"The quiet humming of the ink machine was heard from above as it leaked, flooding the stairs again. People started complaining that they couldn't leave their office because of the flooding, so what did Joey do to fix this? Not get rid of the machine causing the problem, but instead, add a pump to conventionally drain the stairs. Now I have this ugly switch in my office, people in and out all day. just what I needed, Another distraction to keep me from my work. It's not like I already have to stay overnight to get my work done." - end of tape
Vee had no time to waste. He needed to get work done. As he went to make coffee, all that came out of the faucet was an inky black liquid, which clogged the drain and leaked from the sink.
"That damn Ink machine. I guess there won't be any coffee for tonight." He took a deep breath, settled back into his chair, and refocused on his work. A few minutes later, he drifted off to sleep, leaving his work unfinished.
A few hours later there was a knock at Vee's office door. Making him jolt awake. It was Maple coming by to check in on Vee, "Hey bud, I noticed you never went home, so I came by to see if you were okay?"
Vee quickly got up from his chair, almost falling off in his haste. Caught off guard by Maple's unexpected appearance. "Oh, hey Maple," he stammered, trying to regain his composure. It was true, Vee had been at the office much longer than usual, burying himself in work.
Maple raised an eyebrow, concern written all over his face. He had known Vee for years and could easily tell when something was amiss. Vee was usually the last to leave the office, but never one to linger till the morning. Seeing him still at his desk this early in the morning was definitely cause for concern.
"I'm fine, I just lost track of time, per usual," The room went silent for a moment before Maple spoke up. "Are you sure? I know you lose track of time easily, but you usually aren't here all night." Vee looked down at his unfinished work and sighed. "Yeah, I just fell asleep before finishing my work, Nothing much," He paused, then looked at the empty mug on his desk. "The faucet wasn't working last night. Ink came out instead of water." He shifted his weight before sitting back down, "But Yeah, I need to get this work done, I'll see you later." Maple frowned after Vee said this. He was disappointed he couldn't hang out with Vee after he started burying himself in his work lately, but He respected his boundaries and walked off.
About an hour later, Vee had finished his work. He stood up, left his chair, and went to meet up with Sammy to work on more song ideas, which was.. more work. But who gets a break around here anyway? As he was about to enter the music studio, he bumped into Sammy, who was about to leave the room. "Oh, perfect, I was just about to go get you. You're late," Sammy said, his tone firm. "Yeah sorry, I had to get the rest of my work done" Vee responded while shifting his weight to one side, and putting his hand on his hip. "I don't like your tone," Sammy said sarcastically, while also putting his hand on his hip. "Oh shut up" Vee chuckled, playfully hitting him on the shoulder as he walked into the room. "Now how shall we start?" Vee said, imitating a British accent as he sat down, and leaned back in the chair. "Hmm, I honestly don't know." Sammy sighed before continuing, "I mean, we've worked our asses off all week, how about we take a break?" Vee leaned back even more, almost tipping the chair over, "Sure why not, a break sounds nice." He then again leaned back more, making the chair and himself fall over with a loud THUD. "Yeowch" Vee giggled before getting back up and brushing himself off, "dumbass" Sammy chuckled while adjusting his overall strap.
A few hours passed by as they talked about topics varying between the Ink machine and the faucets not working properly.
"I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if anyone fell into the machine!" Vee said, making exaggerated hand gestures while doing so. After this he looked up at the clock on the wall, "Oh shoot, I need to meet up with Maple for Lunch." He said as he stood up and headed for the door, "I'll see you later!"
As he was about to walk out of the studio he ran into Joey, "Oh, Vee, just who I was looking for,"
Vee was about to walk out the door before Joey said this, "Whatever you need to say please make it quick, I'm late for a meetup with my brother." He said impatiently, "Of course, I won't waste much of your time." Joey responded, "I've noticed you've been staying at the studio later and later each day to get work done. You're a hard worker, and I respect that, So I've come to make an offer. Meet me at the Ink machine after Lunch, alright?" Vee nodded, "alright, see you then." He responded as he rushed out the door.
Maple was about to leave as Vee arrived, "Sorry I'm late I got distracted while talking with Sammy" Maple sighed with relief as he sat back down, "At least you made it before I left, I was starting to think you wouldn't show up at all." Vee sat down in the chair across from him, and put his notebook down on the table,
"Yeah, sorry we haven't been hanging out as much as we usually do I've been-"
"Busy, yeah I know. You said that last time," Maple sighed, "I'm just glad you made time to have Lunch with me." Vee pulled out a pencil and started doodling in his notebook, "Yeah, I guess that's a plus," He continued doodling as Maple tried making small talk "So how's your day going?" Vee didn't look up from his notebook while responding, "Nothing much really, Joey said he had an offer for me and said to meet him after Lunch by the Ink machine." He looked up at Maple, waiting for a response. "I dunno seems sketchy to me, be careful Joey could have anything up his sleeve." Maple responded, shifting his weight in the chair. Vee giggled, "what's the old man going to do? Push me into the machine? He probably can't even get out of bed by himself." He put his pencil down, as a wide grin appeared on his face. "Just saying, You'll never know what could happen" Maple said, shrugging his shoulders. "Says you" he chuckled, "Well, it's been great, but Lunch is over, and I need to go meet up with Joey." He got up, grabbed his notebook and walked back to the studio.
As He finally got to the studio he headed for the room where the Ink machine was, but when he got there he didn't see Joey anywhere. He got closer to the machine and noticed it was on, pouring out ink, going up to his ankles and staining the bottom of his pant legs. As He was about to turn around Something no, Someone pushed him into the machine.
