Bendy - Background story

3. The Ink Machine

A plan for an ink machine! A plan for an ink machine that would bring the dancing demon to life. What a crazy idea! But for the seemingly unhinged Joey, it was reality! On an evening like any other, he sat once again working on his machine plan. One evening turned into two days, then into one week, and soon Joey was building his machine. His employees were afraid to enter Joey Drew's office as his once tidy workspace had turned into a junkyard. Tipped-over barrels of ink, yellow and black, scrap tires with cartoonish designs, barrels, tin cans, and even a mini-axe. For months, Joey Drew was unrecognizable. He locked himself in his office day and night, and even his employees didn't know the reason. They rarely caught a glimpse of him. But Sammy Lawrence once reported to another employee that he had briefly seen him through a crack in the door. His hair was disheveled and stood on end, which was strange for the otherwise well-groomed and impeccably dressed Joey Drew. And yet, he wore a brown leather apron and brown rubber boots over his dirty, tattered clothes. He had thick black, purple, and blue bags under his eyes. He had a psychopathic look in his eyes and moved around his office like a mad scientist, which, upon reflection, could very well be the case. He also wore a brown protective goggles on his head, brown gloves, and he was covered in ink from head to toe. His face, his clothes, his hair, all adorned with ink stains. There was no doubt: Joey Drew had gone insane. Probably the fame and recognition had gotten to his head. No doubt about it. Sammy knew all too well, as Joey Drew's personal secretary and composer (who had been owed wages for months, forced to play his songs in front of the camera while Joey arrogantly claimed to have written, composed, and played them independently), just how susceptible Joey was to such things. The situation in Joey Drew Studios had also become quite tense. Sammy only knew that Joey worked a lot with ink. But it was getting to be too much, not only for Sammy but for all the employees. However, Joey suffered the most. He lived in Joey Drew's place, and the only reason he didn't quit his job, a job that couldn't even buy him food, was that the Joey Drews provided him with a small cabin the size of a bathroom stall, with a hard mattress, a desk, and a small violin. The Joey Drews were his only means of survival. But in the past month, things had gotten really bad. Joey had built pipes above his office for his ink work. Besides making a hell of a noise, they never really bothered Sammy while he was working. But on one heavy workday, the pipes suddenly burst! Within seconds, his entire office was filled with ink. The notes he had spent hours writing were soaked in ink, and there was no need to mention what happened to his clothes. This disaster repeated itself over and over again until Joey had a pump installed to extract the ink. It only proved once again how crazy Joey was. He must have done it just so he could hop around like a goblin in his junkyard, Sammy thought. He sat alone in the dirty cafeteria during his lunch break, only with a cup of coffee. He felt something slimy on his right hand, which was gripping the cup handle. Irritated, he looked at his hand and realized it was smeared with black ink along with the cup handle. Nevertheless, he took a hearty sip from the cup. But in the next moment, he spat out the "coffee" into his hand. It wasn't coffee