"Hey hey, Twiddledum?" A man with amber eyes and black hair asked as he toyed with the other's hair.
"Yes, Twiddledee?"
"You know how Jeanne dearest said that the animation department were 'coffee vampires'?" The tips of the first speaker's mouth curled up into a wicked smirk. Anyone who saw it would have felt the looming danger. As it was, the two were alone in the recording studio. No one could hear their conversation. Perfect for planning.
"Shall we test it out then, dearest Twiddledee?"
"I believe that you have just read my mind, Twiddledum. Shall we?" The two cackled as they matched each other's footsteps, putting their hands into their pockets and strolled out of the recording studio.
"What have you found, David." David, not for the first time, beseeched himself inwardly as to why he agreed to being the lawyer for Ross Studios. He could have gone into family law. Or criminal! But no, he decided to stick by the Ross family. Even doing up contracts for all their employees, no matter how interesting in the Chinese manner their conditions may be.
If there was one thing that appealed to David more than anything in Ross Studios, it was Jeanne. She was not beautiful, but she appealed in a way that made David's lizard brain go 'wa-hey' every time he took so much as a glance at her. Thankfully, she was as obtuse as a blunt pencil, so David was confident that he could take his time if he ever tried to go through the impossible route of courting her.
Her uncle on the other hand had a kind heart. That was a weakness, in David's view. Ross Studio had the potential; their assistant animation director had the fastest effective drawing speed compared to the other studios. However, all attempts in the past five years to poach him had met with nothing but overwhelming failure. Louis simply stuck to Henry Ross like a limpet. And its usage of contract workers had appealed to Disney, though David could see the wisdom in not challenging Disney on home territory that early into starting up.
Still, Henry's lack of ambition was a hindrance. If only they would take on larger projects, instead of simply resigning themselves to music videos and television commercials, they had the talent to make it big. And so would David's name along with it, as go-to contract lawyer for independent studios.
"I have looked into these matters and coordinated with the local police station on my investigations." He informed the two, noticing the brief glance that the two shared as they sat across the table. Oh ho, some tension perhaps?
"Mr. Sammy Lawrence was reported as one of the employees reported by Mr. Joey Drew five years back. However, in the following years, there were no tax returns reported on his behalf. The IRS (Inland Revenue Service) reported the lack of returns, and upon three years, could not find his location. Thereby they lodged a missing person report."
"As it has not reached seven years, I would be able to submit verification papers stating Mr. Lawrence's current location and condition. However, Mr. Lawrence has not put forth anyone as Next of Kin, and is stated to have aged out of the foster care system forty years back, so it is doubtful that he has any close relatives. He has neglected to draft a POA (person of attorney) as well, and thus it is up to the state to assign a representative."
"I see." Jeanne hummed non-commitedly. "Upon that other matter..."
"Yes, I have looked into the employees that Mr. Ross has mentioned. So far, Ms. Susie Campbell, Mr. Wally Franks, Mr. Norman Polk, and the owner Mr. Joey Drew have been reported by their relatives as being missing from their places of residence by various family and friends. " This led to Jeanne glaring at Mr. Henry Ross. Almost to prove a point.
"And the police have done nothing to look for them?" Mr. Ross asked disbelievingly.
"They probably thought they had nothing to look for, perhaps." Jeanne snorted.
"I'm afraid what Jeanne says is correct, Mr. Ross." David concurred, gathering up his papers. "It is likely that they were assumed dead if otherwise. The bill would be faxed to you by my secretary."
"Thank you, David." Jeanne shook his hand, causing David to hide the grin rising to his cheeks with a well-timed cough as he skipped out of the room. He wasn't going to wash his hand for at least an hour.
"What did I tell you?" Jeanne groaned as soon as she was sure that David was out of the room. Uncle Henry was being a stubborn idiot about it all, and damn it she had admired that quality in him.
"Only that my former boss might be nuts and that some of my former co-workers are trapped in a hellish studio with him."
"It's not just that, Uncle Henry!" Jeanne burst out, rubbing at her temples. "We're talking about coffins! Rituals! A great big ink machine! Disappearing objects!" After returning from the studio, Jeanne had decided to flip through 'The Illusion of Living' in order to determine the exact ritual that had somehow turned ink into living creatures. Only to find out that the book had disappeared from the car. Jeanne was sure that the book had not been taken by anyone from the studio as she had driven with the book in her possession to the hospital. Yet despite being locked, the car had not shown a sign of the book.
Uncle Henry had dipped into his pockets, and found that the blueprints he had discovered on the former music director's desk were gone at all. It was all a bit fishy, but Jeanne knew that it could not have been anyone from the animation studio as they had started searching right after getting back from the hospital, and the car was locked from the outside with Jeanne holding the keys. No one could have gotten in while they were away.
"I need to know what happened to him, Jeanne." Uncle Henry insisted, wringing his hands. "Besides, I think that there's something else that we are unaware of."
"Like what?" Jeanne hissed.
"I left that there." That? What did Uncle Henry refer to? Upon pondering, Jeanne could only reluctantly approach one conclusion.
"That weird photograph of yours? And you think that's important?"
"Hey, it has you and Louis on it." Henry shrugged. "Its proof that I had not forgotten them as well."
"Oh come on Uncle, you think that the cartoons are real there? That has to be nonsense. I mean, who would ever try to bring their creations to life? It's not feasible. First, you have to ensure that they stick to model, and their behavior mustn't change...There are so many factors to consider even if you have the means to do so..."
"Jeanne, Jeanne." Uncle Henry shook his head, mirth written upon his face. "Joey Drew was ridiculously optimistic at times. I was 85% of his impulse control at all times. Each time he had a wild idea, I was the one to soothe him and help him improve it to suit the audience's taste at that time."
"85%?"
"It's a saying among those who worked at Joey Drew Studio before the war." Uncle Henry's lips twitched, perhaps in nostalgia. Jeanne felt impatient. So what if Uncle Henry's former boss had the recklessness needed to create crazy cartoons? That doesn't mean any normal human being had the power to...Wait a minute.
"Uncle Henry, there were six objects that you said you had placed on the pedestals in order to power up the Ink Machine, right?" She queried, snatching pieces of rough paper on the desk and placing it in front of her before grabbing a pen. Carefully, she drew six circles, before writing down the items she could remember. First the disappearing book, then, as Henry recited the items, she jotted down one by one the possible people they could have belonged to.
"'Illusion of Living' belongs to Joey Drew. The other one who is confirmed to have donated is Wally Franks. Wally has a cupboard, not a desk, so he's most likely the janitor." She reasoned. "Hence, maybe the wrench."
"When I was in Sammy's 'sanctuary," Uncle Henry had joined her, "I noticed that the poster that indicated the record was framed on Sammy's wall, and there was a missing one on his cupboard." Jeanne drew the record and added Sammy's name to the list.
"So we have three. A Bendy plush toy, a gear and an ink bottle." Jeanne stopped, staring at the caricature she had made of the ink well. Slowly, she turned her eyes towards Uncle Henry. The man was not even breathing, only staring in utter dismay at her drawing.
"It was taken from my desk." He muttered.
"Okay, something to worry about." Jeanne drew a larger circle around the ink well. "Next question, ink creatures only started when the Ink Machine got turned on." She stared at her uncle. "What could have possessed you to turn it on?"
"I was curious about what others have been telling me about it in their letters!" Uncle Henry replied sheepishly. "You can't blame me for curiosity, could you?"
"...85% of his impulse control my foot." Jeanne whispered under her breath, before resuming in a more louder tone of voice."So if we don't leave it on, we would have a higher chance of not encountering any ink creatures as you call them."
"Agreed." Uncle Henry confirmed. "Next point, pentacles."
"I did some research. Pentacles were used in alchemy as an invocation of some kind of spirit. Candles are used for concentration and illumination." Jeanne continued as she jotted down the pentacle. "Likely, your former boss tried to summon something with a Bendy cutout being central to it all." She waved her finger in her uncle's face. "And it backfired."
"...The coffins." Uncle Henry whispered. "There were coffins...Oh god."
"So that may have been the former employees of the studio. Right, more reasons not to let you go there." Jeanne warned. "Uncle Henry, you know that going there has to bear consequences. I can't guarantee your safety." Jeanne had to make her disapproval clear, hopefully to hammer it into Uncle Henry's thick skull.
"Moving on!" Uncle Henry said hastily, forestalling any nagging on Jeanne's part. "when I was running away, I noticed that the Bendy was malformed."
"No surprise. With all the demonic arts and stuff, if it turned out half as well as Joey Drew wanted I would be surprised."
"No, Jeanne," Uncle Henry insisted, his desperation clear, "His left foot was malformed. Twisted. The monster shouldn't be able to even walk. And one of his hands were human, while the other still had five fingers!" He paced the room. All of a sudden, he turned on his heel, and Jeanne could see Uncle Henry's face blanching at the thought, "And I think that it could be Joey under all that ink."
"Don't be so noble as to think that you could rescue another of your former co-workers just like that." Jeanne spat out, "Can't you see? I'm worried about you!"
"I know and you do make valid points!" Henry hotly burst out, raking his left hand through his thinning hair. "It's just that, you know, " he weakly extended his right hand, before letting it drop down.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Uncle Henry." Jeanne retreated verbally as she leaned her head against his shoulder. She knew how he had to resign himself to drafting storyboards rather than getting into the meat of the work. She knew how hard it was for him. Was she being overly paternalistic? Was her protectiveness denying Uncle Henry of the things he wanted to do?
"It was never your problem to begin with, Jeanne." Uncle Henry attempted to comfort her. "It's just that-a head animator that doesn't draw is almost useless. The most I can do are storyboards; and I just felt so old especially with all these young people around me. You would know when you're older and filled with less impetus than what you would expect of yourself."
"I wouldn't know. After all, I'm just in my late twenties. But can you see where I'm coming from? People disappearing! Objects disappearing! Ink creatures that lurk in abandoned animation studios that could just suffocate you!" She grasped his hands, both the working left one and the useless right one entrapped with her own as she stared into his eyes. "Please don't leave me alone. Please."
"Oh sweetheart, that is exactly why. Remember what I told you when you decided to drop out for Broadway?" Uncle Henry freed his hands and wrapped his arms around Jeanne. "'No matter how badly you screw up, no matter how much you hate me, I'll still be there.' They were my friends and co-workers and I can't leave them alone just to rot there. "
"I-It's not just t-that." Jeanne choked, bending down and burying her head into Uncle Henry's chest. "Ben-Ben said, Ben s-said..." She made a strangled sob, recalling what her brother had told her, "That you can't be trusted to protect yourself, and he couldn't take your lack of self-worth, and I can't. I just can't bear to see you like this..."
"Jeanne, it's fine. If you want, then Louis can come along with me. You trust Louis, don't you?"
"With my life." Jeanne felt the words creep between her lips instantaneously."But we have to ask Louis. We have to plan properly."
"Okay, if that what you say, sweetheart." Uncle Henry agreed, brushing her head with his hand. Jeanne sniffed as she wiped away her eyes. Alright, now that Uncle Henry couldn't be persuaded, then it was time to ask Louis.
"What?" Louis' placard rose up faster than any other time that Henry had seen it move. "You're still going? I thought Jeanne said that it was dangerous."
"He's got his mind set on it, I'm afraid." Jeanne shrugged, causing the assistant animation director to frown.
"And you want me to come along with you?" The placard was rapidly wiped away and a new message was smeared in India ink. Louis' face was impassioned with impatience. "Are you kidding old man? What makes you think that you can survive something that can scare Jeanne? " Jeanne's name was even italicized for good measure. Louis must have been truly insistent on that point.
"That's why you're here." Henry folded his arms while feeling sweat roll down his brow. While Louis was the assistant animation director, many of the younger interns looked towards him for advice and leadership, while the older job-hoppers were reluctant to challenge Louis.
Louis' hand speed was insane and renowned in the animation industry for good reason. Louis, being mute, did learn the American Sign Language for better communication. However, as the average American did not known ASL, Louis had resorted to placards that he carried around. And for someone to be used to responding to rapid questions, his hand speed had grown faster and faster until he exceeded the speed of some of the veterans in the field.
Unfortunately, Henry's reading speed was slower than Louis' writing speed. Before he was able to rebut to Louis' rhetorical question, the message quickly changed again. "I need information. Where's the script?"
"Right here, Louis." Jeanne handed over a sheaf of papers. Henry's eyes widened as he watched Louis flip through the papers, eyes scanning over the jottings Jeanne had done earlier as well as research to back it up.
"Alright. Joey Drew Studios in two weeks time? Can do. But first, let's discuss payment." Louis rubbed his hands gleefully as Henry's face fell.
"Two hours."
"Five."
"Three."
"Three and a half." Henry groaned in disbelief. That long?
"Fine. Three and a half hours of non-interrupted break with you drawing whatever you like during office hours." Louis' passion was in backgrounds. Which was fine if they weren't possible to animate by current standards. Psychic blasts, a train carriage from the Roaring Twenties, even monsters that would have scared off the detractors of the Hays Code. They were interesting material, Henry conceded, but too hard to animate to the extent that Louis wanted. It didn't help that no one else had approached Louis when they turned to in-between animation. While many of the former interns had earned their reputation by doing in-between animation for Louis as proof of their competency, they were unable to match his pure speed. Which was of cold comfort to both rival animation studios and to Henry himself.
The way that the animation workflow was structured, the speed of pushing animation to broadcasting was only as fast as the weakest worker in the chart. Louis' hand speed was one thing, but if the other animators couldn't keep up, then the backgrounds would have been finished long before the character animation was done and it was hard for Henry to promote them to broadcasters for the Saturday morning slot if the difference in quality was too jarring.
It had led to some tension between Louis and Henry; Louis had to reluctantly slow down his hand speed, but that in turn made him bored with the lack of work as the other storyboard artists had yet to complete the next episode's material. It was unprofessional for Louis to go off to do his own thing while others were sweating at the detail needed to match up to Louis, which was why Henry had restricted Louis to only break hour. However, with three and a half hours, Louis would be able to create his own animation in a month.
Louis beamed as he clapped his hands in ecstasy, before wiping away his placard and scribbling down his next comment. "Get ready to be shocked. I saw some of the storyboards that Jeffrey had done. It looks utterly ridiculous to accomplish with our own resources." Henry groaned.
"I'll go look at it." He got up to his feet as Louis followed him back to the animation studio.
"I refuse." Jeffrey made a pushing motion as he pointed at what to him was 'utterly unprofessional and outrageous work'. Out of the corner of his eye, Henry watched Theo gulp and edge as far away from him as possible, while the other animators pretended to be utterly engrossed in their work.
Besides the two rotoscoping projects that Henry was doing the rotoscoping work for, he was also in charge of assigning projects that other studios had commissioned them for. Normally, they weren't choosy about the in-betweens they did, but if there was one thing Jeffrey loathed beyond all measure, it was-
"There is no pride in their keyframes! Lack of shading even! You can't expect me to complete such abysmal work, let alone improve it!"
-Superhero cartoons. Admittedly, Henry thought to himself, Fox Studio's storyboard artists were one of a kind in their quality, and not in a good way. However, this was steady work. Too bad Jeffrey hated all matter of comic-based animation, regardless of their content.
"Honestly, I agree with you." Henry put his hands up defensively as Jeffrey reared up for another shout. "However, Fox pays us well for their in-betweens, and it's steady pay."
"...Look, I know that we can't exactly choose what we can do, but I really dislike their style. You can't expect me to complete the in-between animation and imitate their style at the same time, right?" Henry inwardly shifted in position as Jeffrey sighed.
"I can assign it to someone else to head the project, but you do have to honor your contract, right? And this earns a steady income for at least a year."
"I can't move from my principles like this, Henry." Jeffrey shook his head. "Sorry boss."
"It's okay. I know you hate it, but I had to ask because of the pay."
"No dependents, remember? Fate of an animator." They went back to smiles, but Henry could see the unease in his eyes. Jeffrey was hoping to jump to Disney, but at his age, many studios would find it hard to train in their style. He had strove to work on as many Disney projects as possible, but the fact remained that Jeffrey was considered too old to train in new tricks of animation. Henry would not be surprised if Jeffrey retired in the next few years due to lack of interesting work. Henry wanted to help, but the popularity of superhero cartoons with terrible animation had meant that Jeffrey did not have the budget to push through an original animation.
Ross Studio was known for its competency in completing television cartoons, but Henry knew that if they were to go further, they had to make a break by creating a feature animation. Disney was slowing down, with their features growing stranger and less mainstream, but Henry hoped that with enough funding and bargaining, they would be able to get sponsors for a blockbuster that would pull them out of their slump.
"Okay, Warts, your turn at it." Henry called out to another animator sitting four seats away. Warts, or 'Tom Watt' as his high school certificate had noted, was a part-time hire hoping to get into Cal Arts and Henry hoped that he would be able to prove his mettle at animation such that he could get a scholarship there. Warts received it with a genial smile; the superhero cartoon would help him garner more funds to achieve his dream.
Henry, having finished handling admin matters, rolled up his sleeves as he sat at his desk sandwiched between Theo and Rachel, and started on the storyboarding for Esidisi's music video. Midway through sketching the outline, he was startled by a loud, piercing shriek.
The reason? One of the curtains had been drawn, letting in sunlight over the color animation department.
"LIM!" The Lim twins goggled for close to one minute before immediately closing the curtains.
"So-"
"It's-"
"True!"
"You're all coffee vampires!" Stephen and Steven exclaimed, exaggerating their surprise by putting their hands up in the air.
"Shrouded in darkness, you work under the power of coffee!" Henry grimaced as he stood up, feeling his back creak. Someone had to coral the twins; while he and Jeffrey were good with dealing with their behavior, Stephen and Steven Lim were precocious brats.
"Come back here!" Henry stretched out his hand and waggled his finger in a 'come hither' gesture. The twins, not being the fools they pretended to be, immediately took to their heels and scrammed. Soon, their laughter echoed throughout the corridors as Henry hurried to see the damage caused by the changes in lighting.
Good grief, someone effective at management and competent at sound design was needed. Both were talented: Steven was their sound engineer and was responsible for upkeeping the recording studio and editting the background music while Stephen was often called in to help out when the soundtrack provided by United Records was too unclear for broadcasting, but the fact remained that they were mischief-makers and loved to pull pranks, often to the detriment of the animation team. If it weren't for the fact that their pranks were seen as harmless, then Henry would really have to clam down on their activities.
Thankfully, any damage they had caused to the inking of the frames was minimal and easily modified. Still, they had to find someone to manage both them and the instigator of their worst deeds: Howard. Who was currently in Broadway and therefore harmless from that distance, but still, they had to employ someone permanent.
"So you know the rollcall, right?" Henry poked Jeanne on the forehead as both he and Louis stood right outside Joey Drew Studios, two weeks on from their last escape.
"Yeah, yeah, let's get on with it." Louis motioned with his placard. With two steps, they were in, and Jeanne waited. And waited.