Mordecai sat sprawled across the couch, his long, spindly legs taking up the full length of it. One the coffee table was an overfilled ashtray, a sketchbook, a couple of broken pencils, and an empty bottle of whisky.
Mordecai was staring off into the distant wall, TV off, no music, no radio, and not even a book to read. The entire scene was slightly disturbing to Benson, who was standing in the entryway, half hidden by the dividing wall by the stairs, and wondering whether or not he should approach Mordecai. If he was honest with himself, he knew he no longer had any business approaching Mordecai and asking him to do anything – not since Mordecai's promotion. But still, Benson was a naturally authoritative person, and he still felt leaps and bounds more superior to Mordecai and Rigby.
Benson shuffled back and forth on his feet while thinking about the situation before holding his breath and hesitantly walking into the living room.
He sat down in the armchair uneasily. Mordecai had not responded to his entry, and still appeared to be staring at a TV that wasn't on.
"Good morning, Mordecai" Benson began cautiously.
Mordecai nodded a few times slowly before saying, "hey."
"I see you were busy last night" Benson commented, calculating each word so as to not cause any offense to his mostly brain-dead superior.
"I guess" Mordecai said. Then silence.
"Were you, erm, drawing?" Benson asked, gesturing to the sketchbook.
"Mhmm."
"That's…'cool'. What did you draw?"
Mordecai turned to Benson, suddenly eyes wide and smiling.
"I'll show you." He said.
Mordecai swung his legs round, and leaned forward on the couch, grabbing the sketchbook off the coffee table.
He flipped it open, hopped over to Benson's armchair, and thrust it in front of him.
Benson looked at the first page in the sketchbook. The drawing featured several minimal-design ragdolls, of sorts, hanging from ropes by their necks. The background appeared to be the interior of some kind of abandoned house. The whole thing was very unsettling.
"Oh, it's… it's great, Mordecai…." Benson managed.
"Thanks Benson, that means a lot to me." Said Mordecai, leaning in close, and whispering into Benson's ear. Benson could smell the whisky with faint traces of vanilla and ethanol, and the stale tobacco from Mordecai's beak.
"Ehh… you know, Mordecai, maybe you should quit smoking. You know, you could get Rostrum cancer… I heard that's just awful for birds…" Benson said, eager to change the subject from Mordecai's creepy drawings.
"You sound like my dad when you say that" Mordecai said.
"Oh do I?"
"Yeah. And I don't like my dad." Mordecai said. Benson glanced around the room, looking to take any kind of exit he could.
"So, anyway, wanna see more?
'Oh, God, no' Benson thought to himself.
"Uh… sure. I mean, if you really want to show me…" Benson said, in a small voice.
"Great!" Mordecai said. For the next ten minutes, Benson was shown detailed drawings of a small human boy covered in hands, a dead opossum, two mice having sex, and two cats bowing to a large eye.
"They're all… erm… really great, Mordecai" Benson said, still thinking of a way out.. This level of discomfort wasn't something he felt very often.
Although, he had to admit, Mordecai was a very skilled drawer, which made Benson question why Mordecai hadn't finished art school. He had listed the University of Arizona at Phoenix School of Art as his alma mater, but he had only completed two years.
"Okay, there's just one more" Mordecai said, flipping the page. Benson was internally thankful that is was almost over. He looked at the last drawing. It was an extremely detailed drawing of Rigby, naked, which wasn't unusual for him, but what made this different was that the fact that in Mordecai's drawing, Rigby's testicles and penis were prominently visible.
"Oh…uh…. wow…. it's Rigby" Benson commented.
"Yeah…he's pretty great" Mordecai said.
"And he's not wearing any clothes…"
"Well, he generally doesn't"
"Why is that?"
"Well, honestly? I think it's because he's miffed that he has to do most of his clothes shopping at Modern Rodent." Mordecai said.
"No, no, I mean in the drawing…why is his… you know…?"
"Oh. You know, the male genitalia really fascinates me. Well, mammal genitalia, at least."
"Is that so?" Benson asked, awkwardly trying to avoid looking at the page in front of him.
"Yeah. You know, for his short stature, Rigby has a pretty decently sized penis." Mordecai said.
"Reeeeaallllly?" Benson said.
"Oh yeah, I mean, spend enough time with someone, and eventually you see everything, right?"
"Er…"
"Oh wait, you wouldn't know cause you've never really had friends."
"Well that's not true" Benson lied, hurt, although Mordecai had said it in a fully serious manner, as if he hadn't intended it to be insulting."
"But yeah, so anyways, that's all I drew last night" Mordecai said. Benson hopped out of the armchair.
"Great! I mean, that's good Mordecai. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work…"
"No you don't" Mordecai said.
"Well, I do. And so do you, right? I mean, it's a weekday"
"Nah, don't bother"
"Mordecai, it doesn't work like that…"
"Yes it does. I'm your boss."
"But what will Mr. Maellard say?"
"Nothing. How often does he visit? Once every three or four months?"
"Well –"
"Listen to me, Benson. This park is your life's work. But let me be the first person to tell you – nobody cares. Not one single person. Maellard doesn't care, and none of us do either. Part of me respects that dedication, but it's time to stop acting like anything you do here is important, or matters to anyone. As long as the park looks semi-presentable to most people, that's all that matters to anyone."
"That's where you're wrong! See…" Benson began, and then trailed off as he tried to construct an actual argument in his head. When Mordecai had first said what he had said, Benson had been laughing internally about how wrong Mordecai was, but now that he was actually thinking about it, he had no proof to suggest that what Mordecai had said was wrong. He felt ill all of a sudden.
"I'm…going to go home for a little while." Benson said, losing the tone in his voice. He wordlessly left the same way he had come in, moments before.
AN: Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating lately, and sorry about the short length of this chapter. I'm struggling with mental health problems, and I've just had zero drive lately. I promise I'll keep working on this story, but right now, updates might be patchy and short. I'm really sorry. I wouldn't even have uploaded this one, but I felt like I owed you guys something so that you know I'm still alive and stuff, haha.
Next chapter might come sooner rather than later, depending on how I'm feeling.
