resort. 

She stifles her laugh once the mighty Ink Demon came tumbling on his bum down the stairs. Just like the dancing demon himself like in the cartoon reels. The errand girl walks over and holds out her inked claw hand to him. Hoping he would take it. 

"Need some help little guy?"

The Ink Demon groaned in pain, rubbing his backside to ease it. Then he looks up, noticing the girl holding out her hand. He understood it as her wanting to help him, so he nods and takes it with his gloved hand.

Pai gives a warm smile as she felt his hand take hers. Cold, but soft since it was his gloved one. She backs up, helping the demon get up onto his feet and lets go gently.

"There we go, tall and proud. Sorry I had to bust one of your cut outs... Mind stuck in the loop too." She jokes playfully.

The Ink Demon pulls himself up once the girl backs up to lift him off the ground.  He stands up tall with his hands on his hips, posing like a superhero.

“Eh,” he shrugs off with his hand, knowing Pai wasn’t at fault for destroying the cutouts, as proven many times they’ve encountered each other in the loop.  Even if it was annoying, he wasn’t going to blame her for it.

Seems like he has grown numb and didn't care about the cutouts as he used to. Pai figured that she apologized since 'Alice' might not like them interacting like this. She already didn't like her very much anyways, this would just add fuel to the fire.

Pai gives a small laugh, seeing the ink demon pose like a hero before giving her request. 

"Say, since the elevator hasn't been tampered by that angel yet... Would you like to join me in some carnival games with Boris and I?" She asks, knowing that Boris was still waiting for her in the elevator.

“Ooooo...” the demon says before nodding yes.  “Let’s play!  Let’s play!”  He takes Pai by the hand, pulling her gently as the two run over to the elevator to meet Boris.  When they get there, Bendy waves hello to the cartoon wolf in a friendly manner.

----

Meanwhile, Boris was used to being things done in the loop, knowing his fate and all too well. so, when he saw the Ink Demon come over with Pai, he quickly waves his hands outward. Crossing them in an X shape in a repeated manor. Saying this was a 'bad idea'.

"Oh come on Boris, we are just going to have some fun..." Pai reassures him and leads The Ink Demon in carefully so that he would fit inside the elevator."

“Yeah, fun!” The demon said as he ducked his way inside the elevator, being careful not to hit the top bar.  

As soon as he was in, he pushed the button to their destination, whistling a merry tune as they made their way down.  It was the theme to the Little Devil’s cartoons, which he enjoyed so much after seeing them over and over again. His favorite pastime. And hopefully one that he could share with Pai, too, before they have to go back to the loop again.

Boris just shook his head, it seems the Demon was harmless enough in this loop around again. So a bit of a break shouldn't be too bad, terrified to be this close to him, but harmless. He looks over at Pai to see her smiling over at The Ink Demon, and was kind of happy to see her happy for once. She always seem so tired and angry going through this chapter before going after him. It was a nice change of pace, so why not join in.

"So, Mister Ink Monster. You can talk?" Boris replies in a semi-Russian like accent.

The Ink Demon looked over at Boris, surprised to hear him talk.  He knew he didn’t talk as much when he was around him, but it felt nice to hear him all the same.

“Eh...sometimes,” the Ink Demon replies reluctantly.  “Some words...not all.”

"Oh... I understand." Boris replies back. "You have to keep up with that whole monster thing... Or Joey didn't give you that gift."

"Don't talk about Drew..." Pai sneers a bit, as she hated hearing that name.

Even the Ink Demon growled when hearing Boris mention Joey Drew.  The man who made him what he is and resented him. Called him a ‘weird abomination’ and threatened to keep him locked up, all because he wandered down the halls and looked over people’s shoulders.  

His fists curled up into balls, as the memory of him left him angry, but he was trying to hold back on blowing a fuse for his friend’s sake.

“Almost there?” He asked, gritting his teeth.

For Pai, she couldn't recall much. There was just that deep hate for him, and every time she goes into his apartment. Telling her, "Oh, you're back. So wonderful to see you my little girl. I'm sure you are having a wonderful time, make sure to smile and keep pushing through. I know you can do it." was all he said and pushes her back in. 

And there was nothing she could say or do, since her mind goes blank for some reason and just remembers that part before the loop starts again.

"Oh y-yes... We are reaching the bottom of the studio now..." Boris stutters. Now he felt even more terrified, he was in an elevator with TWO in demons.

As soon as the elevator stops and opens its doors, the Demon steps out first, then makes way for his friends, examining the place they landed.  Seemed a bit empty, but they did have a long way to go before reaching the carnival warehouse.

“Portal?” He asked, in case the others didn’t want to travel as much by foot.

"A portal does sound like a good idea." Pai agrees with the demon.

"You sure I won't form back into an ink puddle. I am kind of needed to be that 'brute boris' character... Don't want to be imperfect you know." Boris counters a bit nervous.

“No, no,” The Ink Demon replies, insisting that they’ll both be safe as long as he’s with them in the portal.  He summons enough ink to create a swirling whirlpool, then grabs both of his friends by the hands.  

“Hang on.”  Within seconds, he brings them to the portal, stepping through flawlessly into the giant warehouse of carnival games.  “Here we are!”

Pai and Boris hold onto The Ink Demon's hands as they enter into the portal. Boris was relieved to make it out in one piece, but looks over at Pai. just in case if anything happened to her. 

Luckily, nothing did and she was just as normal as she was before and sighs relieved.

"Thanks Inky!" Pai nicknames The Ink Demon and admires what the small carnival warehouse have. Sure, it wasn't her favorite chapter to be in, but knew The Ink Demon had one big part in it, scary but was there and gone.

"Oh, you gave him a name? Now you're going to get attached to him. Please you don't like that name there Mister Ink Demon...?" Boris looks over at The Ink Demon.

The Ink Demon blushes and giggles when he hears her call him that name.  It was cute.  And he didn’t mind it one bit.

“So...what now?” He asked, looking around at all these games.  They all looked like so much fun.  He didn’t know where to start.

"Oh, he likes it... Figures..." Boris groans a bit and follows the two down to the carnival games. He leans up against one of the shelves, keeping and eye on Pai and 'Inky'.

"Hmmm... Maybe we should try the milk bottle game!" Pai suggests as she picks up the baseball, ready to toss it at the milk bottles.

“Oooo!” The Ink Demon says in awe before clapping his hands together joyfully.  This was going to be a fun game, he could tell.  He steps aside so that Pai can take her turn first before going next.

Pai closes one eye and rears her arm back. She knew she was not the best shot at aiming, hence why she never tries to get the Tommy gun and more so she was prone to violence. With one quick keen eye, she chucks the ball at the milk bottles and well-- Misses. 

"Damn!"

The Ink Demon was surprised to hear such a word come out of Pai’s mouth.  It felt very strong and powerful.  But he could tell that Pai wasn’t too happy that she missed.  So he decided to step him, pointing to the ball asking if he could give it a try for her.

"Oh sure thing." Pai replies more calmly. Last thing she wanted was to have an anger episode and turn into a full on Ink Demon in front of 'Inky'. She hands him over the ball and steps back to give him some room.

“Thank you,” Inky says as he takes the ball.  He steadies himself, with one leg forward and the other one back.  Then, he swings his arm around until he lets go of the ball, sending it flying until it hits the inner wall and then over to Boris, almost hitting him.

“Damn!” He curses, snapping his fingers.

"BENDY!" Boris yells out as he was glad he didn't get hit. Luckily, he ducked once he saw the ball come careening towards him. He was more mad about the 'bad word' he said then after. "Don't you DARE say that word! That's a bad word!!"

"Did... Did you just call him 'Bendy'...?" Pai tilts her head confused, as she didn't mind Inky saying 'damn'. Since herself didn't see that as a 'bad word'.

“What?” Inky shrugged, pointing over to Pai that she had said it first.  He didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. 

 Then he turns to her.  

“Yes...me Bendy,” he confirmed, pointing over to his untouched cutout, thinking that’s who he really was.

Honestly, he really wasn't sadly. As much as to her dismay, she felt that he was more than just the little toon devil on the silver screen, but has been integrated to be innocent but prone to violence. Kind of like her. As much as she wanted to crush his little dream of being the 'real dancing demon', she didn't. Pai wasn't like Drew and would never be like him. She sighs and walks over, places a hand onto his arm. Giving the demon a soft smile.

"Yes, you are Bendy. You are the dancing demon everyone loves to be. Who can sing and dance,that is known around the world from here to France... You are him." Pai reassures him.

The demon smiled when she said that, leaning down to give her a rub on the head.  “And you are Pai...my friend,” he replied back to her.  “And he is Boris.  Both of you...friends.”

"Yes... I am Pai." she smiles happily, adoring that name a bit more. She looks over at Boris, to see him smile a bit as well.

"Yeah, we are good friends." Boris agrees with a smile.

Though meanwhile, from above the carnival grounds was that very 'angel'. Lurking in the shadows at the three 'so-called' friends. Even though they had this short break-- It wouldn't last. The loop must continue on, for soon she will be perfect again.

[zelink-nalu]

Not a monster part 1

A/N: So this takes place about 2 years after Inky's "Birth" and this is basically how Tom actually realised that Inky wasn't really a monster and was actually harmless.

Also... WOW! Would ya look at that! I made fic this time! I'm also going to ask you to be gentle with me because it's the first time that I'm making a story, and since I'm already bad at writting in French, this bound to be not very good.

Now... Enough with that and let's get on with that story, shall we?

_______________________________________________

???'s POV.

Why... Why did they do this to me?

I don't understand... Did I do something wrong?

Whatever I did, I promise I won't do this again!

So please... Someone... Anyone... Please, let me out of here...

It hurts... It hurts so much.

Thomas' POV.

'Why am I the one who has to do this?' Tom asked himself for what felt like the thosandth time.

Earlier, while he was fixing a broken pipe with Wally, one of his coworkers from Gent came to him and told him that Mr. Drew needed him for something important. 'What does that man want from me?' the head mechanic thought. So he went to the boss' office to know what did he want.

"Alright Mr. Drew, what is it that you need me for?" Tom asked.

"I want you to go dow to the Main Ink Machine and visit that abomination you and the other gus at Gent create. Don't worry! I made sure that it can't harm anyone!" he quickly added when he noticed the other man's worried face. "But I still want you to check if it hasn't tried to escape and pour this on it and it's chains." Joey handed him a bottle full of a strange liquid.

"What's it for?" he asked, not really sure if he even wanted to know the answer.

"It's a 'warning'. It's too make that demon doesn't get any idea of trying to escape. I made it myself! It's a mixtur-" he stopped listening after that.

Now he was at the massive entrance of the machine. His heart was pounding from the fear and aprehansion he was feeling. He hesitated for a moment and looked through the glass at the sides of the door. He saw the ink making the silhouette of the studio's main star in one of them. The silhouette was perfectly on-model.

He took a deep breath then turned back to the door. His hand was hovering over the lever that would open the door of the demon's prison. "Don't worry! I made sure that it can't harm anyone!" Joey's words kept playing in his head like a broken record player and he couldn't help wondering, how exactly did his colleages manage that. I mean last time he checked, that creature was about 8 feet tall (maybe even taller), clawed hands and  had huge strong looking black wings with claws at each!

After a few seconds of hesitation, he finally decided to pull the lever, his curiosity getting the best of him, and entered the big room but stopped imediately in his track at what he saw.

"Don't worry! I made sure that it can't harm anyone!"

Yeah... No shit...

Now he understood how they managed to keep it at bay. The demon was pratically surrounded by chains! It was forced to sit on a throne-like chair by chains going through its shoulders, hands and feet(or are they hooves?). There were chains going around him and the chair, keeping the wings tightly folded behind it. The thing only that could move was the demon's spaded tail.

But the worst part was the shackle around its neck.

Several small bars penetrated its neck to keep the shackle in place. Tom winced at the sight. No wonder why he was hearing a ragged breathing! It must be difficult to breath properly with a blocked airway. It was a miracle the demon could still breath!

While he was approaching, he noticed movement from the creature.

It... It was trembling and flinching, from the pain of its wounds rubbing on the shackles, at the same time.

At first the man thought it because of the pain but when he noticed that the closer he came, the more the slight trembling became a horrible shaking, how it was trying to make itself as small as possible and was just a whimpering, melting, shaking mess, it was easy to see that it was from fear. Even its face showed absolute terror. Which was surprisingly very expressive for being half covered in ink.

Saying that Tom was confused would be a huge understatement. He just couldn't comprehend the fact that the demon in front of him would be afraid of an average man like him. It was clear to him that this creature could tear him to shreds if it wasn't chained. The fact that it seemed afraid of him made it very disturbing too. It meant that it was capable of feeling human emotions, which should not be possible! Hell it shouldn't even exist!

But... It -no he - does... And right now, he was like a terrified child.

'Oh god...' Tom thought when he realised something. 'He is a just a child' The realisation made him sick. This meant that they locked and chained a child. And they did that just because he wasn't perfect.

He looked back at the demon and saw that the trembling and the terrified look lessened,

and was replaced by a curious and maybe concern too. Tom really hopped that the last one was only his imagination. Because he sure as hell didn't deserve that.

The mechanic sighed deeply and was about to rub his face from the exhaustion of the day, 

until he heard a croaked whine. When he looked at where the sound came from he saw that the inky kid was back to shaking horribly.

He then remenmbered the bottle that Joey gave him. When he raised the hand that was gripping the bottle, the demon began shaking and whining more.

'Why is he so terrified of this?' he asked himself. He then tried to remember what Joey said about it. It was something about it being a 'warning' and that he should 'pour it on the demon and on his chains'. He sighed, this didn't answer his question...

His eyes widened when he remembered a part of Joey's explaination he was sure he stopped listening to.

'-it's a mixture of acetone and Holy Water. I found out that, while the acetone unfortunately doesn't kill it, it does seem to affect it! Quite painfully might I add!' he smiled with glee at that. 'And I'm sure don't have to explain the Holy Water.'

Tom felt he was going to throw up. This... This was sick!

He wanted to throw that instrument of torture as far away as possible! But he knew that the sudden movement and noise might scare the poor kid more. Besides, Joey would ask about it if he came back without it. So he decided to do something else.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." he said softly and hopefully reassuringly, while backing away slowly. The demon was loking at him curiously and perplexed but least he calmed down a bit. When the man was satisfied by the distance, he opened the bottle and poured the content on the ground. After all, Drew would expect him to come back with an empty bottle.

Now the demon seemed so surprised that he completely stopped shaking. Tom decided that it was better this way.

He then slowly walked back to the demon trying to be as less intimidating as possible and when the ink creature flinched he stopped and said: "It's okay kid. The bad water is gone now and, like I said earlier, I ain't gonna' hurt you." After a few minutes, he took tentative step and when the demon didn't react, he walked closer until he was a feet away from him and slowly and carefully put his hand on the demon's head, between his horns. The demon leaned to the touch and even purred softly (at least as well as he could with a blocked airway) when Tom began petting him.

"You're just a big cat, ain't ya?" he chuckled. But his warm smile was quickly replaced by a frown. Now that closer he could clearly how his inky skin tried to close the wounds but ended up closing on the shakles. 'This looks painful' he thought. He then noticed that the demon has fallen asleep.

He smiled softly and decided that it was time for him to go. So he picked up the empty bottle and went back to Joey's office. When he entered the office, he had a hard time keeping his composure.

"So... Did you do it?" Joey asked with an unreadable face. Tom knew he couldn't trust his voice to not betray him, so he decided to just put the empty bottle on the table, a bit too harshly. Joey only glanced at it for half a second. Then smiled, looking disturbingly happy, and exclaimed:

"Excellent! This will your other job. Once a week I'll call you to my office and give you another bottle and you'll do the same thing as today. What do you think Tommy?" Again, not trusting his voice, he just shrugged.

"Fantastic! You can go now, you're dismissed." He said while waving the mechanic off dismissively.

When Tom went back upstairs, he was tackled by his worried wife. He hugged her but decided not to tell her the actual Truth when she asked him where he was all this time, so he just told her that Joey needed him for something related to the Ink Machine. She frowned but, thankfully, didn't question it.

Next Week he'll ask the inky demon some questions.

Huh. 'Inky' actually suits him, maybe he should call him that.

_____________________________________________

Whew! Finally done with the first part of this story!

Hope you liked it!

And a little reminder, I'm French and I'm still learning English! So if there are any errors, please point them. I promise I won't mind since I'll need that to improve my English!

So see ya in the next chapter! Buh bye!

[dialline]

hahhaha story time but i wrote something good for ocs

under read more so uh

emjoy

A pale sky is seen above. A whisper of wind echoes through the forest, calling silently. Waking up in the clearing is so surreal. A light fog flows between the trees and the assortment of flowers around. I swear, the wind is calling me back to town. I don’t remember walking into the forest, I just took the train and then was back here. It’s a good question, about how I got here. I was miles away from this dreadful place, despite all the happy memories.  The ever infamous Whiteway. This town has quite the history. Between stories that I would love to believe aren’t true, to rumors I’ve seen to be real with my own eyes. That… dream eating, thing, ghosts, werewolves. This place has everything. But it gets so much worse. I knew all the people that came here with hope, and curiosity. But only to never come out of here. I have my ideas as to what happened here, actually. Rather I’ve witnessed what happened. 

Faltering into town, a smell of coins and candy fills the air. Hard telling what the coppery tang in the air is, but the smell of candy sure as hell shouldn’t be there. Poor Johnny died years ago. I still hate what happened. He was sweet as his candy, I swear. Johnny Amare, a compassionate candy shop owner. He practically raised me, along with who I think is his cousin. Hard telling, they look so much alike, him and Joey. He taught me many things, along with everybody else. 

Johnny told me his best secrets about candy making, as well as he gave me the ribbon on my hat, which I’ve made sure always looks brand new. Joey gave me the hat for my birthday, June 15. Luther, his husband was the one who made it, and Dove made the pattern. Dove. Out of everybody possible in this town, despite not raising me, he’s the one I want to see the most. It’s not that I don’t get along with Joey, or Luther. It’s just… I never got to say sorry to him. He never deserved his fate. Connor. I dread him. I really hope he’s kicked the bucket by now. Bastard killed people for fun, but mostly for money. You can get quite a bit of cash for trying to bring “justice” to the murderer. I don’t think he’d let himself get caught for his schemes. He poisoned Joey with cyanide, so at least he went.. Kind of quickly and mostly painlessly. I hope it was painless at least. Shove Norman into the lake, and he can’t swim. Johnny I’m not too sure, I think he was either stabbed or shot. My memory is pretty foggy. Then Luther got away, knowing Connor would never set foot into the sewers. Disgusting, but hey, at least he got to live.

Dove Couture. Lovely sewing, singing, and magic tricks. Well, the magic tricks are more ridiculous than anything but that’s beside the point. He’s the bartender at the good old theme park thing. He’s also the casino dealer there. It’s questionable who the park is trying to appeal too, but I think the owners just selected all of the above. Connor… bashed his head in, on the casino table during after hours. The town never found out, and Connor never told me. I only know because I was about to ask Dove a question, then I saw it. It was every bit of it, blood and all. Connor walking in, yelling at Dove. Dove saying something back, sounding nearly to tears. Connor ran out quickly after this little “accident” happened. I never got to talk to him. On his birthday, about to give him a gift. Ask him about how he was. 

That’s not even close to all the deaths in town, but that's the ones that hurt the most for me. I approaching the old park, past the candy shop, past the cafe. How I dread coming back. What if Connors hear? Out to see if I came back? In 20 years, like I said I ran away from his dull blade. I swear I heard shallow breaths over my shoulder, cold, and raspy. Probably from that dream eater. Nobody knows what the hell that thing is. I just like to believe that it’s not real. But oh. How I would love to encounter a horrific, rumored to be 12 feet tall shadow abomination. Or maybe it’s just a weird tree in the wind that caught the attention of a tired, paranoid sweater wearing kid that’s 7 years old, and in a forest. 

This is it, the casino. A metallic scraping interrupts my thoughts, coming from the hall of mirrors. The hell could it be?? Who knows. God knows why the owners of this hell bin made the hall of mirrors 4 floors. I’m going to check what that was out. I know myself that I'm not ready to see the interior. 

Empty. All of its empty. The floors are all missing. I can’t see the roof. No rubble, or anything. Where the hell did it all go? There is shattered glass everywhere, that’s for sure. Remnants of mirrors everywhere, and a bell chimes up above, and light radio static. Wait. There’s no music or speakers in here. What is here, new or broken? I hear a horrific scream echo through the room. A large creature crawls down from the ceiling. A bell on the end of its tail, and a speaker below their waist. Four arms, one of which mechanical, the one below seemingly solid shadow. The other two fused together, ending in large serrated claws. A TV welded to it’s chest, and a vinyl record in the shoulder. It slowly loomed down, closer and closer to me.  It grinned, showing sharp teeth from its pointed snout. A metal ear shifts downwards as it opens its only remaining eye, on a round glass screen where there once was a real one, the pupil shaped like a spade, like the playing cards. It finally spoke to me. “JacQUES?” It sounded horrific. Scratchy and hoarse, as if worn from screaming for nobody to even come. But how the hell did it know me? It couldn’t possibly be William. Could it? William, died in the hall of mirrors. But this thing wasn’t natural. “William? Is that you?” No answer. “William if that is you… What the hell happened?” It’s rusted joints creaked, and it lost its grin for just a moment before smiling wider. “dON’T YOu realize? mY BOY? I…?” It trailed off before continuing. “wHILE YOU SEEM TO REMEMBER ME, ARE YoU AWARE THAT? i’M THE coLLECtOr? I’M!! PERFECT!! DON’T YOU KNOW THAT?” 

I shake my head. “The collector huh?” He nods. It looks to be ready to speak again but I interrupt. “Listen, I. I don’t know what happened to you, but please know that I’m not here to harm you or anything of the sort. Got it? I want to help you, as you seem to um…” I look at the rusted limbs, that are made of scrap and barely functional, the obviously broken speakers. “Your not doing the best. Alright? Just, what can I help with?” He pauses, as if unsure how to take my kindness. Has nobody been kind to him like this? All 20 years? Or has he been all alone? That scratchy voice interrupts my thoughts. 

“YES YES YES!!! mY BOY!! A GOOD STEP WOULD BE A NEW ARM. OR LEG. MAYBE FinD THE KEY GOING TO THE SPEAKER. THAT USUALLY FIXES IT BUT I DROPPED A WHILE BACK :(“ I nodded, seeing how happy he is to get help. “Alright! I’ll be back as soon as I can to help!” I give a warm smile. He bounces back and forth in joy, waving what I presume is goodbye to me. “THANk you thank you!! IT'S SO NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK JACQUES!!” I give a small wave as I leave the building. An arm, a leg, and a key. An interesting list, but I can work with it. 

The casino door creaks open, having not been oiled in 2 decades. I’ve been dreading this moment as soon as I knew where I was. Well then. I walk up to the bar stools, but no smell of decay from… anything actually. That’s unexpected, but good at least. I walk behind the counter, careful to not disturb anything here. In the drawer, I remember him saying he wanted to give something to me. I open it, hesitantly. There’s a locket, and it’s painted wonderfully. It’s truly beautiful, with an odd glow. There’s a note inside, and I can see it’s written by Dove. I don’t have the willingness to read it right now, but I’ll put the box in my messenger bag for now. I put the locket on. It’s certainly warm for something that hasn’t been touched in who knows how long. 

I just realized something. This locket, it’s the one Dove has, the one he always wore. My head hurts. He gave it to me, before he died. He told me I could have it, hours prior. Did he know? Or feel that something was to go horribly wrong? I’m not even sure if my head hurts from the reality of Dove knowing he might have known he was to die, or the cup he just threw at me. 

Wait a second.

[realm-sweet-realm]

Angel of the Ink Machine, Chapter 1: An Unlikely Encounter.

Alright, this was a long time coming. And by a long time, I mean I have literally had it in mind since Fall. As a result, I’m going to ignore new information from TIOL so that I can do it as I originally planned.

The premise of this AU is simple: Sammy leaves the studio instead of Henry, and as a result, Joey needs a new partner in crime. He finds one in Allison. Power struggles, sacrifices, passion, ecstasy and tragedy ensues.

---

Sammy never even bothered to formally quit the studio, and it fell on Henry to explain to Joey what had probably transpired.

“He told me a few days ago that he wanted to get Mr. Arch’s attention and maybe a job from him. Sorry to say, Joey, but I think he got what he wanted.”

Joey’s face twisted with disbelief and anger and then back to serenity. “No, Sammy loved it here! I’m sure he’ll be back soon- he’s probably just sick. And even if he isn’t, well, we don’t need him anyhow, do we, Henry? So long as we have each other.”

“Hm? Yeah.” Henry didn’t tell Joey that Nathan had made him an offer as well, and that he was beginning to regret not taking it.

After a few days, Joey accepted that Sammy was gone and promoted Jack to the head of the music department. It was better that way, anyhow- Jack wasn’t so demanding, and let Joey have more run of the music room when he wanted it.

For the next decade, things went along as usual. The studio grew, Henry remained Joey’s finest and most hardworking artist, and Joey even began to look into some dark magic that could help him make his vision for the studio a reality. Joey was, however, beginning to feel increasingly alone in his vision. Henry had grown bitter and distant to him over the years, and then quit. It was disappointing, but not a surprise. It left Joey feeling rather empty in the realization of how little he’d lost. The loyal, invaluable partner he’d once had had turned into just another artist years ago.

Joey needed another person who truly understood his vision. Sadly, he didn’t know anyone that could have fit the bill.

And then he found her.

The place he’d found her had been a speakeasy during the prohibition- a hub of all sorts of illegal affairs. Joey had come here for booze and the occasional round of cocaine during the prohibition and had discovered magic that way. Now, the prohibition was over, but criminals still came to peddle their wares, and Joey, a frequent user of magic now, still came to supply himself with books and reagents that couldn’t be found anywhere else. It was a sleazy place- dirty, greasy, full of prostitutes and men who looked like they could rob you. So it didn’t surprise Joey when a woman- mid-twenties, curvaceous, and on the tall side- approached him while he was buying potions. He figured it was just a prostitute trying to find a customer.

“I need three of the generic restorative ones.. And a vial of clean animal blood, and a liter of chloroform, please.”

The woman next to him chuckled. “You know that restorative potions are horrendously marked up, right? And you could get the animal blood... from an animal.”

Looking at the woman for the first time, Joey realized two things. First, the nearly knee-length pink dress and grey leather jacket she was wearing looked far too new and expensive and a bit too modest to be a prostitute’s, and she looked awfully healthy and clean for one. Secondly, he recognized her from somewhere. Still, he wouldn’t let the woman embarrass him. “Well, yes. But I haven’t practiced making my own yet, and I don’t want to test the first few on myself! And I just so happen to have plenty of money for them.”

The woman finally made eye contact with him. Light grey eyes, Joey noted. “Really? So, you been into magic long, Mr…”

“Drew. Joey Drew. And not too long. My specialty is in the demonic, but I’m experimenting with a bit of everything. Trying to figure out what will work with my vision. Yourself? Actually, why don’t we have this conversation somewhere more pleasant.” Joey paid the man for the potions, and the two walked out of the dark alleyway and into the city lights.

“My specialty is potions. I brew my own. I also really like charms.”

Joey’s eyes went wide. “Charms? You criticize me for buying potions, and you buy charms? There’s no way of even knowing if they work!”

“Well, unlike you, I’m not working towards any grand vision. I think charms work. I think they make my life better. And that’s good enough for me. Honestly, some magic users forget that magic is meant to enhance life, not fill some kind of void in it. Heck, I could say the same of some artists.”

“Funny you should mention art. I’m an artist. And my life’s goal is to reflect life in art. It seems we have a similar view on life, don’t we? It’s just that I want to be the one to show it to other people. Say- would you like to see a bit of my vision tonight?”

“Sure!” Allison said with a smile.

Joey took her to his car and held the door open for her.

“Oh. A gentleman. And a rich one, it looks like!”

“Yes. I own one of the greatest animation studios in the world: Joey Drew Studios.”

Allison giggled. “I’m no cartoon expert, but if it’s one of the greatest in the world, then why haven’t I heard of it?”

“Well, it might not be the very best yet, but it will be! Especially once the project I’m about to show you takes off.”

“Great!” Joey could see the excitement in her eyes, and he loved it.

“And what do you do, Ms. Pendle? I feel like we’ve met.”

Allison’s face darkened a little. “Well... I used to be a Broadway performer. I quit. You see, I have an ugly history with cocaine, and some of my coworkers were getting me back into it. I knew I couldn’t stay without it ruining my health... so I didn’t. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, though.”

Joey could remember her now- a backup dancer in one of the plays he’d seen. He committed everything she’d said to memory, knowing it could be useful later on.

Before long, they were at the studio, and Joey showed her to the pedestal room.

“Wow. You got your entire staff to participate in your rituals? That’s amazing.”

“Just a few of them, actually. But yeah, a little power goes a long way when you’re dealing with magic. And this isn’t even half of it. Come. I assume you aren’t a vegetarian witch?”

“Well, I’ve never slaughtered an animal for magic, but I’m up for it so long as it’s not too often. It’s no different than meat, really.”

“Fair enough,” Joey said. Maybe it was stupid to trust this woman that he’d met this same night, but he got a good feeling about her. He just had to share everything with her. The elevator wasn’t romantic enough, so he took her to the ink machine, suspended with chains, and watched the amazement on her face as it lowered until its top was at floor level. Joey stepped onto the machine and pulled Allison along with him. He held her waist as the machine lowered until it hit the floor of the very basement.

“Wait a moment,” he said, before climbing down the machine and running to turn on the lights.

Allison’s heart was beating a million miles a minute looking at all the pentagrams on the floor, the supplies on the shelves, and the strange machinery. A small part of her was glad she’d packed a knife in her jacket pocket, especially given the human-sized iron cages. Mostly, though, she felt like she’d died and gone to magic-user heaven. Joey had thought she wouldn’t be scared off by this, and was more than happy to be proven correct.

“This is amazing!” Allison beamed. “What do you use it for?”

“Well… nothing good, yet. I’m trying to create life, but there’s only been failed attempts. Let you show you my best one.” Joey led her to a supply closet that only he had the keys for. The door opened to reveal a metal cage and little else. When Joey clicked on the lights, a mound of black sludge, maybe a foot and a half tall, made itself visible. A cartoonish mouth floated down about where an ear should be, and two black mounds that vaguely looked like pie-cut eyes rested at its base. “I don’t know what to do to improve results,” Joey admitted. “Ultimately, I want to bring my cartoons into the real world. But can you imagine me presenting this old thing on a stage?” Joey laughed. “Wouldn’t exactly have them cheering, now would it?”

“Hmm... well, it’s a long shot, but a while ago while I was traveling, I stayed with a witch for a while and learned the recipe for a special potion. I kind of... stole the recipe from her, so I don’t know all about how it works, but it’s had all kinds of effects on the substances I’ve used it in in the past. I once burned all my hair off by mixing it with shampoo! So, you wanna to see what happens when you mix it with ink?

“Why not?” Joey said. He was sure to hear an earfull from Thomas the next day about some mechanical nonsense, but at that moment, Joey didn’t care.

“Alright,” Allison said, digging out a small vial of clear liquid from her bag. “Where do I put this?”

Joey directed her to the insertion nozzle. Allison put in the substance. Joey gathered some film of Bendy and added it in as well. And then, Joey started up the machine. What came out was an abomination- a strange, humanoid creature made of ink, its spine and joints jutting out at sharp angles from its body. It had Bendy’s horns, his smile, and one of its gloves, but the similarities ended there. It looked around at its surroundings before beginning to wander off.

Allison yelped. “What do we do? I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be,” Joey said in an extremely calm voice. “Just be calm. Find an iron cage big enough and open it for me.��

Allison did as she was told, and Joey calmly approached the beast as it took in its surroundings. “Hey, there, buddy. Come with me. It’s okay.” He offered the beast his hand and led him towards the cage. He and Allison wrestled the creature into the cage and locked it. Joey sighed in relief. “That could have been ugly.”

“Yeah. That was amazing. But I’m sorry for causing it!”

They made eye contact. “Don’t be! That’s the closest I’ve ever come to making a functional toon! I mean, it still needs something... but thank you.” Joey ran his hand over her arm. “Allison. You can sing, right? You sang on Broadway?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been looking for a person who understood me- this side, the artistic side, the lust-for-life side- for years. Would you like to join my studio as a voice actress and help me with this grand project? Help me to do what no magician has done and create sentient life with me?”

“Yes! I’ve been looking for the next adventure since I quit Broadway!”

She hadn’t hesitated. This could only end well.

“Okay. Now, I’ll want you as a partner in crime and voice actress either way, but would you like to go out to dinner on Friday?”

Allison rolled her eyes. “Oh, well, pentagrams and demonic machines were one thing, but dinner? Now you’ve gone too far.” A pause. “I’m joking, Joey. Of course I will.” Dangerous just so happened to be Allison’s type, and she knew she could handle this little adventure if it turned sour.

[akiraidraws]

Imperfection AU: Beginnings Chapter 2

Summary: With the help of the ink machine and a little magic, new life is created. A new little toon in the shape of a little devil darling. But when he turns out to be riddled with imperfections can Henry save him from Joey's wrath?

Trigger Warning:Violence, light swearing

Walking into the room that housed the machine, Joey made his way over to a strange man that Henry didn't recognize. The man was taller than Joey and himself with broad shoulders and short darker blonde hair styled in a military cut. Except it was longer towards the front and curled slightly with only the back in the usual buzz cut. Inspecting the man, Henry noticed that the patch on the strange man's chest read 'Gent'.

Ah, he was one of the engineers Joey had hired to build the machine.  

From what Henry could hear of the conversation, the man, Thomas Connor it seems his name was, and Joey were going over some final details of the machine.

So, this man was the head engineer from Gent that Wally had told him about. Well, more like he complained to Henry about.

Tom, correcting Joey on what to refer to himself as confirmed that everything was in place and that the machine was ready to use for whatever it is that Joey had planned.

The conversation coming to an end, Joey dismissed Tom.

Tom glanced Henry's way as he walked past him, a neutral expression plastered across his features. Henry noticed a small scar that cut across Tom's left eye, and continued up past his brow. Probably from a past work injury. Maybe military? Tom on the other hand was looking Henry up and down as if studying him before he turned away from Henry with a small exhale and walked out of the room.

Henry's brief encounter with the man left him feeling just a little intimidated and with a slight sense of unease, don't get on Tom's bad side. Duly noted.

Usually Henry wouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but something about Thomas Connor just felt... off. It's no wonder Wally had such a distaste for the man.

Turning his attention back to Joey who was now facing the large machine with his back turned to Henry, his eyes wondering to the floor at Joey's feet. It looked like there was some sort of large circle messily painted on the floor with black ink. A pentagram? Some sort of binding circle maybe? Henry wasn't sure, he didn't really know too much about Joey's... hobbies.

"Joey, what is this?"

"Oh, this? It's nothing to worry about. Just a little something to strengthen the incantation."

"After all, we don't want any mistakes now, do we?"

"I guess not..?"

Henry watched as Joey walked over to a mid sized wooden table that was along the wall to their left. He grabbed an armful of well used black candles and placed them at each point of the star within the circle. After making sure each candle was properly lit, Joey walked back to the table and grabbed a thick purple book with a black binding along the spine and a similar looking symbol to the one on the floor.

To say that Henry felt uneasy about this was an understatement, but any second thoughts he may have been having were interrupted by the sound of Joey's voice.

"Henry, if you could just stand right over there." Joey gestured across the room to the far right wall.

"And be careful not to step in the ink, please."

Henry strolled to the other end of the room and crossed his arms giving Joey a quizzical look.

"Watch the machine. You'll want to see this, trust me."

"... Okay." Henry said as he looked the machines way.

He didn't believe a word of what Joey had said but he was willing to entertain his notions. After all, Joey had plenty of experience in this type of thing so Henry trusted him enough to stop if things got dicey.

Joey flipped through the pages of his book with ease and began to chant when he landed on the desired spell.

The ink used to form the circle began to glow a harsh gold and the candles flames swelled. Henry rushed to cover his eyes, momentarily blinded by the unexpected flash of light. In his moment of blindness he failed to notice a small pastel blue orb that radiated from his chest and made its way within the pentagram. A piece of his very soul. As soon as the blue soul piece touched the ink, the harsh gold immediately faded away to a soft pastel blue.

A blue that spread upwards forming an almost invisible wall around the symbol painted on the wooden floor.

A sudden gurgling noise from the machine drew Henry's attention as he uncovered his eyes. He was still blinking away the stars in his vision when ink began to pour from the machines large nozzle with a plethora of sloshing and splashing sounds. The ink was rushing out in alarming amounts but never left the bounds of the circle.

As the last words of the chant left Joey's lips he snapped the book closed with a loud resounding 'CRACK!". Almost as if on cue, the candles flames fizzled out and the ink stopped flowing save for a few drips that lingered on the nozzle of the machine. The pool of ink on the floor began to recess and form a small figure in the middle of the circle.

Henry couldn't believe what he was seeing as a figure began to take shape within the ink puddle. It was small and it was... moving?

Henry must have taken an involuntary step forward because the next thing he knew Joey had him by the arm pulling him away from what was happening before them.

"Wait, Henry! It's not done yet!" Joey all but shouted.

"I-I cant believe it..."

"I know! Isn't it exciting!?"

Henry nodded and turned his attention back to the figure within the ink.

With the last of its little body formed, the excess ink evaporated away like it was nothing more than water in a hot skillet. The last of the ink gone, the soft blue light emanating from the circle burst like glass and faded away leaving only the newborn creature in its wake.

The creature managed to shakily prop itself up on its small arms and onto its knees. It looked from Henry to Joey then back at Henry and smiled a familiar blocky smile on its yellowed face. Its black pie cut eyes looking nervously up at the men before it, its horns twitching before going still.

"Is... is that? Bendy?" Henry asked cautiously, taking a few steps forward to get a better look.

Joey didn't respond. He made no effort to move from where he stood as Henry left his side and approached the little toon devil.

Kneeling down in front of him, he was so small, so... infant like.

Black pie cut eyes watched the man in front of him as Henry tilted his head to the side curiously. An action that Bendy mirrored.

The toon copied every movement that Henry made.

Henry smiled and let out a laugh at the way Bendy was mirroring him.

As a result, Bendy let out the cutest little giggle that Henry had ever heard.

There was no doubt that this little toon was in fact, a baby. Well, maybe not a baby per say but he was definitely in an infant like phase of his life. New, and small, and so so innocent.

"Hello, little one. My name is Henry and that-" motioning over his left shoulder "is my good friend Joey."

Bendy reached his little yellowed hands out and beamed "Henry! Hen, Hen-Henry! Henry!"

"Yes. Yes, that's right."

"Henry!" Bendy giggled as he repeated the name a number of times to Henry's amusement.

Henry reached out and placed a hand under each of Bendy's arms carefully lifting him up off the floor to get a better look at the toon. Bendy letting out a small squeak as he was lifted from where he sat. Henry was shocked to see that in place of the usual skinny legs and large shoes were a set of almost gazelle like legs minus the hooves. His legs simply petered off into rounded hooveless points. And now that he was looking closer he could see what appeared to be a little pointed tail curled slightly around the toon’s dangling legs and it was twitching slightly. The little demon whined and wriggled as he tried to free himself from Henry's grasp.

"Hey now, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Don't be scared." Henry cooed as he pulled the toon to his chest and gently caressed the tiny demons cheek in an attempt at comfort.

He was so small. Henry could cradle him with a single arm.

Bendy looked up at Henry and then over his shoulder, his eyes going wide. He grasped Henry's shirt tightly and buried his face in Henry's chest, whimpering. His tail trying to wrap itself around the mans waist but being too short to do so.

Confused, he turned to look over his own shoulder now, coming face to face with Joey who was leaning forward just behind him. Looking rather displeased with the situation at hand. Joey was glaring at the little toon in Henry's arms.

Bringing himself to his feet, Henry turned to face Joey.

"Why are you looking at him like that?"

"This is all wrong. How could this have happened?!"

"Huh??"

Joey sneered disgustedly at the little toon. Using Henry's soul piece should have worked, should have made the perfect toon. So why didn't it?

Joey snatched the frightened newborn toon from Henry's arms, knocking him to the floor in the process. He was going to return this little abomination to the ink like he had done to the countless before him. Imperfection will not be tolerated. Bendy crying out loudly in fear as Joey made his way back to the machine. Dazed from the impact, Henry quickly collected himself and picked himself up off of the floor. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. Bendy's wails grew more frantic sending a shockwave of alarm through Henry's core. His eyes now set on Joey. He rushed towards Joey wrapping his arms around the smaller mans shoulders in a vice grip causing him to drop the toon like a rock. Bendy hit the floor with a loud 'thud', knocking the breath out of his little inky lungs. Dazed, confused and frightened, Bendy was frozen were he lie, curled into himself with his tail wrapped tightly around his small body. Henry immediately abandoned his hold on Joey and scrambled for the newborn toon on the floor scooping him up into a protective embrace.

Angry, Joey dives at Henry shouting.

"Give it to me!! It's an abomination!"

Henry's temper flares as he bristles. His hold on the little toon growing tighter while he shields Bendy from Joey's grasp.

"He's just a baby, Joey!!"

Joey dives for the toon in Henry's arms once more. The two men joined in an intricate dance as Henry dodges Joey's prying clutches. Set on protecting the frightened whimpering bundle in his arms.

"I knew it was a mistake bringing you here for this! Of course you would try to protect an abomination! You've always been too weak for your own good!!" Joey hisses. His own temper flaring at Henry's intervention.

"Really?? Well how's this for weak?!" Henry roared back, planting his foot squarely against Joey's chest sending him reeling backward into the cold metal of the machine. Knocking the air out of the fuming man.

Henry hated doing it, but no way in hell was he going to let Joey harm the defenseless little bundle he had cradled protectively in his arms. He stood defensively, ready for Joey to make another move.

But it never came.

Joey sat up slowly, rubbing at the side of his head. A pained expression plastered across his features.

"Fine." Joey spat coldly. His gaze focused entirely on Henry.

"You want it, then you take it. But you would do well to keep that abomination away from me, Stein."

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 18: Noah’s Dad Decides he Doesn’t Love His Son Anymore When Noah Gets Way Too Into Petz Hexing

I was hanging out with Bro and he made me look at a lot of bad Yugi wigs that were 600 dollars each, and because only like...4 good Yugi wigs exist in the world, I decided to help him get out that Yugi itch in a healthier way, by copy editing these posts and fixing the way I spell Gozaburo wrong about 400 more times before this arc ends.

So last we left off, Noah decided to reference that one part of the Bible he knows.

He’s gonna change the playing field to kind of run through the history of the Earth, showing us that in every period of history his outfit was never acceptable.

Also he got the history a...little bit wrong. You had to have people before Noah’s ark but...whatever. I took astrology, there’s a lot about planet formation we’re still kind of guessing on, so do whatever you feel like, Yugioh. It’s not like any kids watching this got real pissy about how Noah was totally botching the Archean period.

He also decides to dump on us how he got so smart. See, Kaiba got smart by studying a lot, surrounding himself with people way dumber than him, and then just bossing everyone around him until they agreed with him that he was very smart. In Noah’s case, it’s because he’s literally a computer.

I’m really glad I get to find another anime that’s all ham about this tree. In this case just slapping it on there for a few seconds, long enough for me to say “WHAT THE HELL, KIDS SHOW?” before it vanishes again.

Good on you, Noah. You just...casually slipped that in there.

Ah, but unfortunately, the AI who is like...not even human and is *pretty sure* He’s Noah Kaiba is still kind of attached to his Dad. Maybe it was a part of his core code that he couldn’t reject his Father? I dunno, just seems weird that he achieved enlightenment and was like “So uh...I guess I’ll play cards and take over a mindless corporation. Good use of my time.”

(read more under the cut)

Kaiba’s reaction to hearing that his brother stores all of human knowledge was “well, it can’t possibly be that difficult. I’ve done way more than that. I have a homeschool degree and half a high school diploma so go to Hell, bro.”

Yo how many people would sit down, turn to their computer, and just start shouting at their core processor about how they’re waaaay smarter than it? Remember that during this entire conversation, Kaiba is shouting at a literal computer.

So anyway, we finally get to see why they bothered showing us spider room a few episodes back. Youknow, that room with the baby in it? Turns out...there was never a baby in this room, since Noah was a kid when he first woke up here.

Before it was covered in spiders, it was covered in blue and off white. This is a very boring Martha Stewart room in different shades of robin eggshell. You can tell this kid is a Kaiba because oh boy that is a...really boring 50 yo housewife look, ain’t it?

I’m sure it’s symbolic for the fact he is hella dead and innocent at this point but like...every time we see Kaiba interior design it’s just the last type of design you expect from this high octane family.

Anyway, Noah’s kind of surprised to be awake because, last he remembers, he was very much hit by a car.

Ya, I mean, if you have to tell your son you Frankenstiened him into a horrible crime against humanity, might as well tell him as quickly and bluntly as possible, I guess.

Anyway, because Noah existing breaks the most basic moral human laws in every country on Earth, they kinda can’t let him go anywhere, which means that to prevent the loneliness, Kaiba gives him...a pet?

So Noah and the dogcat decide to travel through Domino and realized very quickly that there were only like...five NPC’s. There’s like an ice cream girl, and like a couple walking people, and that’s about it.

Noah’s words were something like “man this place is full of glitches!” because his dogcat wouldn’t stop barking and he threw a rock at it and it didn’t care. Glitches.

I guess it’s one way to look at it?

It feels like Noah got somewhat cursed like Pharaoh did, just a little bit. Like not completely it’s just that I can’t help but notice both are trapped in some sort of basic geometry shape--Pharaoh’s is a pyramid and Noah’s is an orb, and both have untold superpowers matched with some heavy depression that goes with having said superpowers. Not to mention, both have a host body all set up for possession, it’s just Kaiba is a little bit youknow...unwilling to participate. They’re very different obviously it’s just...way to trap your characters in shapes.

Anyway, last episode I felt like maybe Noah liked being an orb, this episode he’s made it a little more clear that it is kind of not great being an orb...but only because he can’t throw any rocks at dogs or have real conversations with anyone but his own Dad.

Anyway, Noah got a little bored. So his Dad sent him to virtual Mars.

And now Noah only finds joy in hacking his digital pet. Relatable.

Now I know a good chunk of you are my age--that good Jenna Marbles age--and will know exactly what I am referring to, as for the rest of you, turning your digital pet into a hell creation was just a thing we all did in year 2000ish. All of us did this.

And I was like “I bet you, that someone out there has made a robot Hex, I guarantee” because I spent...I want to say 2 years of my life downloading modded breedz of Catz 4? I even tried to do it myself but I wasn’t any good at it because I was super young and bad at computers, I never actually got Robbie William’s Millennium as a Catz meow (though trust me, I did try. It was my life’s dream when I was small.)

But the closest I found to a Robot Petz was this?

Dang. Look at that thing. This one is actually pretty good because it does resemble an animal. I admire it a lot. Trust me, I spent like days moving my bunniez feet around trying to make a dragon and just ended up downloading someone else's dragon.

And then, from the same page I saw this gem right above it.

HELL YES........

....I freakin love this period of the internet so freakin much. I was only ever really a part of a couple of fandoms as a child and the Petz fandom will forever hold a little part of my heart. I mean, look at this. What’s not to love?

Like, Catz is probably number 3 on my list of best games ever made. Not so much because the game was any good, but because none of the files were protected in any way so even kids like me could hack in there and make the weirdest abominations and post them all to their Angelfire pages.

Well, other kids could, I was so baby that I was still using my Mom’s email address and did not know how to put a damn thing on my webpage. Which I did have. But it had like...only frames. It had like 3 words and just me splitting the page into 50 frames because I did not know what I was doing.

I apologize to all the kids in the room who have never seen a web page covered in ugly ass frames. You lucky bastards.

....but Petz...Noah was into PETZ. I can respect him for that.

I still think he’s a little creep-o, but knowing that he hacked his pet has given me a lot of appreciation for his work.

Anyway, it was after Noah changed the boring ass simpleton dog into a much better dog that Gozoboro decided “I have made a monster, I am abandoning my boy.” Which uh...this was the thing?

This?

I mean as far as body horror goes, Litterbox up there is way worse. As far as body horror goes, we also have, Jinzo over here, but the digital dog with a cute robot head was the thing that made Gozoboro say “What have I done!?” The dog is digital, it’s not even alive.

Especially since I feel like the follow up question Noah made was like way more frightening than the dog thing?

Kaiba glazes right over this entire conversation. Like full stop, he didn’t even seem to blink. No part of this story even slightly surprised him, although I will admit, at least Seto has decided that Noah...exists and might in fact be a robot his Father made once. This in itself is a big deal for Kaiba, who has a goldfish memory and denial wider than the sea he’s trapped under.

First of all, congrats to the storyboarder/animator for drawing a hand in that angle, mad respect.

Second of all, this is pretty close to the actual line from the show, Kaiba legit thinks that his Dad wanted Kaiba to be the president, after he knows full well that his Dad was like “Don’t Take Over My Company, You Little Twerp” and then like tried to even send Seto back to the orphanage whence he came. Kaiba’s pretty sure that his Dad wanted that whole thing to happen exactly the way it happened. No regrets. Just family being family.

And Moki’s still chilling on the Moki couch, just kinda taking this all in before he’s summoned unto the field like a playing card.

Ah, yet another person who is like “KILL MEEE” on this show. It’s been kind of a while. Like, who’s left that hasn’t stood in front of a loaded card-gun like this? Duke? Is Duke the only one who hasn’t sacrificed his body for the greater card-good at this point? Is this why Duke is our amoral Chaotic Neutral? Is this why Duke is still the only one who hasn’t died yet (and I’m crossing my fingers still that he’s gonna be our death 169, it can happen, I can believe)?

I feel like this is the season of weird hugs. Like everyone on this show that has hugged has gotten a little weird. The only not-weird hug was when Yugi attempted to hug Joey once and then Joey dodged the hug and wrestled him into an arm-distanced noogie instead--which is technically still not a hug, but the closest we’ve gotten to something a human would do. It is so lucky for our art team that all the huggers are supposed to be hella weird anyway.

Anyway, next episode we get to find out if Noah also had an AIM username or got really into Jelly pens. I can see him getting suuuper into Jelly pens, with hair like that.

Anyway, here’s a link to Season 1 Ep 1 to read in Chrono order, in case you just got here and you’re looking for that.

[soniccrazygal]

A New Beginning

The final part of my ITT story...

Henry signaled everyone to be quiet as they rose to their feet and whispered for them to remain in the room for the moment. While he knew they all wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, Henry could not resist wanting to shock Joey with what he had accomplished. Henry entered the kitchen with Bendy following silently behind him. Joey was there as expected, his back to them as he finished the dishes.

"You're even early than I was expecting…" Joey commented, though he still didn't turn around yet. "Are you going out of your way to try and impress me now with a new shortcut or just sprinting through everything?"

"Well I managed to convince Allison and Tom to skip locking me in their safe house," Henry commented with a growing grin. "And of course Bendy's Lair took no time at all."

Joey stiffened after hearing Henry. Now… Henry had talked to him times before, he had questioned Joey, raged at him, begged to be free, but for the longest time, he was just silent. But what really worried Joey was Henry had said about skipping portions of Joey's script. It shouldn't be possible and Henry could just be bluffing, but Henry sounded way too confident for it to be a bluff.

"Now what do you mean by that Henry?" Joey began, trying to keep his cool as he turned around. Joey let our and alarmed gasp and stumbled back, bracing himself against the counter behind him. Standing behind Henry was the abomination he so despised. The failure that doomed his studio and destroyed his hard work and dreams.

"H-how..?" Joey stuttered, hovering between fearful and rage. How is that monster here? He made sure that none of those piles of ink could ever escape! He orchestrated it for that mockery of what should have been his greatest creation was to be destroyed over and over. How could it be here?!

"Bendy is no longer under your control," Henry replied smugly, enjoying Joey's shocked face. "He is no longer the villain you forced him to be. Instead, we worked together to break the loop you trapped us in and we're not the only ones to get out…"

Henry waved to the others and they all came in, crowding around Henry as they glared at Joey. Joey paled at seeing the large group before him. His hard work… his failures… his success… his dreams and ambitions were all laid out in the creatures before him… And Henry had the gall to bring them all here! Henry was supposed to be fixing those mistakes and imperfections… removing them and paving the way for a new and better world… especially since he was getting so close to perfecting the process…

"I don't know what you expect to accomplish by bringing… them… here," Joey sneered, he was going to using far more unflattering names, but he was wary enough of those monsters not to say anything with them so close. "I'm the Creator! I control the Ink Machine! This little show of force means nothing!"

"You have never been a creator!" Henry growled, Bendy, growling as well to emphasize Henry's. "You've only manipulated and use others to further your own goals. Well, you won't be able to manipulate us anymore. And as for the Ink Machine… Bendy?"

Bendy's grin widened and gained a predatory edge. Joey began to tremble slightly in fear, but the Ink Demon turned away from him and went to the other room where the Ink Machine was visible. Bendy lifted up his hand and clawed the machine, ripping it apart.

"Wait! No! Stop!" Joey said, anger flaring as he stumbled forward. He was so close to creating the perfect world! One that he had complete control over! He couldn't let that abomination ruin it! He didn't get very far when Allison stepped forward.

"Don't even think about it!" She warned, holding her sword out threateningly. Joey had no choice but to watch as the Ink Demon reduced the machine to scrap metal, the sputtering ink being absorbed into the demon's form. Once Bendy was satisfied with his work, he returned to Henry's side.

"We're leaving now Joey," Henry said coldly, glaring at the man he can't believe he ever considered a friend. "Don't you ever even think about contacting me ever again. I'm not someone you can call on to clean up your messes, and they are no longer your concern."

"You're going to regret this Henry!" Joey glared, though he made no attempt to stop them from heading towards the door.

"The only regret I have was that I couldn't have freed everyone sooner," Henry replied, not even giving Joey a glance. The group left Joey's house, pausing to just enjoy the sight of the blue sky and feeling the sun on their faces.

"Come on," Henry said, finally herding the others away. "We should get out of here."

It took a little time, but they eventually found Henry's van hidden in the back. It took a little work, but they got it started and they all crowded in. It was a very tight squeeze, but no one complained, not even Alice. They were just so relieved to be out of the studio that they didn't care. It took several hours to get to Henry's home, arriving a while after the sun had set. Henry smiled in relief as he walked up to his door. He has no idea how long it's been since he's been home and he couldn't wait to see Linda… He unlocked the door and headed inside, leaving it open for all his companions to come through.

"Who's there!" Henry heard his wife shout from the kitchen. She came out, holding her double-sided rolling pin at the ready but stopped when she spotted Henry.

"H-henry..?" Linda said in shock, her hand falling limp and letting the rolling pin drop to the floor. Henry wasted no time in stepping up to her and pulling her into a hug.

"It's me, Linda," Henry said, assuring both himself and her as tears flowed freely. "I'm finally home…"

"I knew you weren't dead! I knew it!" Linda cried in joy, holding onto Henry tightly. "Oh, darling… I'm so glad you're finally home… I've missed you so…"

"I missed you too…" Henry breathed, enjoying her warmth. It was at this point that Bendy apparently decided he wanted to share the happiness and joined in the hug. Linda stiffened slightly and pulled back enough to finally notice everyone else that now occupied her home.

"Henry..?" Linda asked in shock, unsure what to make of the strange group.

"It's a long story…" Henry smiled tiredly. "On that should wait to morning…"

"Alright…" Linda replied slowly. She wanted to hear everything, but she could see that Henry was exhausted so she could wait for her questions to be answered. Henry was home and that was enough for her.

There were a lot of people to find sleeping places for and some defiantly felt uncomfortable about sharing rooms. Allison and Tom ended up sharing with one of the guest rooms while Sammy and Norman got another. Alice was lucky enough to get a room by herself. The Butcher gang piled up on the couch while Bendy curled up on Henry's large armchair. Boris seemed happy enough with the floor, though he did accept a pillow and blanket. Once everyone was settled, Henry went to bed, holding his wife close to remind himself that she was real…

The next morning was surprisingly peaceful as Henry and Linda made breakfast for everyone, or at least those that could eat right now. Henry explained everything that happened, holding nothing back from Linda. She listened with patience and sympathy, though he did have to convince her not to go knock Joey around when he was done. She expressed her sympathy for all the former captive creatures and was determined to help them get better.

Then came the long task of Henry doing his best to help fix the twisted forms of those he had freed with the help of Bendy's ink. There was very little he could do for Norman, but between him and Tom, Henry was able to get Norman's speaker working so that he could talk. Henry was able to help Sammy look more like a human cartoon character, though he did still have dark splotches on his skin. He was able to help Tom look more human though, he still had several wolfish features.

The Butcher gang weren't too hard to help fix up, but it took a while because they had so many wounds. He was happy that he was able to restore their bodies, though scars did remain. Now Henry offered to help Alice become more human-like she used to be, but she refused. She insisted that she wanted to be more Alice like so Henry eventually gave in and made her more toon like. Bendy was eventually able to gain a smaller toon form as well, though he could not stay on model for long. Instead, he ended up with a form that was a mix of his ink demon form and his cartoon counterpart and he seemed happy with it.

Henry came down the stairs a few days after he finished the several weeks spent fixing everyone up, at least on the surface. Henry knew it would be a long time before everyone's mental and emotional scars would heal as well. Henry found Bendy watching the sunset out the window as seemed to have become a habit for the little ink demon.

"Enjoying yourself their buddy?" Henry said as he joined Bendy at the window, rubbing between the toon's horns. Bendy nodded and let out a small purr. Henry chuckled and looked out the window as well. It was beautiful as the sun painted the sky in many bright colors. It still filled Henry with wonder to see how colorful the world was again and he knew Bendy felt the same. Every day was a new beginning filled with its own challenges and adventures and Henry wouldn't have it any other way. Bendy's hand soon found Henry's and Henry gave it a light squeeze. No matter what came at them now, they were in this together…

The main story might be over, but I still have plans for my ITT au. Don’t worry, Bendy and the others will be back. Maybe sooner than you know...