Disclaimer: I do not own Bendy and the Ink Machine, just this little idea that I'm working on. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1: A Day Like Any Other
The setting sun was hidden behind fluffy white clouds as the crew at Joey Drew Studios were hard at work in order to try and finish their latest project, Animating a brand new Bendy short to premier in theaters. Well… try being the keyword as many problems continued to arise throughout out the day thanks to a constant problem in the form of a large machine that seemed to spread out through the entire building.
The pipes dripped often and new ones would spring up to replace the old ones, leaving the maintenance crew in a near constant sour mood as they would think they had JUST FIXED EVERYTHING, only to have something new break and the cycle starts all over again. At one of these recently reopened leaks were two men, dressed in the standard uniform all members of the maintenance crew had.
"Alright Wally, hand me that wrench." The oldest of the two, a man who seemed to be in his late forties and had a small amount of grey already popping up in his dark brown hair. His face was stern and tired looking with a five o'clock shadow, highlighting some of the wrinkles that were beginning to make their appearance on his face, he also had ink splattered on both his clothing and hair. The man was looking down at a younger, lankier looking man in his early to mid twenties that had curly red hair that poked out of a newsboy cap. The younger man had freckles on his face and a little side bag that had tools at his side.
"Yeah, yeah I got it." Wally sighed and ruffled through the bag before grabbing the needed tool and handed it to the older man. As the older man began tightening some of the bolts, slowly closing the leak, Wally's fingers drummed on his arm for a moment before he spoke up again. "Ya know Thomas, I honestly don't get why Joey insists on keeping this thing."
"Here we go again…" Thomas quietly muttered to himself, not taking his eyes off his work but also bracing himself for what he was expecting to come.
"No seriously, the animators barely even use, what? More than three buckets of the stuff compared to the studio flooding amounts it makes. Who even NEEDS that much ink for anything? Then there's the constant noise. I'm honestly surprised all the music that's recorded doesn't pick any of it up from how loud it can get! And do not even get me started on all the leaks! By god I swear, some days I'm lucky to go home without ink on my-"
"That wraps that up." Thomas interrupted as he started to climb down his little step ladder and give the wrench back to his red haired companion. Wally blinked in surprise, glancing down at the wrench, to the retreating form of the older maintenance worker.
"Oh, uh, right…" Wally put the wrench away and awkwardly followed after Thomas. "So... Where we going for the next round?"
"You are going down to check the Music Department, and then I'll meet with you to check the toy department… I'm taking a smoke break kid." The red haired man physically stopped at these words, his eyes going wide for just a moment before he scrambled to catch up to the brunette.
"Whoa, hey wait. I thought you said a month ago you don't trust me to do these rounds on my own yet."
"What, getting cold feet now? Thought you wanted to move up from being just a cleaning boy."
It was really no secret around the studio that the young man wanted to move up from his janitorial duties… nor was it really a secret that the red head was also not the best at his new job.
"No! I mean Yes! I mean, no I'm not getting cold feet, and yes I do wanna move up, but that doesn't explain just WHY you're letting me do a round or two on my own."
"It's been a month hasn't it?" Thomas took a side glance to the lankier man's face before shrugging. "Besides if ya haven't learned even the basics of what ya need to do, then you should take your own advice and "Get outta here" or something."
The older man put his hands into his pockets and walked off to take his smoke break, leaving the younger, less experienced maintenance worker to stand there and try to figure out what just happened.
….
Down in the Music department, a man with long dirty blonde hair sat at his desk tapping his pen on the surface. His free hand was used as a rest for his forehead, as he stared blankly at the sheet of paper in front of him, a music sheet that was devoid of notes. There were a few ink stains on the legs of his grey overalls, clearly showing he had to wade through some flooded halls, but thankfully for him, his black dress shirt did rather well at hiding any stains there might have been.
It probably didn't help the man's current writers block at all, that some people were walking into his office just to use the stupid pump, that was installed into his room so a few of the people could leave for the day.
One of these days I swear I will kill Joey fucking Drew… The man thought with a snarl crawling onto his face as he heard some of the people's loud voices, as they entered his office just to use the pump… and to add some icing on the cake of intolerance that this man had for everything going on there was a constant ink drip that was going on in the corner of his deck. The loud humming of the machine itself didn't even have to be mentioned.
"Hey there Lawrence, how you holding up today?" the blond music director, Sammy Lawrence, practically dropped his head onto his work desk at the voice of the resident Projectionist, Norman Polk. The darker skinned man stood in the doorway, having to lower his head a little to keep from hitting the top with his flat cap. In his arms were a few new film reels that he needed to test in his beloved projectors before music would be added. A dead panned look was on Norman's face as he watched Sammy's head drop.
"That bad huh?"
"With all these distractions and interruptions, how well can anyone hold up Norman?" Sammy groaned as he dropped his pen onto the desk and held his face in both hands. The music director felt a hand get placed on his shoulder, and looking up he saw Norman had quietly moved from the doorway. How the tall projectionist moved so quietly, Sammy would never know.
"Just gotta hang in there Lawrence. Better yet, why don't the two of us play a bit of billiards in the break room. Might cool you down some, and get the song ideas flowing. Before we have to leave for the day and all."
The music director glanced up to the darker skinned man, then back down to his blank music paper, then to the dripping ink on his desk before finally making up his mind and standing up from his seat.
"If you insist. Get ready to lose once again Norman."
"Says the guy who's lost far more games then I have," Norman chuckled as shorter man stood up, and gave the projectionist a soft push as a quiet "Knock it off" with the beginnings of a small smirk on his face.
The two began their trek to the Music Department's break room, pausing only once when they saw a major leak starting to fill pour down into the infirmary once again. Both men quietly winced when they hear the loud groans of the piano player Johnny, who was brought down there after he nearly threw up all over his instrument of choice.
"Think it was from Ink dripping into his lunch bag again?"
"At this point I'm willing to believe anything involving this cursed substance would be the main cause for anyone being sent there."
"Fair enough… but you'd think they'd do better in keeping those pipes from leaking down there."
"... I'm blaming Joey for that one."
"You blame Mr. Drew for many things."
"Yes but the ink machine IS his fault though."
"Can't really argue there."
As the two continued their walk to the break room, they saw Wally checking some of the pipes in the main area of the department.
"Franks." Sammy's voice made the red haired man jump, and nearly lose his footing on the ladder he stood on. Wally turned his attention to both the Music Director and Projectionist with wide, nearly fearful eyes at the two older men.
"You okay there Wally?" Norman asked, concern being much more evident on him, while Sammy himself looked more unimpressed. Wally stood there for a moment or two before calming down enough to climb down the ladder and finally speak.
"Yeah, yeah, just gave me a fright there was all. Uh, so how ya doing Sammy? Norman?" The red haired man asked, trying to get relaxed once again.
"Well better now that the risk of a broken neck on a coworker is off the board." The projectionist responded with a relieved sigh.
"The usual… If you're looking for leaks to fix, go to the Infirmary before we might have to find a new pianist." Sammy crossed his arms and held his practically patient "I hate everyone" look.
Wally cursed softly before grabbing the ladder and rushing off to the infirmary as quick as his legs could take him, leaving the other two men alone in the halls to glance off after their younger co-worker.
"Well, at least he didn't forget anything this time." Norman commented, only to be stopped by Sammy just pointing at the pipe where Wally was working at. Letting his gaze follow where the director was pointing Norman saw that apparently Wally had been tightening a bolt… and just forgot the wrench on it as well.
"... Never mind, it's still the same old Wally Franks after all."
….
The toy department was slowly winding down and closing for the day. Many of the workers were already leaving, while only two were sitting at a desk focusing on the little dolls they were making. The one doing most of the work was a man in his thirties with messy brown, wavy hair and a freshly shaved face, unlike many others in the studio his outfit was a much more casual look with only a vest to attempt to look more professional. The other was a young woman somewhere in her mid twenties to early thirties. Her long curly brown hair was tied up in an attempt to make a bun but seemed to fall short in a few areas, going down onto her more olive colored skin. She wore a simple little, short green dress with a little white sash that had small little ink stains on it.
"Hey Shawn…" The woman spoke up in a soft voice, guilt clear on her face as well. The man next to her let out a small hum to let her know he was listening as he was sewing a crooked smile onto a Bendy doll. "Do you think… me taking up a voice acting role was a good idea?"
"Well it just means you're moving on up in life Allison. Better than just making dolls that either no one wants, or everyone wants all day long." Shawn spoke, his voice at it's usual loud volume and irish accent making the irritation in his voice much more prominent.
"... even… even if it might have hurt someone?"
"With this economy? I don't be seeing the big deal on it really. You just want to make a little extra money to add in the pocket, lots of people do that to even get where they are now. Hell be glad Mr. Drew is able to give everyone stable jobs at all."
"Yeah… yeah I guess…" Allison sighed and looked down to the little Boris the wolf doll she had been putting the final touches onto.
"Now if you really wanna talk about something that's not a good idea, I'd say it would be making all them Angel whatchamacallits and being unable to sell enough to put a dent in supplies!" Shawn gestured to the many shelves that had far more Alice Angel dolls then both Boris and Bendy lining their many rows and spaces.
"Her name's Alice…"
"Yes that, but still! This little lass don't be getting any love and it's really starting to annoy me as well. Mr. Drew should really just let me melt down the overstocked amounts already, so we can make more of the devils and wolves people want."
Allison just kept quiet and let the toy maker go on with his rant. She had worked with him long enough that it was usually for the best that he just let's it all out in one go, then trying to talk over him and make it all the more worse. The man hardly ever got violent really, being more bark then he was bite, but he was still kinda scary, in her honest opinion, when he did get mad.
She also still didn't have the heart to tell him that she was now technically the new voice actress for the "Angel Whatchamacallit" that he seems to rant about so often. Though then again, he might know and just decided to ignore that fact.
As he seemed to now be in a more talkative mood Allison retreated back into her mind with the feelings of guilt coming back to the surface. All she really wanted was to work alongside Ms. Campbell. Be a background voice or something… but instead Allison somehow upstaged the other woman and gained the lead role of the inked angel. Susie wasn't happy at all with that and Allison remembered hearing the woman break down and cry in the restrooms afterwards.
I'm so, so sorry Susie… The brunette thought to herself as she mentally heard the other woman's sobs once again. All the heartbreak and sorrow were as clear as the day she first heard them.
"Lass, hey now are you alright?"
Shawn's question snapped the guilt ridden woman out of her thoughts and back into the real world. Glancing up at his face Allison saw all the concern on her fellow brunette's face.
"It's… It's nothing Shawn…"
"I be thinking it's something if you're all tearing up like that now."
The curly haired woman's eyes widened a little bit as she felt her face with one of har hands, finding her cheeks were a little wet from tears she didn't even realize she was shedding. Shawn quietly watched as the woman tried in vain to clear her face from her tears and muttering out soft apologies. He drummed his fingers on his desk for a moment before something slowly came to mind. Pushing his chair away from his work desk for a moment, the toy maker began to look around the room for a moment.
"You know what I be thinking lately, Allison?" The irish man questioned, looking through a few of the shelves for a moment. "I be thinking, "why does Mr. Drew keep having us do the same faces all the time for these dolls?" and really? Who only has the one expression their whole lives? Not I that's for sure." Not finding whatever he was looking for on the current shelves present, Shawn went to a lever and pulled it down to cycle through them.
Allison was drawing a blank on what her former boss was getting at. All she knew was that sometimes he liked to mess with Joey Drew, and sneak a few Bendy dolls with crooked smiles into the masses of normal ones. She was also not really getting any hints on just how this was an attempt to cheer her up… that is if this really was one. Shawn has always been pretty hard for her to read.
"Well then, with these ideas going into my head I started thinking;" The toy maker flipped the switch once again, still not finding whatever he was looking for among the many dolls that lined the shelves. "How would one make them more "lifelike" in a way? The answer is actually pretty simple my dear lass!"
The man's eyes seemed to land on what he was looking for and picked up what appeared to be an Alice Angel doll. Shawn practically dived back into his chair after getting his hands onto the doll, only to hand it over to the upset woman and gently take the Boris doll from her hands.
Allison looked down at the doll and was surprised to see instead of the "Cute, charming" expression the doll would usually have, it had one eye looking more like it was closed in a wink, the smile wasn't thin and small, no it was showing some teeth in the same style as the bendy dolls but still a little smaller than they usually are… as well as being a little more off center making it seem more like a toothy smirk.
"You shape them out and fix them up!" The toy maker stated with pure pride and a large smile gracing his face as he watched Allison take in his latest work.
The voice actress was practically stunned into silence as she looked at the doll. Alice, the character herself, wasn't known to be rather mischievous. Well… honestly there wasn't too much personality to her aside from being a "foil" to the ever lovable Bendy that Allison knew of yet. However, as she looked over the careful craftsmanship of the "messed up doll" Allison couldn't help but see a little more in the simple little character. More potential for what could be.
"So… the same… probably goes for voice actors as well?" the pieces had slowly come together in her mind as she spoke.
"There ya have it my dear lass! Now I'm not entirely sure on how them voice actors usually work or anything, but I do know that a little change never hurt none!" Shawn grinned as he leaned back in his chair.
It really hurt Susie though… Allison thought glumily for a moment, but was also heavily focusing on the doll in her hands. A small smile slowly made itself known on her face while looking at the small doll, before handing it back to the toy maker himself.
"Thanks Shawn."
"Ah it be no problem, you always worked really hard 'round here anyway. 'Sides, why dontcha keep this little Angel? Not like she's gonna see outside of this place anytime soon anyways."
Allison's eyes widened a little before a small smile crossed her face as she held the little doll close.
….
Inside the Music Department's break room, a young woman sat at a small table with a glass of water and a defeated look in her eyes. Her black, straight hair was just past her chin, with bangs that mostly settled over the right side of her head and looked recently cut all around. Her grey coat was closed up and had a few ink stains here and there, but was also keeping a cute little baby blue dress safe from the harsh liquid.
How could they have just, done that to me? Handing over the role I was meant to play to some… some nobody?! The woman, Susie, thought to herself anger crossing her face for a brief moment before tears started to crawl down her cheeks as more depressive thoughts began to replace the angry ones.
"... Susie?" The voice of Sammy Lawrence drew her attention away from her mind. The blond haired man had just walked into the room with Norman at his side. Both men were looking at her with great concern. Susie just looked at them for a moment before looking away, her tears still falling down her face.
"Susie… hey now, it's gonna be-" Sammy tried to consol the woman, his voice surprisingly gentle, as he walked over to her side and attempted to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Stop it…" Susie interrupted, moving away from the comforting hand of the man who helped her get her start. She clenched her eyes shut, letting more tears fall down her face. Her arms wrapped tight around herself as she practically drowned in self pity.
"Susie, please… I'm sorry-"
"Sorry doesn't help anything Sammy!"
The music director flinched a little from the outburst and a little guilt soon found its way into his heart. Norman walked over and tapped Sammy on the shoulder before motioning him to move aside for a bit. Quietly following the instructions, Sammy backed off to the closest corner of the room and watched as Norman kneeled down by the table.
"Hey now Ms. Campbell." Norman spoke softly, keeping out of reach and making no moves to attempt to even place a comforting hand on the distraught woman.
"Leave me alone Norman…"
"Now, I can't do that sadly. You clearly need someone to help at the moment. I know, I may not be the best person to understand what your going through… and Sammy might not be much of a help either in all honesty." At the mention of his name the music director shot the projectionist a small glare from his position, but kept quiet. "Neither of us really know what you're going through right now… but we're willing to try and help if you're willing to talk to us."
"... just leave me alone… please…" Susie's voice was far to soft that it was barely heard at all. Her tears however had actually lessened a bit, and she was just sniffling a bit now.
"... Susie," Sammy spoke up once again, not leaving his spot for the voice actress's own comfort. "This is about… Allison isn't it?"
Silence was the only answer he received, but that was really all he needed after all to confirm his suspicions.
"Joey had no right to change you out like that… but sadly in the end he's the one who apparently makes the final decisions in the long run… doesn't he?" Sammy finally walked over to Susie's side, Norman politely making room for him and surprisingly Susie didn't react this time. Not even when Sammy finally placed a comforting hand over one of her own.
"Give him some time. Knowing that guy he'll realize the mistake he made, and then come crawling back to you to fix it. If not, I'm sure there's something we can do to convince him of the mistakes he made… hopefully about the blasted machine as well."
As Sammy spoke, Susie slowly loosened her grip on her arms and then readjusted it to hold onto Sammy's own hand. A small smile slowly coming onto her face as the director did his best to make her feel better. Honestly, this was a side of Sammy that she loved to see the most.
"Or we could do it the way you usually want and risk our jobs." Norman snickered a bit, getting a small chuckle out of Susie as well while Sammy made a small hum as if actually considering it.
"As much as I would love to voice Alice again, I highly doubt it's worth losing my job just to get it back." Susie finally laughed, her mood being lifted and depressive thoughts pushed to the back of her mind… leaving only one last negative thought that fluttered around. How would she make Joey Drew pay for this?
….
Thomas looked up at the darkening sky outside the studio as he took a long drag from his cigarette. The sun was almost completely down and he could see the darkness beginning to make itself known. As he gazed at the scenery, the handy man couldn't help but think of all the overtime he was pretty much putting in for the ridiculous machine his boss insisted that they have.
"Seems like you are going to be having another long night at this rate." A familiar voice sounded off beside him. One glance from Thomas confirmed who the well dressed man was to the handy man of the studio.
"Yeah… and I know for a fact I'm not paid enough for this shit Grant…"
Grant, an average sized man in his early forties with slicked back black hair, a pair of square glasses rested on his face in front of eyes that looked far too tired, simply nodded along and pulled out a match and cigarette of his own.
"You and me both Conner… Joey is once again being beyond unreasonable with the budget I've been trying to push onto him." Grant sighed with irritation and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Honestly with all his spending I'm surprised we haven't hit the red yet."
"Seriously?" Thomas looked to the accountant with surprise on his face.
"I've done all the math, done it twice and thrice to be sure… but it all still doesn't add up on just how we haven't used up all the money yet. That's also factoring in the costs of the theme park that Mr. Drew insists on building, as well as the Ink Machine as well. "
Both Thomas and Grant took took a short drag before slowly blowing it all out, the handyman blowing the smoke upward as he tried to figure out how that was possible, while the accountant had his smoke blown more downward in agitation.
"Think Joey has some secret funds he's tapping into for half this crap?" Thomas suggested only to have Grant shake his head.
"While it is possible, I honestly don't think that's the case with Mr. Drew. He's either making more money from these cartoons then he's letting on, sneaking in and fudging the results or even has some sort of contributors-" Grant paused whatever he was going to say next as both he and Thomas felt drops of water hit their skin. Looking up the clouds seemed to have turned a much darker grey then they had been not to long ago.
"The paper didn't say anything about rain today…" The accountant muttered, knowing that before he came outside there wasn't any hint it was even going to begin… let alone anything in the papers even mentioning that rain might be possible.
"Well, papers have been wrong before." Thomas sighed before snuffing his cigarette out, and turning back around to go back inside. "Guess now's a good as time as any to get back to work. Can't leave Franks alone for to long."
Grant watched as Thomas walked back inside. The accountant glanced back up at the sky and seeing that dark clouds were covering the night's sky, faster than normal. Taking one last drag from his cigarette before snuffing it out finally as the rain started to get a little heavier.
Guess the weather decided to throw us all for a loop today… Grant thought to himself as he turned to go back inside to finish up the last of his work today.
…
Somewhere inside the studio, candle light flickered in a circular pattern as a figure sat before it with their hands clasped as if in prayer and quietly chanting in a strange language.
Within the center of the circle a small puddle of ink began to form as the chant slowly grew a little louder. It continued to do so until the final words were said and the Ink puddle began to ripple and move a little on its own. The figure smiled at the results in front of them and slowly reached down in front of their seat, grabbing one small candle that, unlike the other red ones, was pure white.
"With this… let's make Dreams come true."
The candle was blown out and the Ink puddle exploded everywhere… and around the studio it wasn't the only one to do so.
AN: And so it Begins, my first official, non drabble, story for Bendy and the Ink Machine. I hope you all enjoy it and look forward to the next few chapters~ Please leave a review if you enjoyed it.