This cartoon starts on an early spring morning in the small countryside town of Briar Ville. Along the main dusty avenue, shopkeepers unlock the doors to their businesses, turning signs in the windows from CLOSED to OPEN. Students weighed down by sizable backpacks scurry toward a big red schoolhouse that as a bell dinging in its tower. Birds tweet as they soar through the clear skies. It seems everyone has somewhere to go and is in a rush to get there.
Then a demon arrives.
His horned shadow seeps into view first, hinting at a figure much larger and scarier than the impish toon who strolls out from between two buildings—Bendy, the Dancing Demon.
Whistling a jolly tune, over head and white bowtie bouncing to the rhythm, Bendy twirls a wrench in his gloved hand like a baton. He notes the warmth of the sun high overhead and whiffs the fragrance of baked goods from the bakery further up the street. Best of all is the laughter of the nearby children. Bendy grins and waves to several frantic girls and boys hurrying past, and they screech to a halt right away. Many of them approach the little demon in obvious glee . . . at least until the harsh sounds of someone clearing her throat shatters the moment.
A teacher in a polka-dot dress stands on the front school steps, armed cross, radiating sternness while impatiently tapping one foot. She whips out a wooden ruler to point at the open door, and Bendy can hardly blame the kids for scrambling to obey her. When they manage to slip indoors just as the bell tolls one final time, he even leaps up in a twirl with his wrench pointed at the skies, clicks his heels together, and whistles in a show of triumph.
Unfortunately, this little victory celebration brings him under direct scrutiny by the teacher.
Bendy stiffens in anxiety. Sweat trickles down his face as he stands there, expecting at any moment for the teacher to deliver an explosive reprimand for detaining her pupils. Rather than get angry, though, the teacher instead studies Bendy in outright curiosity tinged with sympathy at his obvious discomfort. She seems to have something on her mind, or some remark to make, but then decides against it.
Soon the door clicks shut on a suddenly quiet and much-too-still street.
Bendy sighs. Briar Ville is so empty without any children running around, at least from his perspective, and it will be hours before they get released to play games or have fun. Images dance in a mental bubble between his horns of hopscotch, jump-rope, and countless other entertainments the local kids have introduced to him over the past week.
Now all those activities will have to wait until the afternoon.
Grin drooping, Bendy clutches his wrench and watches the older townspeople go about their various daily routines, such as the mailperson swaying by on his bicycle—top-heavy with a bulging sack of deliveries to make slung across his back—and or florist arranging armfuls of bouquets in the stands outside her shop. Each one has a job to perform, and most are too busy preparing for the day ahead to notice his mystified observations. They seem nice enough, yet whenever one of their heads turn in his direction Bendy cannot help dropping his pie-cut gaze.
The adult residents keep giving him curious looks, just like the teacher, clearly trying to decide how to react to this new addition to Briar Ville. They are different from the children, who from the beginning have put Bendy at his ease by being around his own height and spending a great deal of their free time goofing off. They also tower over him and lead lives much different from the authority figures he used to know.
A mental bubble that bears the title "Former Life" forms overhead, dominated by tall, high-ranking, red-robed demons who hurled flames at Bendy for the least offense, chased him around with pitchforks while sniggering, among other torments, deep in the stifling darkness underground. The memories swirl about, faster and faster, sloshing together into a globular mess that inflates his bubble. Bendy cringes under the sheer weight of it.
Why did he even come to Briar Ville at this hour, when he knows the children are gone?
In desperation, the little demon lashes out at the cloud with his wrench. He swings it frantically right and left at the scowling demons and fiery pits, scattering these terrible recollections like smoke, until another set of horrible details come to fill the void. Bendy continues his assault to clear the air until the crunch of footsteps over grass from behind brings him whirling about, where he spots the familiar form of Boris the Wolf, dressed in his usual overalls, standing with his head cocked in concern.
The darkness vanishes as all the pleasantness of Briar Ville returns.
Bendy lowers the wrench.
Ah, that is right. His buddy Boris has business here in town, so Bendy has come to keep him company.
Hurriedly putting on the biggest grin he can manage, Bendy manifests a dialogue bubble that shows a market—indicating their ultimate destination—pivots on one foot, and then strides off down the street. After a hesitant pause, Boris catches up and walks alongside him. The toon wolf carries a large toolbox in one hand. Bendy creates a dialogue bubble then that depicts Boris tending the sheep in the field near his wooden shack, replaced by an illustration of a toolbox with a question mark beside it—as if to ask why Boris would need to do maintenance work in addition to his regular duties as a shepherd.
The question has the effect of making Boris thoughtful, driving the worry from his face. Fondly rubbing his toolbox, he creates a dialogue bubble that shows him tinkering away at pipes and other mechanical devices. It is clear Boris simply finds fixing things an enjoyable way to occupy his spare time.
If only Bendy can find something to do in his spare time, while waiting for the children to get off from school . . .
The little demon meditates on this thought as the pair reaches a pot-bellied grocer pacing the ground in front of the market, wedged between the post office and the florist shop, whose nametag and apron declare him to be "Willie" of "Fresh Greens Marketplace." Willie moves with his hands behind his back, his walrus mustache frisking fretfully from side to side, until he spots Boris. In obvious relief, the grocer greets Boris with a hearty handshake, and manifests a dialogue bubble showing a multitude of leaky pipes. While the grocer looks flustered, however, Boris simply remains calm, nods his head in confirmation, reaches out a hand for Bendy to return his wrench, and follows Willie indoors.
Bendy trails after Boris and Willie, past several aisles, to a room at the back of the store—apparently the site of all the issues. It looks like a break room, consisting of a desk, a chair, a cabinet, and a kitchen counter complete with sink.
Pipes crawl across the walls like spiderwebs, complicated and leading to other places in the ceiling and the floor. The little demon watches Boris set down the toolbox and begin tinkering with the piping network. Many of the joints and connections have tape wrapped around them, although they fail to stop water from leaking through and splattering onto the floor.
All the leakage makes Bendy shiver. A few pipes bulge like balloons ready to burst at any moment; they shudder and creak as if in warning. Despite that, Boris uses his wrench to expertly twist a joint in one spot, and next at a joint in another spot, whereupon several pipes shrink back to their normal shape. Bendy's pie-cut eyes glisten in admiration, resolving to have Boris pass on some of his mechanical knowledge when possible.
The bell above the front door jingles, followed by shuffling feet. Distracted by the idea of an unknown person somewhere behind him, Bendy turns to see who has just entered the market.
It is a bespectacled, elderly woman using a cane. She carries a basket in visibly trembling fingers. Drawing a shawl closer about her shoulders, this customer hobbles over to a refrigerated section featuring vegetables and sets down the basket with a noticeable creak of her spine. Bendy watches the elderly woman painstakingly grab items such as tomatoes and ears of corn one at a time to drop into her basket, and then creak to pick up her basket and hobble over to an aisle occupied by canned goods. There she plucks goods in the same slow, methodical manner as before.
Bendy hesitates. The elderly woman looks like she is struggling to get her groceries, and the grocer—still clearly flustered—is in the back talking to Boris through a series of dialogue bubbles that are so dense with explanations they look like nothing more than scribbles to the little demon.
A can slips from the elderly woman's fingers.
In a tap of his feet, Bendy zips over and catches the elusive product. He takes a moment to notice that he is holding a can of chicken soup from what must be a local company, judging by its brand name of "Briar Label," and plops the can into the basket. The elderly woman is clearly grateful for the assistance. A wrinkly smile tweaks her lips, and she bobs her head at Bendy before reaching for another can, this time of mushroom soup. Still, Bendy cannot help but notice the way her arms continue to quiver. By way of mental bubble, he remembers the pipes in need of care in the back room, and the sounds they had made.
A busted pipe is one thing, however, while a busted arm . . .
Bendy gently whistles to get the elderly woman's attention, then points between the basket, himself, and the groceries. He ends the offer with the showy eyewink, and he can tell his message has come through nice and clear by the gratitude clear on the recipient's face.
Boris pulls a handkerchief from his top overalls pocket and wipes his brow. He steps back to consider his work and lets off a satisfied grunt. Almost all the pipes have stopped leaking by now, and he has used more tape to reinforce the joints. Yet there are a couple that are too old or have such terrible cracks he will need to replace them right away.
Thankfully, Boris has prepared for this possibility. He flips open his large toolbox, exposing a jumbled collection of pipes that he can stick together for various shapes and sizes.
Still, the repairs will take some time for him to complete.
Boris looks around but cannot see his buddy anywhere in the room or at the doorway, though his ears perk up at movement in the next room. Stepping into the main part of the store, he glimpses Bendy carrying a basket filled with groceries. The sight confuses him until Boris notices the elderly woman, when is when his confusion gives way to pleasant surprise.
It is the first time Boris has seen Bendy freely interact with an adult resident of Briar Ville, conscious that the little demon feels the most comfortable around children. So, watching as Bendy quickly scoops whatever groceries the elderly woman indicates on the shelves into her basket, and relishing the occasion pat on the head he receives from her between his horns, makes the corners of Boris' mouth tweak upwards.
Willie comes to stand beside Boris, and apparently notices Bendy for the first time since they have entered the market. The grocer tugs at his mustache in a way that the wolf has come to understand means he is trying to remember something important. At last an exclamation point turns up over his head, and Willie creates a dialogue bubble with an image of Bendy in his first true appearance in front of the townspeople—tap-dancing on a makeshift stage near the schoolhouse. The flashback shows the great ease with which the Dancing Demon had performed, all while presenting a huge grin to his audience.
Willie chuckles at the memory, emphasizing the happiness of the local children.
Continuing to watch Bendy help the elderly woman, Boris relates to Willie through illustrations within dialogue bubbles the reluctance of Bendy to approach the older residents of Briar Ville. When a question mark appears over Willie's head, as if to ask the reason behind his shyness, Boris does his best to hint at the terrors his little buddy might have lived under, since even Boris can only guess at them. The most he can say for certain is that Bendy had to work hard for the equivalent of fiery, oppressive employers, and that has made him awkward around people like the shopkeepers.
Willie listens to the explanation, his expression solemn as he tugs furiously at his mustache again—stretching it so far out that Boris believes he might just pull it off his lip. A lightbulb appears, and his mustache snaps back into place. At once he saunters over to take his place at the register behind the front counter, while Boris looks on with a raised eyebrow.
When Bendy and the elderly woman come to check-out, Willie reaches down to take the basket. Mustache slanted up in a smile, he gives the little demon an enthusiastic wink that catches him off-guard. A dialogue bubble appears over his head with an image of Bendy tap-dancing on the makeshift stage with a question mark beside it, as if to ask if they are one and the same. The moment Bendy bobs his head in confirmation, Willie barks a laugh and treats him to a rough handshake, while also tallying up the goods from the basket. He produces an enormous dialogue bubble filled with praise that washes over Bendy in a wave, leaving him dizzy with pie-cut eyes spinning.
Boris facepalms. The plan Willie apparently has is to drown Bendy in friendly enthusiasm, a strategy that overwhelms his little buddy and causes him to retreat several steps—arm undulating like a noodle until Bendy reaches up to stop it. In the meantime, the grocer has just enough time to make change for the elderly woman, whereupon he leans over and starts to produce another huge dialogue bubble.
Cast in the shadow of another conversational volley, Bendy's pie-cut eyes shrink.
Soft chuckles from the elderly woman interrupt Willie. She gently pops the growing bubble with her cane, then fills the void with her own much smaller dialogue bubble that shows Bendy helping her in the store. Willie mumbles indiscernibly in agreement. He points to Bendy's arms and forms a muscle with one of his own thick arms, as if to hint at their strength.
Bendy blushes in embarrassment, but the smile is clear on his face. He has calmed down considerably.
Satisfied by the development, Boris chooses this moment to approach and explain that he needs to continue working on the pipes. A moment passes where Bendy absorbs this fact in silence, but only for a moment, since the sight of the elderly woman tugging her basket off the counter realigns his priorities. He takes the basket, and Boris nods his head. Helping the elderly woman bring her groceries home sounds like the perfect way to pass a bit of time to all concerned, and before much longer they have left the store.
Bendy starts to whistle his jolly tune. It seems all his little buddy needs is an excuse to interact with the older townspeople. Just a gentle nudge.
Willie has started to pull at his mustache again. A mental cloud appears over his head that shows him musing on the ease with which Bendy had moved about the store while the grocer was busy elsewhere, and his strength and joy in helping the elderly woman. When a question mark appears above Boris' head, Willie draws him over and whispers and idea into his ear.
Boris nods in approval.
Meanwhile, the elderly woman leads Bendy to a rickety farmhouse on the edge of Briar Ville. A sign out front reads: "Ms. Dollie Mittens, Professional Knitter." Bendy whistles softly as he reads the name—it is good to know he has been helpingMs. Mittens—but then his pie-cut eyes bulge at the title that follows afterwards. He does a double-take.
A professional knitter. That means Ms. Mittens is one of the shopkeepers, even though she is a nice, elderly woman. As Bendy gazes at her, though, his surprise gradually fades. It even seems a bit silly. Nothing really stops Ms. Mittens from being a knitter, and if the colorful shawl about her shoulders is any proof, she has great skill in her craft.
The front room tables and stands set up that display a wide variety of knitted good for sale, from sweaters, to scarfs, to purses and bracelets. Ms. Mittens leads Bendy past a silk-curtained doorway into her kitchen. He stays long enough to help put things away, but on his way out, Ms. Mitten encourages him to take one of the knitted goods in her shop.
Confused by the gesture, and certainly not expecting any kind of payment, Bendy starts to protest. Yet Ms. Mittens simply shakes her head, adjusts her tiny spectacles, and explains by way of dialogue bubble that it is a reward for lending her some much-needed assistance.
Bendy browses the wares. He selects and tucks the chosen item into his hammerspace.
Before they part at the front door, Ms. Mittens pats the little demon on the head and points at the last words of her sign, which ask passerby to, "Please Stop by for a Visit!" Bendy winks and salutes, promising to drop by for another visit soon her before rushing off.
He has made a new friend. A sense of goodwill infects his feet, and he performs a sort of tap-dancing jig as he reaches the market, where Willie stands behind the front counter packing several brown paper bags with goods. At the jingle of the bell over the door, the grocer pauses and his mustache curls upwards in eagerness at sighting him.
Almost like the children earlier that morning. Bendy considers this resemblance as Willie motions for him to come up to the front counter, while the sounds of Boris twisting pipes and generally tinkering away echoes softly from the back room. Through a dialogue bubble—thankfully not too massive this time—the grocer brings up the way in which Bendy had helped Ms. Mitten, subtly implying that he appreciates the extra help. Images depict Willie carrying groceries for Ms. Mitten in the past, emphasizing the way he has always had to stick a BACK IN _ MINUTES sign in his front window and close the market for short periods.
It does not take long for Bendy to volunteer his services on that front. He knows where Ms. Mittens lives now, and he has free time in the mornings.
Next Willie pats the brown bags on the counter. A piece of paper has been attached to the counterspace beside them, which reads: "For Delivery." As Bendy listens attentively, Willie explains he had made plans to bring each one to different places around Briar Ville—except that with the leaky pipes, he must stay here and oversee the repairs.
The grocer looks so sorrowful that Bendy salutes in a gesture to volunteer for the assignment.
For a moment Willie gazes at the little demon in exaggerated shock, yet then he accepts the offer with another hearty handshake. He passes down the bags.
Soon Bendy is out the door again. Cards taped to each of the bags indicate, oddly enough, various shops along the avenue. It seems easy enough now; all he needs to do is drop off each delivery.
In this way, Bendy visits the bakery down the street, run by a skinny man in a striped apron with thick eyebrows by the name of Mr. Pastry, who treats him to a croissant. He stops at the hardware store tended by a broad woman with muscly arms who introduces herself, with great pride, simply as Helga, and tries to sell him hammers before he slips away. The florist, Miss Tulip, is a slim woman who seems to glide around in her daffodil-embroidered dress and offers Bendy a rose for his trouble. And there is the post office, run by a hurried and frantic-looking man named, as the sign at the front desk indicates, "Harry Post."
Each of the shopkeepers look pleased to receive the deliveries, which vary from a bag of flour for the bakery to a bottle of water for the Harry. They also receive them in obvious surprise. Bendy can tell they did not expect to get anything at all, and he wonders at this fact even as, when he drops off the deliveries, the shopkeepers draw him into conversations. They all remember him from the performance, and several are parents to children from the school.
The more shops Bendy enters, learning the names of the shopkeepers, the happier and more energetic the little demon becomes. Now the shopkeepers have names. The curious expressions on their faces have shifted into looks of recognition, and it is like some gap has closed between them.
Bendy is therefore in high spirits by his last stop, where he hops up the schoolhouse steps with newfound confidence and knocks on the door.
The teacher in the polka-dot dress answers and, as with the shopkeepers along the street, receives the package with some surprise. As she opens the top of the paper bag and peers inside, Bendy gets a glimpse of the classroom inside—with its rows of desks, and the blackboard at the front with math equations scrawled across it in chalk and "Miss Polly's Class" is in blocky letters written toward the top. Children lean forward in their seats, and several wave at him.
Miss Polly gently upends the bag, sliding out an impossibly large tray of muffins.
The children notice the tray and cheer, although then they wince at a sudden stern glance from Miss Polly. For one tension-filled moment, Bendy stiffens as he watches Miss Polly gaze between her classroom and him.
All at once, a smile creases her lips, and she ushers Bendy into the schoolhouse.
Boris watches Miss Polly lead Bendy indoors, from in front of the market, his hands shoved in his pockets. He wears a peaceful expression. The repairs are done in the back room, but it goes without saying that he will stick around town until his little buddy returns. When Willie comes out to join him, the toon wolf gives him a firm, hearty handshake.
Willie jerks his thumb at the market, and a dialogue bubble appears above his head, which depicts them having root beers to celebrate a job well done. He enters the market.
With a last satisfied nod at the schoolhouse, Boris follows.
Some time later . . .
In her small cottage among the flowerbeds, at a distance from Briar Ville, Alice Angel receives a knock on the door. After taking a moment to peer into a mirror and pat down her dark hair—from which two little horns protrude—she opens the door to find Bendy standing on the porch, with a package under one arm and a little cap that bears the symbol of an envelope on it, apparently the insignia of the Briar Ville Post Office.
When Alice looks confused by his cap, Bendy explains by dialogue bubble that he agreed to help Harry Post, the local mailperson, with some of his deliveries. However, it seems that Bendy does not have a conventional letter or package to deliver to her. Instead, blushing slightly, the little demon reaches into his hammerspace and draws out something else: a white knitted headband with a flower design.
Twin stars take the place of her pie-cut eyes as Alice accepts the gift. She leans forward and kisses Bendy atop his head, causing his bowtie to spin, steam to puff out of his horns, and the little demon to float for a moment with a mouth nothing more than a wiggly line. The toon angel slips it on, right up against her horns, and asks by dialogue bubble where Bendy ever found something so pretty.
Coming back to earth, Bendy tells Alice of Ms. Mittens, a professional knitter who has a whole collection of wares. Fascinated by his description, she accompanies toward town—listening to Bendy share stories of all the new friends he has made in Briar Ville.