darling-devils-advocate - Tumblr blog

darling-devils-advocate · 15 days

Text

Under the Veil of Darkness Au Guide

This post contains spoilers for the fic being written on Ao3! Read with caution. More info and art will be added as it’s developed.

Story

In the 1970’s, Joey Drew, a kind man filled with dreams, dabbled in the occult to bring the brain child of him and Henry to life. Bendy was the first toon to be created. He was perfect in every way. The only problem was that he’d need a place to stay after hours. Sammy decided to volunteer himself to be Bendy’s caregiver.

Since that day, he’s seen a side of Bendy that the toon has shown no one else. Later on, the musician finally confront the toon about it and finally receives confirmation that Bendy is in fact a demon simply playing a character.

Sammy, blinded by awe, makes the mistake of trusting the demon and becomes his unwilling servant. Over time, lots of blood of blood split and ink drank, the Ink Demon corrupts Sammy’s mind, turning him into a blood thirsty fanatic willing to do everything asked of him.

The Ink Demon turns the studio into his playhouse to terrorize all the lovely little souls trapped inside. It truly is a Hell on Earth.

Characters

Sammy Lawrence: 43, 6’1, he/him

Sammy is the living definition of a tourtured artist. As much as he may hide it under thick layers of sarcasm, rudeness and pessimism, he suffers with depression, trust issues and a touch of ocd. Sammy pushes everyone away and keeps to himself as much as he can either by spitting insults or out right telling them to leave him alone.

Despite his prickly exterior, there have been a handful that manage to get to his soft inside. He’ll never let anyone else in.

Joey Drew: 65, 5’9, he/him

Joey’s a jolly old man filled with nothing but kindness and generosity for others. His biggest dream was to bring smiles to as many people as possible through something he created. With the help of his best friend, Henry, he did just that and loves every second of it. Joey believes there's good in everyone and is very forgiving. He's the equivalent to a old golden retriever with lots of money to spare and a few dark secrets kept locked away.

(No ref available yet)

Henry Stein: 64, 5'11, he/him

Henry is a soft soul with the patience of a saint. He's the first to offer words of wisdom and console those who need it. He's very easygoing, preferring to let things roll off his back and enjoy the moment rather than hold grudges or onto the past. Ever since he moved to California with Linda, he became the outdoorsy type and spends most of his time out in nature.

(No ref available yet)

Bendy: ???, 3'5, he/him

This little prankster adores getting up to no good and having all eyes on him. Nothing beats telling lies, pitting people against each other and watching chaos unfold! Bendy is like a mischievous little cat running around just waiting for the perfect moment to bother you and skitter away after the deed has been done. Sometimes, his antics can feel like they're just a tad bit malicious... Keep a spray bottle on hand around him.

Boris the Wolf: ???, 4'5, he/him

Boris is the goodest of boys you could ever ask for. There's not a single bad bone in his furry body, he could never bring himself to hurt a fly. For a wolf, he's more cowardly than he'd like to admit but he tries his hardest to be brave for his friends. Boris doesn't speak as much as the other toons does. He's perfectly happy tagging along with them and playing his clarinet.

Alice Angel: ???, 4'2, she/her

Just like her name, Alice is just as kind as an angel. She's very polite and loves to help others whenever she can. Even with her angel status, even she can't help but get up to no good sometimes. She prides herself on her looks and neatness, unlike a certain imp running around the studio. While she gets along with everyone just fine, Bendy brings out the worst in her sometimes.

A demon and his creations

The Ink Demon (Malice): ???, 7'2 (11'4 as beast), he/it

The true face of the studio's beloved star. Free from having to act like a cartoon, the demon's thirst for blood and violence can finally shine through. Malice thrives on entertainment and gore, stopping at nothing to get what he wants. He has no regard for the emotions of others (aside from Sammy) unless he can use it against them. He's arrogant, selfish and dramatic as all hell.

Everything is a game to him and he is the one in control of it.

The Prophet (aka The Reaper) ???, 7'1, he/it

This creature is the husk of what Sammy used to be, driven mad with the demon's whispers and finally swept into the loving embrace of ink. Due to 'circumstances', the Prophet's frontal and parietal lobes were severely damaged to the point where rebirth could not fully fix it. Because of this along with his fanaticism, he's highly unstable and dangerous to be around, even to his own kind. He's unpredictable and violent.

Parts of who he used to be still linger underneath his new, blessed skin.

The Angel: ???, 5'10, she/it

Bendy hated Alice so he took what she loved most about herself. Faceless and horrific, the Angel resides in the lower floors of the studio guiding innocents deeper into the depths. Despite being remade in the Ink Demon's design, she is the least hostile out of his creations. There is one thing that sets her apart from the rest, she just has to be reminded of it.

Something is familiar about her title, she just doesn't know why.

The Wolf: ???, 4'11 at shoulder, it/its

Boris was never a real wolf. Too cowardly, too sweet, too gentle. Malice corrected him, turning him into a massive, hulking beast of a wolf. Everything that made Boris himself his completely stripped away. Well, aside from the obedience

Relationships

Joey was a married man (at the time) with a kid that picked up Sammy off the street one day and fell in love with him. He'd actively court him and managed to bed him multiple times behind his wife's back. Sammy would sometimes flirt back but he'd never return the affection.

Sammy met Henry through Joey and very, very slowly developed a crush on him. Henry never noticed but Joey did. The musician never made any advances or purposely showed interest in pursuing him, especially since he was married. After Henry Moved, Sam cut himself off from considering romance. Joey never stopped trying to court him even after his divorce.

Henry was stuck in the middle of the mess, not interested in either side. He's perfectly happy with Linda.

With the Ink Demon in the picture, Sammy's fanaticism and reverence turned into love. He's subtle with it and goes only as fast as he's allowed to since he's aware Malice doesn't understand some emotions well and tends to shut himself off or lashes out when it comes to experiencing them.

The Ink Demon himself rejects all feelings love and passes them off as just being possessive over his things. Although there are moments where he allows himself to be tender with Sammy, they are often followed up with hurting him (biting, scratching) to make it seem like he isn't displaying affection. Even a demon like him can deny his feelings for so long.

Both sides come to a boiling point and finally tear into each other. Their dynamic and behavior towards each other doesn't change aside from allowing more affection and nights together.

Depths of the Ink

There are many creatures dwelling in the ink waiting for their next meal, including the ink itself. Something once used to create art is used as a weapon.

Widows are one of the smallest beasts to come from the depths. The queen lays eggs in clutches of 20-30 twice a day, they hatch within minutes of being laid. Each clutch contains a very small number of special eggs containing an infection brewed by the Ink Demon himself. The regular widows are no real threats that can easily be taken care of. The ones carrying the infection are a different story. A single puncturing bite is all it takes to spread it to the host. After infecting someone, it can no longer spread it and it will die within hours of the bite.

Immediately after being bitten, the site will be inflamed and painful. Hours after is when it starts to ooze a deep red, almost black liquid and veins become visible around it. The host will start to feel like they have the beginning of a fever.

After one day has passed, the fever symptoms will become worse with the addition of minor auditory hallucinations and mental fragility. The infection site is becoming necrotic and spreading. Cutting off the effected area will not stop it from spreading, it's fully in the hosts bloodstream.

After the second day has passed, auditory, visual and tactile hallucinations are tearing down the hosts remaining stability. Bodily tissue both around the site and in other places of the body are rotting off, the open wounds ooze a black liquid. Motor skills and communication are still possible but maybe be erratic or incomprehensible. Widows tend to follow the infected, eating their decayed flesh.

On the third and final day, the host is a convulsing mess that is unable to do anything but breathe and look around. The Reaper comes for them, they are ready to be reborn as one of the Ink Demon's creations.

Lost Ones are the result of the infected being reborn. Depending on how much of their body necrosed, the reborn may end up as a Searcher or as a small sacrifice to be offered by fellow Lost Ones. Some retain memories from their past life and dissent against Malice. They are often killed by their own kind or by humans who do not trust them, but most often by the Prophet.

Most are rather docile, watching from their place or spreading the word of the Ink Demon, while others don't take kindly to heretics (humans) wandering the sacred grounds of the studio. Surprisingly, they don't live in a hive mind. Some are devout followers of the Dark Lord while others only fear the power he has, they are free to make their own choices.

The only reason they are allowed to do so is for the sake of the Demon's entertainment.

Lurkers are spiked tentacles hiding in ink drenched surfaces. They are most commonly found in pools or in deep cracks in the walls. While not obvious to the common person, anyone who has dealt with them know to listen for gurgling and hissing. Lurkers attack the first thing that comes within direct range or contact with it, lashing out and wrapping around its prey until it dies from lacerations, drowning or asphyxiation. It'll pull the corpse into its hiding spot and feast on it. The easiest way to safely cross their path is to give it something else to attack.

Many creatures may stalk the unfortunate people locked inside but none is worse than being stalked by the Prophet. He may follow from the shadows, hardly making a sound for hours and his prey would never know. Once he's spotted, he switches from following at a distance to behaving like a weeping angel (only moving when you're not looking) with his axe brandished and ready to spill blood in the name of his lord.

The Well is where all stolen souls are held captive. Deep pools of ink house the Well. Any ink creatures aside from lurkers, the Prophet, the Wolf and the Angel that fall into the well permanently lose whatever part of them broke the surface should they manage to escape. If they fully submerge, their body is torn to shreds and left to rot with the other souls. It's rumored that the whispers heard from the ink are the last thoughts of the person who fell victim. Many are blood curdling screams.

And finally, the ink machine. The start of it all. Until Malice was made, the machine was harmless. He tainted all of the ink flowing through it with his power, rendering it the new birthing pool for his creations. With tainted pipes lacing the entire studio, it allows Malice to bleed his influence into the very surface of the walls, changing it to his liking. The machine resides in the deepest part of the demon's lair where he designs and brings all of his creatures to life. The machine itself isn't needed to bring them to life, it just keeps the ink flowing in a steady supply. Turning it off or destroying it won't do anything but put a target on your back.

˚꒦꒷━━━━━━━☙⛤❧━━━━━━꒷꒦˚

hopefully this is good enough for people to get a grasp for what im going for without outright saying everything. i do plan on making lots more art for this (funny i say this considering how fast i draw things differently from their ref) and developing the world a lot more since this version of the au is still fairly new (v3 babyyy) and finally working on finishing the fic someday. if you have any questions im more than happy to answer them :)

15 notes · View notes