So, kind of a 'short' piece cause I was working on how the third chapter of Ups and Downs was going to look and realized that there were some things, particularly characters, that I wanted to work on before bringing everything together. Won't wax on it too long, as I'm sure you all would rather get on with reading the story, so I'll be brief.
This is still in thelostmoongazer's Role Reversal AU, or Henry and the Ink Machine as I've seen it also called on Tumblr, and of course, the characters belong to themeatly and Mike Mood. Thank you so much for clicking, and enjoy the story!
Local Devil Ruins Everything:
When Alice had been first announced, Bendy and Boris had been of two minds regarding the development. While Boris had been enthusiastically ready to welcome the new toon to the studio, Bendy's reaction had been more, lukewarm. Perhaps that should have been the first hint that things were going to be rough settling the angel in, but Joey hadn't seemed troubled so no one else thought much of it either. And, to be honest, things might not have been cordial between Alice and Bendy for the first week, but they were at least polite to one another.
For the first week, after which things started going wrong in earnest. At first, it was relatively small, with Alice having her halo stolen, music sheets being rearranged or changed, and the angel getting locked in the recording booth at least twice. After the third week Bendy had amped up his efforts considerably, the pranks now ranging from changing the clocks in Alice's part of the studio to putting buckets of ink over the doors the little devil knew that Alice would be using that day. And, despite the fact that the angel had been made with all the grace and poise befitting of her design, there were only so many times she could be made a fool of before deciding to strike back. Especially after being caught in the act, Bendy's only response was a flippant shrug and edged grin along with a simple jibe of 'it's a joke, angel, don't tell me you don't know how to take a joke, what kinda toon are you?'.
The mutual battle of the pranks started up in earnest after that, with Alice giving Bendy much of the same he had given her, and Bendy amping up the pranking in response. Even still, it mostly remained in the afterhours, which was just how it could stay for the time being with animations still needing to be finished and plenty of work to keep all members of the studio busy for hours. Some days, Henry found himself staying awake after getting home only long enough to maybe eat something before lapsing into sleep. Which meant that usually Boris was the one handling the antics of his fellow toons, with limited degrees of success. Alice's ultimatum boiled down to 'I'll behave as long as he leaves me alone.', and Bendy just glibly replied that if the angel had such a problem with pranks, then maybe she shouldn't have been made a toon. Which caused the pair to start arguing again to the point where the only thing the wolf could do was separate them for the evening.
Of course, with the situation only growing more and more tense, the somewhat fix could only work for a certain amount of time. So when Boris almost crashed into the wall of Henry's office out of breath and at his wits end, the animator couldn't say he was surprised. Concerned, worried, but not surprised.
"Henry, please, you gotta do something, I can't stop them, they're just-!" The feverish explanation cut off as the wolf gestured frantically for Henry to follow, ears back and eyes wide. It didn't take Henry long to get up from his desk, though he was glad that even in his utterly panicked state Boris remembered that the animator didn't have nearly as long a stride as the wolf, slowing down enough for Henry to keep pace all the way to a room on the floor below. Even before he was to the door, Henry could hear the tell-tale noises of Bendy and Alice engaging in a slew of shenanigans that would probably be hilarious on the big screen. And, upon managing to get past the grouping of young and senior animators that had been forced out into the hall, he had to admit that the scene was good material for one of the shorts.
It really was too bad that it was happening in one of their main studios, where a lot of their newer shots were being drawn. The fruits of the animators' labors were all over the floor, many splattered with ink, torn, and no longer useable. The desks were pushed to the sides or being alternatively used as cover for the pair of toons as they lobbed both projectiles of wadded paper, pens, and insults at each other. Well, the insults part was more Bendy than Alice, whose expression was fixed in a determined grimace at both her efforts to peg Bendy and the fact that the little devil had gotten her on the head with what looked like an ink-sodden wad of paper. The acoustics and the sheer noise volume made it hard to tell exactly what was being said, what with Bendy shouting, Alice occasionally shouting back, Boris trying to yell over them in an effort to get them both to stop, and the angry hum and exclamations of the animators out in the hall, and Henry was just in the middle trying to figure out what to do next.
However when it came to situations like this, one could really only sit idle for a little bit before someone else would take over. Henry noticed a lull in the dull roar filtering in through the hallway, turning to see Boris staring at something coming down the passage. The expression on the wolf's face was telling him that he probably wasn't going to like whoever was arriving, but Henry turned to look down the hall anyway.
Just in time to make eye contact with Joey Drew, who was easily ambling his way up the hall with help from a cane. Despite the toll that the accident had had on the studio head, there was hardly any diminishing of the gravitas he had, his mere presence enough to quiet down the equal parts stressed and frustrated staff. Stopping next to Henry, Joey turned, quietly surveying the chaos of the animation room with an unreadable expression.
Even the jibes and hollers that Bendy and Alice had been throwing at each other had tapered off once they realized who was standing at the door, the angel's expression going from fiercely determined to shocked fear, Bendy's own facial features suffering a very similar transformation with the added bonus of ink starting to run from his brow. For a moment, it was completely quiet, the tense atmosphere only ratcheting into stifling levels as everyone stared at the studio head, waiting for him to either say or do something.
Henry had been about to turn to his old friend, maybe implore him to actually speak with the toons this time instead of letting things continue the way they'd been going, though one of the older animators stepped in first.
"Mr. Drew, we can't get anything done with that demon, we were just finishing up the shots, talking with Alice and he started throwing things-."
The man would have likely continued, though an upraised hand from Joey stopped his speech cold. Joey then turned to Boris, and Henry couldn't help but wince at the fact that the wolf wouldn't even meet the studio head's eyes, his body language ashamed and meek.
"Boris, why didn't you stop them from fighting? We talked about this."
"…S-sorry, Joey. I…It all started happening so fast, I-I just ran to get Henry-."
"That does explain why you're here…" Joey remarked, more to himself as his eyes quietly passed over Henry's shorter frame. Henry, for his part, opened his mouth, ready to put in his own two cents, when the animator who had been speaking before decided that he'd had enough and started talking again.
"We've lost at least two week's worth of work with this, Mr. Drew. If you want the shorts to even have a chance of being finished on time anymore we're going to need to do something with-."
"Yes." Joey said, even and calm but still cutting through the other man's words like a knife through butter. "Some changes will have to be made, perhaps."
In the periphery of his vision, Henry noticed Bendy flinch, eyes wide as he stared at his creator. The animator had been about to try a third time to get a word in, maybe implore his friend to at least give Bendy a talk or something, smooth some of the ruffled feathers and ease the strange pressure that had been building ever since Alice was announced. However, Joey turned to him first, the other man's words beating out the possibility of a conversation.
"Henry, I know this is a lot to ask with your workload, but can you please take Bendy upstairs with you for the rest of the day? If he misbehaves, you can send him to me, but we will need to get this straightened up. Alice, dear, please head down to the music department, so we can at least make sure the songs are ready on time."
And with that, the studio head turned to hobble back up the passageway, the sound of his cane fading after a few moments. The quiet, however, only lasted a few seconds before the animators started to filter back in, various exclamations and groans of distress at all of the destroyed work filling in as background noise. Alice hurriedly slipped out, pushing past Bendy and Henry to head the opposite way down the corridor towards the lift. It took Bendy a few extra minutes to remember that he had to move, awkwardly stepping through the growing crowd with his eyeline barely going past anyone's knees. Henry waited long enough for Bendy to drag his feet the rest of the way over to his side. The devil made an aborted attempt to glance up, eventually just letting his gaze rest at his feet. Henry quietly let a hand rest on the back of the toon's head to steer him; Bendy nowadays wasn't one for overtly holding hands or being carried, more out of pride than anything else.
Catching sight of Boris starting to follow Henry glanced back, quickly gesturing to the wolf that he should go after Alice. Once the lanky toon nodded to show he'd understood, Henry flashed him a tired smile and a thumbs up, the gesture getting a wane grin from Boris as he turned to trail after the angel.
Alright, two problems somewhat taken care of, now it was just him and Bendy. Thankfully the little devil didn't seem to want to continue his reign of terror, and remained quiet all the way up the stairs and back to Henry's office. The pair stopped just inside the little room, and Henry quietly put his hand back at his side.
"Alright." The animator said into the dead silence. "I am going to finish this shot, and then we are going to talk about what happened. Sit down."
At any other point in time Henry might have marveled at how fast Bendy moved from his side to the spare chair the animator kept in his office, but at the moment he was far too worn out to care beyond the fact that the little devil is doing precisely what Henry told him to. With a quiet sigh, he sunk back into the chair in front of his drawing table, easily getting lost in the quiet rhythm of inky strokes being applied to paper. The familiarity of it helps the earlier frustration and stress start to clear; the shot is not exceptionally hard, just a little tedious putting to paper. It's certainly a fair bit easier than what would be coming once he finished, but for the moment, Henry kept his mind on his work. After a few minutes though he did sneak a glance over at Bendy, noting the uncharacteristic silence from the small toon.
The little devil had drawn his legs up, folding his arms and resting his head on his knees. There was a slight dripping to his arms, legs, and head that Henry could make out, but ultimately Bendy remained noiseless and stationary.
It seemed to take hours for the shot to actually be done, though logically Henry knew that it had only been somewhere around ten minutes. Still, Henry carefully put the pen down, leaning back in his chair for a moment before turning to face Bendy. Seeming to feel the man's eyes on him, Bendy glanced up, a small jolt going through his frame when he realized that he was being watched. Immediately Henry leaned back, giving the little devil some space before deciding to bite the bullet and get this conversation going.
"So…" Henry started, doing his best to keep his tone as calm as possible, no need to put Bendy through any more stress than he was already putting himself through. "…what happened down there?"
The little devil gave a somewhat shaky snort at the question, a weak smile rattling its way onto his face.
"Dunno why you're asking Henry, you were there…y..you heard…"
"I know, but I want to hear it from you." The animator replied, after the toon's words had tapered off into an unsteady lull. Bendy glanced up again, meeting Henry's eyes for just a scant second before immediately riveting his gaze back to his knees.
"I, uh, we, we were s'pposed to be helpin' the new animators, with drawing some of the new shots, f..fer the short…it's just…she was there, and…they were all talking, and…and one of them s…said somethin' along the lines of, Alice bein' easier to draw or some malarkey… a, and I just, got so mad I started throwin' things…I- I didn't mean to ruin the whole room but after a bit it got, hard to stop…" The small toon took in a shaky gulp of air, before seeming to remember something and immediately looking up at Henry. "It wasn' Boris's fault, he was tryin' to make things alright for the past week, I just… didn' wanna listen…"
Henry gave a small nod at the explanation, before a question roused itself into being.
"Why was Boris, trying to make things alright?" Henry immediately realized how strange the somewhat halting question sounded, and hurried to explain. "Sorry, I just, haven't really been able to keep up with things for the past few weeks. I know about the pranks, but not much else."
"It's been…it's just…" Bendy tried, eyes quietly roving around as he attempted to wrangle his thoughts into words. "I…Alice is…"
Even with his best efforts, the little demon lapsed back into a tense quiet, more ink starting to dribble from his browline. Henry gave a barely audible sigh and decided, well, if anything else perhaps it was better to start from where the problem seemed to have first reared its head.
"I know you weren't very happy when we announced Alice's debut, Bendy, but…" The animator stopped, wondering how best to phrase his thoughts. At least, in a way that hopefully wouldn't have the little devil getting even more upset. "…it's, not really fair of you to take it out on Alice. She's new to everything, just like you were, at one point. It's like with the voice actors, you remember the way they reacted, right?"
A quiet frown and a nod was his answer. Henry pressed on.
"And what did I tell you then?"
"To not let it get to me, 'cause even if they were mad, it wasn't…right to…take things out on me. That I couldn't help how I was made." Bendy replied, the hesitance and further miring expression telling Henry that at least part of the point had managed to strike a chord. Still…
"Though, Bendy, if you want to get upset with anyone, you can get upset with me. I did help design her."
Bendy quietly listened, eyes slightly narrowed as he seemed to think.
"...Why?" The little devil finally asked, shoulders drawing up as his face scrunched. His tail, which had been tucked close, started to flick like that of an angry cat.
"Why did I help design her?" Henry clarified, Bendy giving him the barest of nods before speaking again.
"Just…Is it because I can't sing? Cause I can't play instruments like Boris can?"
"Who said you couldn't sing?"
"Sammy…he said my voice was 'passable, but not a strong lead'…" The somewhat stuffy, drawn out vocals was something of a dead ringer for Sammy, and Henry had to give ground here, it did sound like something the music director would say, he wasn't exactly known for his tact. Still, Henry thought he was getting an idea for what exactly was setting off Bendy. At the very least it was something to start from, even if there was still a niggling thought in his mind that Joey should be the one alleviating these fears.
"Sammy's a particular person, Ben, and not very good at talking to people."
"Alice is good at talking to him." Bendy countered, pie-cut eyes locking on the animator's dark ones. Henry gave a small shrug, conceding a little.
"They've got a mutual interest, something to connect over."
Yeah, and it's gonna shove me right out…!" Bendy snapped, posture unfolding so he could throw up his hands in his frustration, and some deeper-running nerves. "Henry, what'd I do wrong? 'Part from what happened downstairs, I haven't done anything, I haven't broken anything, I've been trying hard with the shorts and the voice-work, and this still happens! Why?! I thought, I thought I was doin' good, that everything was fine, but then she comes along and everything just goes bad and now Joey's gonna get rid of me for sure this time and-!"
"Hold on now…" Henry started, cutting through the frustrated and increasingly frenetic flood of words gushing from the small toon's mouth. "…Bendy, Joey is not getting rid of you."
"But, you heard him, he said he was gonna make changes, he was lookin' right at me! What else d'ya think he meant by that?" The sheer level of panic in the little devil's expression, which was only accentuated by the renewed dripping of the ink around his face and the manner in which his tail wrapped close to his legs, gave Henry a moment's pause. Holding in a sigh, he tried to keep his voice even while internally wondering if this was what parenthood was like.
"I think he was remarking more on your behavior lately. Wally's been having to clean up the aftermath of a lot of yours and Alice's pranks on each other, and this…" Now Henry really does sigh, heavily, a hand coming up to massage at one of his temples as he already envisions the late nights he's going to have to pull to help get things ready on time.
"'M sorry, Henry…I…I really didn' want things to go this far…"
"…I know you didn't." The animator replied after a second, opening his eyes and looking at the still distraught toon. Bendy's expression was utterly wretched, head downturned and his shoulders tense and posture drawn in on itself as ink ran freely down his face. His hands quietly fumbled and twisted, the white livery of his gloves clenching and unclenching as the little toon seemed fit to wring the life out of the small appendages.
Alright, hell with the serious talk...
"Bendy?" He tried, quietly holding out his hands in invitation when the little devil looked up.
It's a real testament to how overwrought Bendy is that he barely hesitates, practically throwing himself into Henry's arms and burrowing his head right under the animator's chin. The toon's small shoulders start to shake only moments later, but any sobs he might be uttering are completely silent. So are Henry's own quiet murmurs of apology for not addressing what seemed like such a simple, small fear, grown and nurtured into a monster, and reassurances to the little toon huddled with his hands clenched in the animator's shirt that no one hated him, or wanted to see him abandoned and friendless. The noise barely rose over a low church murmur, nonexistent beyond the small sphere the two inhabited. The only way someone might know what was happening in the small office would be to walk right in.
Or perhaps if they had ears like the ones Henry could see start to peek around the corner to the main room. Henry quietly watched as the black appendages were steadily followed by a familiar white face, Boris's eyes widening for a moment at the animator and devil before noticing that he had someone's attention and pulling back out of sight.
The animator, for his part, suppressed another exhausted sigh threatening to bubble up and just turned his attention back to the toon still huddled on his lap. The shakes had mostly lessened by that point, Bendy's breathing returning to a calm, steady rate. The pair sat in silence for a few more minutes, before Bendy's tail flicked, the short wags hinting at a devil in deep thought.
"…Hey, Henry?" The small toon finally spoke up, voice hushed and cautious.
"Yeah, Bendy?"
"I was…thinking, can I maybe go home with you?"
"No, Bendy, you know we can't…"
"No, just, f-for the night, I just wanted, I mean, everyone's gotta be sick of me here, might as well make myself scarce for a bit…" The tone was back to the usual, devil-may-care sibilance, but the tear streaks and jerkiness to the smile were an easy reminder of the small toon's state only a few moments ago.
"That's not going to help things, Ben. Besides, Joey doesn't want you running too far from the studio, he'd never agree to it."
"Yeah, and when you leave he's definitely just gonna…shove me back into the ink machine, or something…" Bendy replied, crossing his arms and looking down, the stiff tension in his shoulders and anxious frown hinting at the actual emotions at play under the irritation.
"No, he's not." Henry said, putting a careful but solid emphasis on the words to give them more weight, perhaps enough to sink the worried thoughts plaguing the little devil. "And even if he was planning to, well, it wasn't exactly smart to say anything regarding that where I could hear him."
"Gonna teach him a lesson, Henry?" Bendy asked after a surprised pause, the sardonic tone undermined by the somewhat appreciative grin on the small toon's face.
"Only if he makes me." The animator replied, raising a fist in mock-bravado. The image caused a fit of giggles to erupt from the small, ink-composed frame, Bendy keeling forward to prop his head up against Henry's chest as his shoulders shook. Even after the snickering had ceased, the little devil still didn't move, shoulders slumped and head resting comfortably against the animator's chest. Henry kept a hand on the inky shoulders, quietly mimicking a half-remembered motion he knew had always calmed him down as a small boy. Circles over the upper back, slow and steady but easy enough to pull away from should Bendy decide this was enough physical affection for one day. His other arm was more or less loosely in position to catch the toon if he should start dozing off and slide backwards.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, though the stretch of time could have been hours and perhaps neither would have guessed. However, the moment was somewhat interrupted when Bendy quietly shifted, moving to sit sideways in Henry's lap with his head resting just over the animator's heart. It was a familiar position, one that would not have been too out of place in the days following Bendy's abrupt introduction into the studio, somewhere in between when the devil and animator had warmed to each other and the point where stresses masquerading as brashness had started to slip into the toon's behavior.
This wasn't resolved, at least not just yet, but for the moment it was well on its way to being mended. And that was a good enough start for now.
The studio was a different place at night, the ordinary rush and bustle from the animators, scriptwriters, musicians, and general staff completely absent after the building had been locked up. Even still it was hardly bereft of all activity, what with the presence of the now three toons calling the place home.
But, unlike the past few nights, there were no sounds of shouting, no clatter and racket from a just set off prank, and no shrieks of the resident toon devil's name to the rafters. In fact, it was downright quiet, almost serenely so. Almost, if it weren't for the manner in which Bendy was still quietly seated in Henry's office, having gone in there after the animator gone home just to be sure that all of the workers had left, and to steel himself for what he would have to do. When the animator had left, he'd given the small toon one task to have done by the time the studio opened up the next day. On paper it was simple, just deliver an apology to the other two toons in the building, but the weight of it still caused a slump to his posture, tail dragging in slow arcs over the floor as Bendy tried to think of how he could approach the problem. Or at least, do it in some way that wouldn't have everyone still hating him by the time he was done.
Addressing it in his own way didn't work, trying to prove he was better didn't work, and ignoring it had backfired quite spectacularly, so part of him couldn't help but feel that this was also going to just end badly. However, when he'd brought that up to Henry, the animator had just given the problem a thoughtful look and asked Bendy if he was sorry for what he'd done. When the answer had been an obvious 'YES, didn't we just get through this?', Henry'd simply answered that as long as he remembered that, then things would go fine. He trusted that Bendy could handle it. Which was the real sticking point, he TRUSTED Bendy to handle it, meaning if he got this wrong he wouldn't just be letting Boris, Joey, or even (gah) Alice down. He'd also be letting down the one person who had taken the time to talk to him, taken the time to listen and figure out the problem.
He didn't want to disappoint Henry, was the long and short of his conundrum, both the reason he was hiding away in the animator's office and the source of his quiet shame over it. If he wanted to fulfill the one request Henry gave him, he'd have to go find Boris and Alice, but the longer he stayed, the longer he could put off some impending backlash from whatever it was he seemed to do when it came to these things.
But if he stayed here all night…
Growling in frustration at himself and the situation, Bendy finally pushed himself off of the chair he was sitting on, feet hitting the floor with a sharp thud as he straightened, stomping to the door and out into the main room. It wasn't as if it would be very hard to find them; living with someone in a limited floor space for a while did give you an idea of the places they liked to frequent.
It didn't stop his feet from starting to drag the closer he got to where he knew at least Boris would be. The slight hum of hushed voices in the hall confirmed his guess, but for the moment Bendy was confused as to why Boris would be seemingly talking to himself, and why at least part of the low hum was in a distinctly higher tone.
But the closer he got, the clearer the hum became, and the more it started to become two, separate voices in conversation. The little devil stopped right in front of a door where a silver of light beamed from the cracks, a hand out to push the door the rest of the way open, but held back by the words he could hear filtering through.
"-on't worry about Bendy, he's just…upset, is all."
"Upset, Boris? If you were upset, would you make someone look like a fool in front of everyone else? Would you insult them constantly, make them feel like they weren't good enough for the one thing they were supposed to do?"
"Uh, n..no, I wouldn't…" The wolf conceded after a few moments, but immediately leaped back into the conversational fray. "But I'm not Bendy, and Bendy's, well, he sees things differently than you or me."
"I know, and you've said so, repeatedly." Alice responded, voice sounding exhausted and more than a little heated. "But it's not fair! The only thing I did was be created, and all I want to do is sing and dance! Why does he have to hate me for that? Isn't that why he was made?"
"…yes…" Boris's voice sounded so small, wanting to have a defense for his buddy but…
…and Bendy couldn't help the facepalm that came on, the hand crashing against his head a poor comparison for the realization that had hit like a lightning bolt. Of course Alice and Boris were at least friendly with each other, Boris tried to be friends with everybody. And like Henry had said, they both loved music, so it was a 'common interest'.
And with his antics, the devil had been making Boris choose between his friends. Messing things up for someone he didn't want to. Again.
Alright, well, no more of that…
Bendy reached out, pushed the door open, and took two steps inside before realizing that he really didn't have anything prepared in his head to say.
Instead, the toon devil just ended up standing there with an upraised hand, ready to punctuate his nonexistent speech. Both Boris and Alice were staring at Bendy, the former a mix of surprise and relief, the latter a mix of surprise and creeping annoyance.
"Hi, all…I just…" Henry said that as long as he was really sorry, then he would know what to say. Henry trusted Bendy to handle it. He could do this. He was sorry for making Boris have to choose. He was sorry for being a jerk to Alice, for tormenting her and tricking her for something she couldn't help. After all, he'd been made to dance, like she had been made to dance and sing. Neither of them could help the situation they were, well, not 'born', though 'made into' didn't quite have the same ring to it.
"Sorry, I'll…I'll get out of your hair in a bit, just wanted to say…" Another deep breath, and the devil went on, hands clasped in front of his frame as he fought the urge to rock on his heels to dispel his nerves. "…That I'm sorry, to the both of you. I've been a really, really big idiot, and a jerk, and…"
What else was he supposed to say? Surely 'sorry' was it, right? Then why did it still feel like he wasn't finished?
"A-And, um, ang-Alice. I guess if you wanted to have, I dunno, a month's worth of pranking me with no retributin', or if you just wanna…chew me out now, or something, I'd, I'd be fine with that. I won't talk back, I won't even open my mouth, you just…say what you need to say, I guess…"
The little devil managed to steal a glance up at Alice, just in time to see her daintily hop down from the chair she'd been perched on. Bendy also caught a glimpse of Boris looking between the two with an expression of hopeful anxiousness before the small toon lost his nerve and looked down again. He could however hear the clicking of Alice's feet on the floor as she came closer and closer, stopping right in front of him.
Well, angel, what's it gonna be? He didn't dare say it aloud, but the thought was present all the same. Well, that and the dripping that had started to frame his face again. Geez, this ink…!
A slight breath from over his head made Bendy tense, though thankfully Alice didn't waste much time in talking.
"Well, to be honest, I'm not, really sure I'd want to…get back at you by pranking you, Bendy. I…are you alright?"
Huh? That was…oh, wait, she'd never seen him drip this much, had she?
"'m not hurt, angel, I just, drip, sometimes. Joey said it's a stress response, 'cause he made me a bit wrong or somethin'. You were sayin'?"
Looking up at Alice with what he hoped was an easy smile on his face, eager to get this going because whether they kicked him out or kept him, he'd still rather they got it over with. What Bendy wasn't expecting was the somewhat thoughtful if mostly unreadable look on the angel's face, the fact that he simply could not puzzle out what was coming causing his smile to grow a touch frozen.
For a moment he could wholeheartedly believe that Joey had some input in designing the angel, until she quietly sighed, pressing a white gloved hand to the side of her head for a moment before venturing to speak.
"Bendy…well, as I was saying before, I don't really want to prank you, I think you've made it clear that that's more your hat than mine-."
"Dunno, you did give me a run for my money in some parts…" The toon devil broke in, causing the angel to sigh with a roll of her pie-cut eyes at the interruption. "…and shutting up."
As the devil gestured for her to continue, Alice just quietly waited for a moment before going on.
"Honestly, at this point, I think I just want to…start over. Though there are some things I want to be sure of before we do anything else."
Looking to make sure that the little devil was paying attention, Alice continued, dark eyes quietly watching Bendy's face.
"I just want to know, you are sorry? And you promise not to do it again?"
"Yuh-Yeah!" Bendy replied after a tick, caught off guard by the frank questions. "I am sorry, and I definitely won't be doing anything this bone-headed stupid again! Look, here, we can shake on it, an-Alice, like this!"
And the little devil proffered a hand to the angel, smiling with a mix of nerves and hope. The pause that followed only dragged for a few seconds, more because Alice seemed surprised by the gesture than any sort of coldness. But, after a moment, the toon angel reached out to Bendy's hand, expression softening into a grin when it became clear that there were no further tricks. In return, the small toon's own earnest smile grew wider, and their hands bobbed up and down for a moment before releasing.
"So, what now?"
Bendy blinked at the question, smile falling for a moment before something seemed to come to mind.
"Well, you said we're startin' over, right? Let's go from there." Bendy put in. Taking a deep breath, the little demon released the angel's hand, stepping back and putting on a polite, welcoming smile.
"Hey, Miss angel-whom-I've-never-met-before! I'm Bendy, the dancin' demon. Pleased to meetcha!" The enthusiastic greeting was punctuated with a flourishing bow and proffered hand, like something out of a theater play. Alice watched the display with a somewhat burgeoning grin, elegantly placing her hand in the devil's own. Bendy gave it a brisk shake, surprising the angel a little though Alice recovered with good grace.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Bendy. My name's Alice. I'm looking forward to working with you!" The equally chipper greeting simply sat for a few moments before the angel looked quizzically at the little devil, who stared back before giving her a shrug.
"Yeah…I got nothin' else. So, uh…" Bendy floundered for a moment before a sudden clatter off to the side caught the attention of both toons, heads snapping to look to the audience of their resolution. Boris, who had been remaining quite silent up until that point, had just jumped in his chair like he had wanted to add something to the conversation, only to falter once he realized that he had somewhat interrupted the moment.
"Ah, sorry, guys, I just…we have music, Sammy left us a bunch of records, we could have a party, or somethin', if you both wanna…" The somewhat hesitating tone was undercut by the energetic wagging of the wolf's tail, clear from the faint thumps as it thwapped against the chair next to him. Bendy passed a fond eyeroll over to the wolf, and though he honestly wasn't too opposed to the idea he figured he wasn't the only one that had to say yes.
"I'm alright with it if you are, angel. Ready to be wowed by a toon made to dance?"
"Only if you are, Bendy."
For a moment, the devil looked ready to snap back with some quip or remark, though he seemed to think better of it and just looked to Boris.
"Guessin' that's a yes, Boris! Start the music!"
The wolf's tail seemed to hit a new tempo at the affirmation, though he kept his movements careful as he plucked one of the records out of its case and set it on the player. Before long, an upbeat yet easy tune breezed in, effortlessly filling the silence of the room. Despite the fact that his feet were already itching to move to the beat Bendy hesitated for a moment, looking to Alice to see if she had any ideas of how to proceed.
…Only to catch her glancing at him in much the same way. Oh boy howdy was this going to be awkward.
But no, he came, he's giving this another shot, and it's dancing, it's what he was made to do! Blazes, even when he didn't know what he was doing he still managed to not mess it up, and things were at least in his wheelhouse this time around!
…That had to at least count for something, right?
Despite the fact that his smile might have been showing some of the strain, Bendy began to move, feet beginning to slide into the start of a flashy quick-step, something he's pretty familiar with. Hopefully Alice wouldn't just stand there…
But no, much to Bendy's relief, the angel too started to move in graceful patterns, a style of her own but still in time with the swell of the music. Alright, good. Now he could relax and actually enjoy himself a bit. From his vantage spot next to the record player, Boris also began to move in time with the beat, remaining mostly in his chair though his fingers tapped against the backrest. His tail had also not stopped moving since the tune had started to play, firmly caught up with the rising mood in the room.
That is, until the two dancers crashed into each other and Alice's taller frame easily knocked Bendy to the floor. Though the music certainly didn't stop or skip the joyous mood from before did, Boris stopping all movement and Alice's hands flying to her mouth in mortified shock at the upset she had partially caused.
"Oh, Bendy, I'm so sorry!" She said as the devil pushed himself to a kneel, shaking his head in an effort to clear it from the jolt. The angel reached down to Bendy, who looked up at first in annoyance, and then surprise at the hands being offered to him. Tilting his head, the little devil's eyes went from both the angel's offered help to the look on her face, before cautiously putting his hands in hers and letting Alice pull him to his feet.
"Bendy, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" The angel asked once the smaller toon was reoriented. He blinked at the words being presented, almost seeming to question if he had heard right, before giving a grin.
"Just fine, angel. Takes more than that to keep me down."
"Good point." Alice conceded with a short giggle, then something appeared to occur to the angel.
"Hey, Bendy?"
"Yeah?"
"Want to try something else?"
"Like what?" The smaller toon asked, head tilting quizzically. His eyes widened a bit when Alice suddenly pulled him into the start of a new dance. It was about as jazzy as the song, full of light, quick movement, but with a strange sort of elegance to it in a blend that Bendy liked. Alice seemed to as well, given how her halo kept glowing like a lantern light.
Not to mention, it seemed made for two. It took a few missteps and trodden-on toes for it to work, but both toons were quick studies for the other's styles, and before long, both were alternating in leading, spinning in enthusiastic circles over the wooden floor as they managed to slide into a surprisingly easy sync. Both are all smiles at the manner in which they moved, weaving in between each other in time with the beat, it was so simple and fun!
Why hadn't they ever thought of doing this before?
It was then that the little devil caught sight of something…odd, in the still-open doorway. He almost missed it if it weren't for the fact that he knew there had been nothing outside to make that sort of a shape when he'd come in, so there was no reason for it to be there. It almost looked like a person, he could see a distinct head, shoulders, and maybe a leg. Still, it seemed like a burglar would have at least made some sort of noise by this point, so, perhaps someone hadn't gone home for the night?
The figure still stood mostly hidden by the doorframe, so the devil really couldn't have said exactly who it was, until it shifted and suddenly he could see the sharp line of a cane resting next to its right side.
Bendy stopped dead, Alice almost tripping over his feet before coming to a halt herself. For a moment the angel was a little annoyed, until she caught the look of shock on Bendy's face framed by a slight dribble of ink running down his temple.
"Bendy? Are you alright?"
Her voice seemed to stun the smaller toon out of whatever trance he was in, pie-cut eyes blinked for a moment before Bendy seemed to remember where he was and threw on a smile. Boris, who had also snapped to worried attention at the sight of the disturbance, perked his ears forward as he tried to catch the conversation. Bendy glanced towards the door again; whoever it was seemed to have gone. Well, if it was who he thought it was, then the best thing to do would be…
"…Yeah, I'm fine! Just thought I saw...I-It's not important, angel. C'mon the music's still playin' and the night's still young! Let's keep this party goin'!"
And with hardly any more thought to the disturbance Bendy whisked Alice to the side, effortlessly getting the fast-paced dance going again. The mood easily carried off the concern of the other toons, both Boris and Alice letting go of the disruption as easily as it had crashed in. Still, Bendy passed a few covert looks at the doorway before finally settling back into the more jovial rhythm, but nothing new appeared and eventually he lost interest.
The dancing carried on long into the night, leaving all three toons exhausted but happy the next morning when the studio opened up. Even with a jaw-popping yawn escaping from his mouth Bendy greeted Henry at the door, giving the animator a proud grin and ready to tell all about what had happened the night before as Henry worked.
And, rambling time. If you wish to skip the waffle below, feel free, just please consider leaving a review letting me know how this was, given that this entire piece is based around a lot of what-ifs regarding certain characters and the feedback would be wonderful. Also, if you notice any grammar mistakes or the like, please point that out too!
Now then.
Alright, let me first start with Good God, I did not expect for this to go on as long as it did. I definitely had ideas for how I wanted certain things to be, for example, Henry being the dad-in-everything-but-name to the toons, particularly Bendy in this case, and Alice and Bendy kind of ending up with this strange sort of not-quite-sibling-rivalry that hasn't quite formed into a rivalry yet cause Bendy's still in 'let's mitigate the damage mode'. Joey was another fun aspect of this, as while I do see everyone on Tumblr talking about him saying that he might have been physically abusive to the toons in some AUs, really it never needs to go quite that far. I kind of did want Joey to keep some of that ambiguity that he has in the game, so I made him a bit more the neglectful or not-quite-there sort of parent, though whether or not this is due to inattentiveness, inability, or malice I'll leave up to you the reader to decide. Actually, share in a review what you think regarding the Joey character conundrum, I'd love to get some feedback.
Henry too was somewhat fun to write, given that I do have some thoughts regarding his background and why he's the unflappable, calm sort that he is. Still, he's by far more willing to step into the role he's needed in, whether it be animator or parental substitute for a devil with a slight case of an inferiority complex and a drive to prove he's still worthwhile. I also get the feeling if Bendy were approached in an aggressive or cold manner regarding the whole incident, it would have likely ended in tears or him shutting down emotionally and no progress being made in actually addressing the problem, ergo, Henry has to be careful, letting Bendy know what he did wrong but more in a pointing out way and less rubbing his nonexistent nose in it kind of way.
Its interesting also in seeing how this all links up with Bendy himself. With Henry, he of course wishes not to disappoint the man, as Henry is one of the few apart from Boris that treats him with more than just cool professionalism or outright, not really derision or disgust, more that kind of uncanny valley-esque creeped out because Joey, toons are not supposed to be alive. We all said it would be cool, but that didn't mean do God-knows-what to make it happen. At any rate, Henry, sees Bendy (along with Boris and Alice by extension) to be a mix of the character he created, and a kid simply thrown into the pressures of the real world without much by way of help beyond maybe the bare minimum of teaching. He ends up getting attached, and vice versa with Bendy, and things progress from there until Bendy runs away (though now I wonder if the conversation they had regarding Henry keeping Joey in line would have something of a sour note to it after the fact). But Bendy and Joey, now there's something a bit more complicated and not quite so clear. Partially because of all of the ambiguity, really, I get the feeling that the toons kind of thrive on emotional responses from people. Even fear or anger they'd get and know how to work from. Complete stoicism though, bordering on emotionless? A bit, creepier for them definitely, and Joey is the master of this state of mind. And then there's the trope of Tranquil Fury, the anger that channels itself like a sniper shot or a surgeon cutting to the problem areas. And if that problem area is a person, well...perhaps Bendy's fears might be founded in some truth. Again, I do not really consider Joey the physically violent sort, at least not at this point, you can hurt someone without raising a finger against them. You just have to know them very well.
And I think that's everything on my mind regarding this. Thank you so much for reading along, if you have anything to add, you can leave a review or send a PM. I look forward to hearing any thoughts you may have.