Random Oneshots

Machine

Bendy and the Ink Machine

The early afternoon sun was perfectly warm, not too hot and not too chilly, which was almost an oddity for late springtime in Brooklyn. Joey held open the door for his son as he rushed into the building excitedly.
Carter wouldn't stop talking about this visit since Joey had told him the plans. The front lobby felt huge to the kid as he entered. He'd seen plenty of swanky places before, and this was certainly nothing special compared to some of the hotels right down the street. Still, knowing that the whole studio was owned by his father made it look way better to Carter than any other building in the big city.
He stopped at the front desk, fiddling with his fingers to give his energy an outlet. The bespectacled lady at the desk looked at Carter without pausing her typing.
"Can I help you, young man?" she asked. Joey quickly came striding up behind him.
"Don't mind him, Joan. This is just my boy Carter" he told her enthusiastically. The lady at the front desk quickly looked the kid over, observing his features. He looked to be about 15 or so, but he was bouncing around like a child. Was he excited, or was this how he always was?
Carter looked to the side. There weren't many people in the room, just the receptionist and themselves. Everyone else was probably super busy working on the cartoons and stuff.
"Come on, I've got tons more to show ya! There isn't much interesting about a little old lobby" said Joey, walking ahead and motioning for Carter to follow him.
After they left the entry area, Joey suddenly seemed to pick up the pace. He led Carter all over the studio, maybe a little more quickly than he would have liked. His dad moved through the building with big strides, which seemed enthusiastic to bystanders, but Carter realised his fast motions were more so impatient.
The studio was magnificently huge, way bigger than Carter thought a little cartoon company could afford. He couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to navigate the many departments and corridors without having someone there to guide him. They encountered lots of employees during the tour, and Joey gave them all quick greetings and introductions before ushering Carter along, hardly even giving him a chance to open his mouth. Though there wasn't any time to comment or admire the surroundings, Carter was very much enjoying the chance to see the studio nonetheless. Besides, he did still get to meet these people. It felt like the tour came to an abrupt halt once they came upon a door, which was shoddier than all the other ones.
"This here, son, is the real exciting part!" Joey finally said as he slowly opened it.
It creaked resoundingly, revealing a staircase that descended into a lower part of the building. Carter took a step forward almost giddily. If this is what made his dad want to rush through everything else, then it must be good. He came to a halt at the edge of the stairwell. They looked as though they led into an infinite shadowy Void. Of course Carter wasn't afraid of a little darkness—it just looked a little spooky, for lack of a better word.
"What, you scared?" Joey laughed, "Don't worry son, there's a light switch at the bottom. If you want me to go first-"
"Nope!" Carter interrupted, pressing forward quickly, and then feeling a little bad about interrupting.
He didn't see his dad very often, and he didn't want to seem like a coward to him though. As Carter descended, the light disappeared more and more, until there seemed to be only the bare minimum needed to keep everything visible. It felt as though the stairs would stretch on forever, until he tripped and fell. Joey caught him by the arm before he could face plant into the hard-edged wooden steps. Carter stifled his cry.
"Woah there bud, don't want you dying yet!" said Joey as he pulled him back to his feet.
"Sorry, uh, thanks for catching me."
Carter felt even more on-edge than before now. As they finally reached the bottom of the now pitch-black staircase, he felt Joey reach from behind to flip a switch in front of him.
"Just let me get this," Carter heard Joey say.
The sudden lights felt almost blinding as they flickered on unsteadily. Carter automatically shielded his face, hoping his eyes would adjust fast.
"And here it is!" Joey beamed. Carter stepped into the room and stared in awe.
Right in the centre of the room was a large, bulky looking machine. The seams appeared to have been welded and bolted together awkwardly, and a runny black goop dripped down the sides of the otherwise lustrous and new metal. The light overhead made it cast a great shadow over the two visitors, making it feel even bigger than it really was.
"Is that the ink machine?" Carter asked wondrously. The excitement was making its comeback.
"Yes! I finally finished it. I wanted to tell you a while ago, but I thought showing you would make it more interesting," Joey replied, failing to hide his pride. Carter quickly walked towards the machine, his eyes fixated on it. This could be the greatest invention of the 20th century, and it was his own father who built it! Mister Joey Drew could be as famous as Albert Einstein because of this! Hell, you could probably solve world hunger or something like that with the machine!
"But how does it work?" Carter inquired. He stuck a finger in some of the runny ink and rubbed it against his thumb. Did it actually do what his dad had said it could?
"There's just a few simple steps," Joey began, maybe a little too coolly. "First you feed some cartoon strips into it, so that it knows what to make of course," he explained as he crossed the room, "then you have to give it a soul." There was an almost sad tone to his voice as he said the last part.
Joey stopped in front of a table with several objects laid out on top, his face lowering. Carter stared at him, now slightly alarmed. What did he mean by "give it a soul"?
Joey turned back to his son, now holding a small hammer in his hand. An unassuming tool. Carter took a step back unsurely. He didn't think his dad would ever hurt him intentionally, but he was a little scared now by this talk about needing a soul. Joey started toward him slowly, his face serious and sangfroid.
"I'm sorry Carter. I didn't want to do this, and I thought it was a crazy idea at first, but the more I did think about it, the more I started thinking maybe you could give us better results than Susie did. If you turn out right, I, no, everyone could learn a lot about how this kind of stuff works."
Wasn't Susie the Alice Angel voice actress that went missing?
"I don't understand, dad, what are you talking about?" Carter asked, walking backwards and holding his hands up in front of him protectively.
"I wanted that Tom guy to do this for me, but he couldn't bring himself to. But that's the thing about being an adult, Carter, sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do. I'm really sorry about this, I just need you to have a good attitude here son."
"Dad!"
There was a sharp, searing pain in his temple, then the hard wooden floor slammed into his face.
"Don't worry. You'll come back, trust me."

The last thing he saw was the machine before the world turned fuzzy, then ink-black.