AN: In which teens are stupid and plan to break into an abandoned animation studio.
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Andy was without a doubt one of the biggest morons she had ever met. He could be the utter definition of stupid sometimes and so were some of his decisions, like his most recent one.
It had been a calm Wednesday evening. Everyone had gone over to Drew's house to play some co-op video games. She had been utterly destroying Drew, much to his ever growing rage, when Andy had told them about his newest, and "absolute genius" plan.
Break into the abandoned Sillyvision animation studio.
The responses had ranged from laughter, from Drew, to an exasperated glare, from Shen. Everyone in town knew the story behind the studio. It had been abandoned for about a decade, and Sillyvision was responsible for making a hit cartoon series that rivaled even Disney's.
They were popular for making cartoons that appealed to both adults and kids. Cheerful, funny characters with some causal adult jokes thrown in for the parents who watched with their squealing children. Hell, she even had a plushie of the main character sitting in her bed room. It was a bit worn after the many years it had been with her, but it was still in pretty good condition.
While the studio made many characters, there were two they were famous for. Bendy the demon and Boris the wolf. Bendy being the mascot of their studio, as he was the more popular of the two.
Bendy and Boris, a pair that was almost as well-known as a certain mouse couple. Bendy with his satirical humor, and Boris with his calm and mature attitude, the grounding presence for Bendy. They often went on hilarious adventures that only grew more and more outrageous as time went on.
Most of the fans might have loved Bendy, but she had always been a fan of Boris. It was a shame they never made a plushie for him.
The studio was rolling in cash and at the height of the game when it all came crashing down. Suddenly employees were fired without warning, including Andy's uncle, which was probably where he gotten the stupid idea from in the first place.
His uncle had always loved telling Andy about what they did in the studio, the various animations they made or were in the process of making. Supposedly they were working on some special "anniversary episode" before everyone got fired. That sucked, the anniversary episodes were always the best!
Then the cartoons began to get, disturbing. References to satanic rituals, and outright torture soon became the themes of the future episodes, and the show was swiftly pulled due to plummeting ratings. The studio made less money and one of the co-founders was fired.
The original creator of the show, Joey Drew, was all alone. He tried to bring the show back to life. He locked all the doors to the studio and never left the building. Some say he's still there to this very day. Others say his ghost haunts the studio, still tormented by his cartoon's unfortunate end.
While the show was cut down in its prime, luckily enough it was put on the internet for people to watch and enjoy by the same co-founder who had gotten fired. Somehow the man, Lex was pretty sure his first name was Henry, was able to keep a copy of all the episodes and a couple years after the studio went down he uploaded them to a bunch of online sites so more people could continue to enjoy them. The cartoon soon gained a cult following and people were looking wherever they could to find more sweet, Bendy and Boris sustenance.
Few knew the exact location of the studio, which was probably another reason why Andy wanted to get in there, even though he was a germaphobe. Find all the good stuff then get out before anyone could stop them.
She sighed. The building was old and no one had bothered to maintain it. Even if they were able to get in, who knew what they would find.
"Lex, you okay?"
She looked down at the girl she had known for most of her life, her closest friend. Naomi was looking up at her, gentle brown eyes filled with worry. She snorted and ruffled her hair, ignoring the surprised yelp.
"Don't worry about me, I'm good."
Naomi huffed and crossed her arms. "You better be, I don't want you getting sick again!" There was no force on Earth that could have stopped her from smiling at that.
"Stop being such a worrywart, besides, we got bigger things to worry about."
Andy had planned the break in for that evening, a Saturday of course. Yes, exploring a decrepit animation studio was exactly how she wanted to spend one of the most important days of the weekend.
Naomi smiled and clutched her sketchbook close to her chest. She was an up and coming artist, and she hoped to find some of the model work for the characters in the cartoons. The designs of the characters had always fascinated her, even as a child. She needed them now more than ever since multiple people had commissioned drawings of Bendy, and she was scared of getting some of the proportions wrong.
"So, what do you think we're going to find in there?"
"The decomposing corpse of Joey Drew." Lex knew the mental image would freak Naomi out.
"ALEX, NO!"
Alex, or Lex as most knew her by, let out a roaring laugh at the shout. She could never resist teasing Naomi! Naomi pouted and smacked the older teen on the arm. "It's not funny!"
"Hell yes it is." She wheezed out, wiping a stray tear from her green eyes. What a pair they must have looked like to the other people walking down the sidewalk. Two girls. One tall, super pale, with fuzzy, long brown hair. The other short, with soft brown skin (literally, Naomi lived for moisturizers), and straight, shoulder length dark brown hair that always smelled like peaches.
Quite the pair indeed. The compassionate artist and the aggressive, awkward nerd.
Lex finally stopped laughing and let out one final sigh. She turned to Naomi, grin plastered across her face. She felt much better after that. It was almost as if all her concerns had disappeared.
They would be fine.
"You ready to get those character models?"
Naomi's beaming grin was brighter than the sun.
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"Alright my fellow Bendy fans, today is the day we learn what is in that animation studio!"
"Spek fer yerselrf Andy."
"Dammit Drew, stop talking while you eat. You wanna choke or something?"
"Focus everyone!"
It was time. Everyone had agreed to meet at Shen's house since her parents were gone for the weekend. They were all clustered in the small living room. Lex, Drew, Shen, Naomi, and the ringleader himself, Andy.
Everyone was seated around the small dining table. Andy in all his short, freckled glory was sitting in one of the few chairs available, double checking their supplies. His short, choppy black hair constantly fell into his ice blue eyes, and his glasses were always falling down his face.
Even now as he read over the map, they needed to plan a route since the studio was on the outskirts of town, his glasses continued to slip off his face.
Shen was sitting beside him, not touching him of course, and also reading over the plans. She acted as a sort of unofficial second in command. Her dark brown eyes were narrowed as she intently checked over everything, occasionally pointing something out to Andy. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail, the ends dyed a rich, midnight blue.
It was better than the bubblegum pink she had last month, and it would blend in better while they made their way over. It was getting close to eight, so the sun had long since set.
Drew was crouched on the floor, snacking on a bag of pretzels. The hulking teen was the tallest out of the group and built like a mountain. His sandy blond hair was tied back in a man bun and his blue eyes were closed as he ate.
Naomi was sitting on the last available chair, drawing in her sketchbook. She was most likely working on one of her commissions. Lex peeked over her shoulder. Yup, it was Bendy dressed in a tutu, definitely a commission.
"You gonna be leaving that here, Naomi?" She nodded. "Yeah, I don't want my work to get ruined."
Lex hummed softly. "Understandable, and a smart idea."
Andy cleared his throat, it sounded a bit like his voice was cracking. "Alright, we have finalized our plans for Operation: Break In!"
"Oh my god, you named it."
"Of course I did, dear Lexie." Lex normally would have smote the person who dared to change her nickname into something so... ugh, but Andy was a friend, and a bit of an exception. "Alright, just try to make it less cheesy next time."
The teen nodded so viciously his glasses nearly flew off his face. "Anyways, we are prepared to begin the mission! Is everyone ready?"
Murmurs and nods filled the room. "Excellence, now we will leave in approximately ten minutes. You have until then to get changed, use the facilities, and eat if you have not." The groaning of the wooden floor momentarily filled the room as people began to move and get ready.
"Oh, and if any of you wish to leave this mission then you may, I am not keeping you here and your personal feelings should take priority." He added before everyone got up.
Andy stood tall as people began to move, and for a moment Lex remembered why she decided to stick with this group, aside from Naomi. Andy could be stupid sometimes, but he was damn good at planning and always looked out for those he cared about.
The group split up, each to take care of whatever they needed to. Shen walked over to Naomi and softly spoke to her. Together they left the living room and most likely went to Shen's room to get changed.
Lex, Andy, and Drew had all arrived in the clothes they were planning to wear for the mission. Lex was wearing her favourite dark grey windbreaker, dark blue jeans, and grey hiking shoes. She naturally favoured dark clothing.
Andy was decked out in a fashionable black button up with black dress pants. He was wearing his favourite white bowtie, an apparent exact replica of the one Bendy wore, and Lex swore she saw a pitch black balaclava sticking out of his bag.
Drew, of course, was wearing his usual grey pullover with some baggy sweat pants, the same grey as his pullover. It was his typical attire, and Lex knew he would wear it.
Lex took the chance to have a quick chat with Andy. She walked over as he checked his bag. Her shadow fell over him and he looked up. "Hello there, dear Lexie, are you going to be dropping out this fine eve?"
"Nah, I just wanna know about the contingency plans I know you have."
Andy sighed and pulled out one of the various notebooks he always carried with him. He was wearing a pair of black gloves now, which was not too unusual for him. Lex took a chance to peek in his bag. A literal shit ton of hand sanitizer and napkins in plastic bags. Not surprising.
Andy flipped through his notebook until he found the page he was looking for. He flipped it around and showed it to her, holding the book in his gloved hands. "Hm, so who's got the bat and crowbar?"
"Our dear Drew-Drew has them, along with a flare gun, some extra food, water, and flashlights."
Andy was always extremely over prepared for any trips they decided to go on. Spend a couple hours at the mall? He would bring enough food, water, and sanitizers for a small army!
Lex never wanted to think about where he got it all.
"So we have all that on top of what everyone brought?"
"Indeed! Now if you will excuse me I need to triple check my supplies!" And with that Andy promptly busied himself with counting over everything he had brought. Lex knew the conversation was over and decided to bug Drew for a bit.
"Hey Drew, what's up?" Drew looked up from his pretzels, about a quarter of the bag was left, and shrugged. "It's all good, I'm just chillin'."
"You ready for this?" Another shrug. "Yeah, you good Lex?"
Lex snorted and crossed her arms. "I'm fine, just a bit worried is all."
It was Drew's turn to snort that time. "Oh please, your girlfriend will be fine."
"Drew, shut the hell up, we're not dating!" Lex hissed at her friend.
"Aw, are you suuuuuuure about that?" He teased back, a faint smirk appearing on his face.
Lex rolled up her sleeves and was about five seconds away from punching him when Naomi and Shen walked back into the living room. Both were wearing matching dark blue sweaters and Naomi was wearing some kind of beanie. "We're ready to go now." Shen said, her faint Chinese accent standing out a bit.
Her accent tended to get stronger when she was nervous or stressed. Breaking and entering would probably make you feel pretty damn stressed, especially with the risk of getting caught.
"Excellence, shall we make our way to the animation studio then?"
No one said anything, but everyone grabbed their bags and got ready. It was late spring, so it was not too cool out. No heavy winter coats or boots were needed, which also meant their bags were far lighter.
Lex picked hers up, a small grey one shoulder that had a couple flashlights in it and stood by the door. Naomi walked over to join her. "So is your sketchbook in Shen's room then?"
Naomi nodded as she pulled her faux leather boots on. Her messenger bag swung back and forth with each movement. She stood up and brushed back the hair that had fallen in her face. "Lex, can you come here?"
The taller teen walked over to her friend, curious. "So, what is it?" Naomi pulled something out of her pocket and held it up for Lex to see. At that moment, Lex was not sure what expression she was making, but it was somewhere between awe and amazement.
It was a pin with a picture of Bendy and Boris on it. The entire pin was one solid shape and looked hand crafted. The characters were smiling at her, Bendy with his trademark grin and wink, and Boris with pure happiness radiating from his eyes.
It was incredible.
"Holy shit Naomi, where did you get that?" The girl smiled softly. "I ordered it from Forge, he does commissions and I got him to make this for you." It took a moment for the last words to register with Lex.
"Me?! The hell did I do to deserve something so cool?" Naomi kept smiling, and gestured for Lex to bend down a bit. She did just that and Naomi unzipped her wind breaker, pinning the button on her dark green shirt.
Lex stood back up and looked down at the elegant piece of work. It was beautiful and seemed to glow in the shitty lighting. She looked back up. "Thanks, Naomi."
"If you two lovebirds are done, we got a studio to get to!" The amused voice of Drew rung out behind them. Lex spun around and found Drew, Shen, and Andy watching her.
"Oh dammit, you couldn't have given us a moment?" She muttered, not bothering to address the tease. Drew snickered into his hand. "Nope, and like I said we got stuff to do, so let's get moving!"
Andy nodded, glasses sliding down his face. "Indeed, we must make our way to the animation studio if we wish to get there quickly enough!"
"Got it Andy, everybody ready?"
"Of course, since I wasn't busy trading gifts with my giiiiirlfriend."
"Drew I'm gonna smack the fu-" Naomi bumped Lex with her shoulder, stopping the curse before it left her mouth.
"I'm good, and so is Shen! Let's head out!" Naomi glared at Lex out of the corner of her eye, daring her to try and continue her threat. Lex liked living and wisely decided not to. Shen nodded in agreement to what Naomi said, her own one shoulder bag held in her arms.
"Excellence, let our journey begin!" And with that Andy opened up the front door and walked outside. Everyone followed him with Shen leaving last since she had to lock the door.
They were going to walk there since Andy figured it would be best to leave little to no evidence that they had been to the studio, and marks from bike tires were pretty obvious signs that someone had been there.
It would take them about a half an hour to get there with the route Andy planned. Lex sighed and walked beside Naomi, not too fast so the shorter girl could keep up. She could feel all her previous fears swarming around her.
There could be anything in that building, even the corpse of Joey Drew, and who knew if Andy's contingency plans would be enough. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the wind that tangled her messy hair.
These people were her friends, and they kept being her friends even with her shitty mood swings and temper. They never abandoned her and always stuck by her side. She owed them so much.
I'll protect everyone from whatever might happen, no matter how dangerous it might get. Even if I might be getting paranoid about this, I'll still be ready.
I have to be.
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AN: LET IT BEGIN!