"Let me get this straight. You called me all the way out here… to sneak into a building with hundreds of Cogs? Have you lost your mind Dynamite!?" A small dark red deer harshly whispered to his friend.
"Why are you whispering? I told you we are fine out here. It's nighttime anyways," his taller bear friend responded with a roll of her eyes.
"Why? Why?! Cause I am 47 laff without gags in the Cashbot HQ maybe?" He argued, quite upset by this.
"I told you, we both have to be gagless to get inside," she responded with a tsk.
"What's the point of this if we can't fight them?"
"Geez Marv, if I had known you were going to be such a wimp, I would have left you behind. Now come on. It's safe I promise," she insisted as she resumed her walk toward a loan building with two Money bags guarding the entrance.
Marv seemed to notice once they got close.
"Wait, what are you doing? We can't fight them. We have no gags, and they are both level 10s, I'll be saddened in a round or two," he fearfully pleaded as she ventured closer.
"Oh geez, come on. Just let me handle this." the bear said, finally having enough of her friend's fear of the Cogs.
She grabbed Marv's arm and walked right up to the two Cogs with him in tow and stood before them. Marv went wide-eyed.
What was she doing? Did she seriously want to green him that badly!?
"ID?" One Money Bag asked, looking down at the two of them.
What? What kind of battle phrase was that? He looked over to Dynamite who was fishing in her pocket before pulling out her friend ID and handing it over.
The deer blinked, confused at this point. They wanted her friend ID? Why?
"Looks good, and you Toon?" He asked Marv while handing Dynamite back her ID.
"Uh… what?" Marv began but his friend shoved her hand into his pocket and pulled out his own ID and handed it over.
He was so surprised at this point; he didn't even know what to say.
After a moment, the Cog nodded and held it out to him.
"Put your arms out to the side please," the Money Bag requested as the second one approached them.
The bear did just that. Amazingly, the Money Bag actually put his hands on her, patting her up and down.
"No gags, your turn Toon," he said, turning to Marv.
The bear gave an encouraging nod, so the deer finally relented and copied her. Much like the first time, the Cog patted him up and down before nodding to the first Money Bag.
"Looks good. Welcome to The Night Shift you two," he said and removed a rope blocking the entrance and stood to the side.
"Thanks cutie, come on Marv, let's go," Dynamite said and walked past them both.
He stood there completely confused, but snapped out of it and scurried to catch up just in case they changed their mind for some reason.
Once with her again, he slowed to her pace and looked at her.
"So, do you want to tell me what that was about?" He asked.
"They are off duty, just like you and me, silly," she explained with a smirk.
"Off duty… Cogs do that?"
"Duh, you think Cogs never ever stop working?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, ya. I thought that's how it always was."
"Well, all the Toons are wrong. Only a few of us know the truth about the Cogs. They are quite fun actually. Allow me to introduce you to that fact," Dynamite explained as they got to the end of the hall.
She moved the beads over the entrance out of their way to reveal a completely shocking sight. Maybe a hundred or more Cogs resided here. All types, all levels, all of them not batting an eye at their arrival.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
"What is this place?" he mumbled aloud.
"I already said, silly. This is where Cogs come off duty. The Night Shift."
As he looked around, he heard a voice call out.
"Dynamite! Over here!" It shouted over the loud chatter of dozens of speaking voices.
They both looked toward the direction of the voice and locked eyes with a Name Dropper sitting at a booth table with 2 other Cogs.
"There they are. Come along Marv, let's go say hi," she said, hopping over to the table and sitting herself on an open spot on the booth.
Marv nervously joined his friend, sitting down with her. Immediately after they sat down, a skelecog approached them and put a hand on the edge of the table.
"Good evening, Toons, what'll you have?" It asked with a feminine voice.
"Uh…" Marv droned, not sure what he was meant to say.
"Two Toon-friendly Lawbot Longed Oil Teas. Stirred," Dynamite leaned over Marv to respond.
"Excellent choice, any meals?" The skelecog responded while writing before looking up again expectantly.
"Uh... yea, how about some Toon-Friendly Fries and Cheese? XL," The bear calmly requested, as if she had done this dozens of times before.
"On it. Enjoy your stay here at The Night Shift," the skelecog said while nodding before turning on her heel and walking towards the bar.
"What did you just order?" Marv asked.
"Soooooo… Dynamite! Tell me, how goes the Toon life nowadays?" The Name Dropper butted in without realizing Marv was asking a question.
Dynamite forgot Marv was talking to her, turning towards the Cog.
"Oh, just wonderful, really. Still can't convince my fellow Toons to work in peace, but what can you do? Oh! This is Marv by the way. I convinced him to tag along, isn't that right Marv?" She asked as the 3 of them turned to him.
"Uh… yea? I uh… don't know this place," he sheepishly admitted, not sure what he was supposed to say to a Cog.
"Oh, you are, eh? Been fighting us for a while, have you?
Marv widened his eyes a bit. Was this a trick question? Dynamite, however, answered for him.
"He has, but I've been teaching him not to fight all the time. He's getting there."
"Oh, wonderful to hear. You'll like it here, I'm sure of it. It's a great place," the Name Dropper chirped slightly but loudly to be heard in a place like this.
Finally, the second Cog, a Bean Counter, chimed in after silence since they sat down.
"It is nice not to work for once, isn't it?" He asked Marv, starting another conversation.
"I mean… It's nice. Yea. I was pretty scared to come in here since she didn't really say what was going on," Marv admitted slowly.
The two Cogs chuckled aloud. Something Marv didn't know they could do.
"Seriously Dynamite? You can at least tell them before giving them a heart attack," The Bean Counter teased with a laugh.
"Where's the fun in that cutie?" Dynamite retorted with a giggle.
"Your drinks," The Skelecog returned, placing two drinks before the two Toons but also another two for the Cogs.
"Thank you, and have a second round in the works, we all will need it," Dynamite called out.
The Skelecog gave a nod and left them again.
Marv inspected his drink.
"What is this?"
"It's called alcohol. Makes you feel really good if you drink enough of it," The Name Dropper explained and took hers in her hand.
"To unity," she said, holding her drink to the center of the table.
The other Cog and Dynamite grabbed their drinks and clinked with the Name Dropper's.
"Go ahead Marv, you can do the same," Dynamite encouraged.
Without any other choice, the deer grabbed his glass and tapped it against the other three as well.
The three others then all took a large gulp of their own drinks. He looked down at his own glass and sniffed it.
It didn't smell good. It was a very unusual scent actually; one he didn't know what it could contain.
"I think mine might be bad Dynamite..." he said, leaning toward her.
She took his drink and smelled it herself.
"Nope, it's supposed to smell that way. Go on, drink up."
"Ok…" he replied before taking a small sip before the liquid hit his tongue.
"Gahhh!" he exclaimed, almost spitting back out.
The three others chuckled.
"Toon's first drink, I remember the first time you had one Dynamite,' the Bean Counter laughed.
"Try it a few times Marv, I promise you'll like it," the bear insisted, giving him a nudge.
After taking a few breaths, he took another sip. It was still bad, but not as bad.
He tried again, and sure enough it felt a bit better. After a few tries, he finally could admit, it wasn't that bad at all. He even finished his glass a bit after the other three were done.
"Like it?" She asked.
"Yea, you were right. It took a few goes," he admitted.
The three cheered right as the skelecog returned and set down their food and another 4 drinks. The Name Dropper this time requested another round to be prepped.
"Alright Cogs and Toons! The rave has arrived. Who's ready for it to get LOOOOOUUUUD?!" A voice came over the speakers of the place.
Marv looked around for the source as the entire place cheered, ready to go.
"What's happening?" He shouted over the cheers.
"There's some Cogs that make special music to really dance to as a crowd. Better than that Toon junk really," the Name Dropper explained eagerly.
"Hey... it's not that bad," he argued but Dynamite waved at him.
"You have no idea Marv. Get ready," she excitedly shouted back.
Just then, he finally located the source of the voice. There was a stage set up at the end of the room near the bar table where 3 Cogs of Sellbot origin had set up equipment and were all wearing unusual clothing, almost a dull color around spots of their suits and faces. He had never seen anything like it.
Just then, they started to play some electric beats slowly at first but quickly developed into much more complex electro music picking up tempo as the spotlights on the roof focused in on them.
All at once, Marv felt compelled to nod his head to beat and resumed his drink.
As he nodded though, he realized he was getting disoriented, like he couldn't look straight as well.
"Uh… Dynamite… I'm feeling weird… what's happening," he basically was screaming at this point.
She looked at him and giggled before pointing to his glass.
"It'll feel really good in a few minutes I bet. Trust in me, ok?" She subtly hinted.
He went along with her as the music continued along its track.
Sure enough, she was right yet again as a warm fun feeling was building in his system. It really did feel good.
He finished his second glass, and then a third and fourth and even fifth. It wasn't just him either. All four of them were getting heavy with the drinks.
By this point he was slurring his words and was drifting from side to side. He looked over to Dynamite who was significantly more energetic than before and was almost bouncing around. The two Cogs were also swaying quite heavily and nodding to the beat.
Just then the song came to a close and the head Cog grabbed the microphone in front of him.
"Alright everyone! Who is ready for some fast-paced heart pounding motherboard rattling beats?!" He shouted with pride and energy.
The bar let out a cheer again. Energy was definitely high. Even the bartenders and waitresses were in on this as they were ready to match the beat to their work ethic.
"Hit the lights!" He shouted with pure ecstasy.
Right on que, the lights suddenly all shut off at once leaving everyone in pitch blackness.
Marv was too intoxicated at this point to worry, he just wondered when he would see again.
Just then, a new set of lights began to light the bar, except instead of just normal light, they appeared to be special as only certain things began to glow like the rim of the table, the glasses, and parts of the Cogs and Dynamite.
He looked at the Cogs on stage and while they were basically invisible now, he could see those dull colors had suddenly brightened up to form a new shape illusion to make them look different.
It hit Marv what this was. It was neon and black lighting, only some things would light up under those kinds of conditions.
The bar took it up a notch as the Cogs on stage resumed a new song, with much heavier thumps and beats. Marv felt compelled to really dance to this one and it seemed Dynamite was down for it too.
With some unknown surges in confidence, he pulled Dynamite out of her seat and onto the floor and began to clumsily dance to the beat with her. She let out a great laugh, only now he could see how adorable it was.
"Hey Dynamite?" He shouted over the beat while they danced.
She looked drunkenly into his eyes. All at once, he realized the answer to his question was already said without a single word.
He leaned in and she copied him until their lips met. The two kissed and danced at the same time, matching the beat move for move. Their two Cog friends were busy doing their own little head bobbing and drinking further and didn't even notice they were dancing yet.
The music was loud, the alcohol was clearly flowing and now he had just confessed to a dear friend he had known since childhood, and she was all in to move it up a notch together.
Maybe these Cogs really knew what they were doing. The band at the stage kept it up, song after song after song and the two had a few more drinks together, the swaying getting more and more severe, but curiously, it was only adding to the fun.
They locked hands, locked eyes, and locked lips for hours as the night progressed.
Finally, the two slumped back into the booth and collapsed together. Marv onto his back and Dynamite laid on top of him, both far too disoriented to sit properly.
"Hey Marrrrrrrv?" She shouted.
"Huh?" He shouted back.
"I'm ha–... Happy you feel the same way… I did… I did... I didn't know how else to connnn…fess to you," she babbled, unable to speak very clearly.
"I… feel... The same way! You! I love you! Ok?" He rambled back to her.
"I loveeee you too! I do!"
"Heeeeeeeey! You two get a room if you need it. Not here," The Name Dropper shouted across the table in her own slurred voice.
"Shut it, Droopy! HAH!" Dynamite shouted back through a hiccup which got her a roll of the eyes from her friend.
The Bean Counter didn't even react, too busy snacking and having another glass of the stuff.
Marv blushed so bright it was noticeable in the blacklight, but in his state there was no getting up from his position. Instead, he decided now was a great time to close his eyes for a minute.
"Hey. Marv… come on cutie," came a voice.
Marv slowly opened his eyes.
"Huh… what happened?" he said slowly, starting to sit up.
There stood Dynamite, same as always. The warm feeling was there but much duller.
"We fell asleep together. My friends had to go home an hour or two ago to get ready for work. As for us, I think maybe we should sleep in when we get home," she explained quietly.
Marv finally sat up all the way.
"Wait... what time is it?"
"4:30 AM," she answered, sitting down next to where he sat up.
"Uh... what? Wait… so… we go home now? It's over?" he asked, trying to get his bearings.
"Yes… although I was wondering," she began before looking over to him.
"I didn't imagine what we said a few hours ago, did I?" She pondered to him.
"I… hope I didn't imagine what I think happened either," he slowly spoke.
"If that's true… maybe… we can just go to your place for the night then? If that's ok," Dynamite suggested, sounding a bit flirty.
"You know what… that would be perfect…" Marv promptly agreed to the idea.
She smiled that special smile yet again and handed him a glass.
"More alcohol… are you sure?" he asked, surprised.
"No silly. It's just water. Trust me, you want water before sleeping the rest of it off. Drink it," Dynamite explained and finished her own glass and set it down and stood up, straightening her skirt.
He shrugged and tipped his glass up. Sure enough, it was just water.
Once he finished, she helped him out of the booth and towards the exit.
"That was really fun, Dynamite. I appreciate you letting me come along," Marv mumbled out sheepishly as they exited the building.
"Yes, it was. Now then… I'm beyond tired and we have to go all the way home. Let's get out of here.
He nodded and grabbed her hand and set down a portal to the nearest playground so he could teleport them home.
After flashing a goofy smile at her, they jumped through.