I also have more backstory for the “Bendy Sam” and “A Bendy Sam” AUs while doing other things throughout the past month so I’m dumping a lot of them here: (long post ahoy!)
Okay, so that ‘joke’ kind of AU I mentioned much earlier this year? The one about the Projectionist still having human memories and Wally Franks being reborn as a Tape Player with a Hat? I actually pretty much have gone ahead and combined it with these two AUs. Partly because I like the idea that Norman and Sammy did get along if not fully friends before they’re transformations, and that Wally drove Sammy nuts but Sammy never outright hated the ‘kid’ because he was a hard worker. Just really annoying half the time.
(Quick backstory I came up with for Wally too: I actually do love the idea that Wally DID get out of the Studio before things really spiraled out of control, and the idea that he did eat an entire chocolate cake spiked with enough ink to turn most normal people into a crazed ink person. HOWEVER, since he wasn’t a good target for the ink, the ink itself just laid dormant in his system. Until he died relatively young in Florida of more ‘natural’ causes that is. (The ink still probably had something to do with the heart attack though.) After which, his soul was dragged into the Studio and made into the Tape Recorder like I said.)
Minor confession, I’ve never actually read ‘Dreams Come to Life’ but after stalking around the fandom and finding out as much as I could about, I will admit I do like Buddy as a character. So I go back and forth about also including him in these AUs. I’m like 90% there to just having him be included and sort of one of Sammy’s allies once the Studio fully goes under (I’ll explain more of that later), but I’m also not opposed to the idea of there being multiple Boris’s running around the Studio and he may not be the one Henry encounters in game.
Norman and Wally (and Buddy if I do finally decide to include him) actually know about Sammy’s infection and ‘addiction’ to the ink before things really get out of control. Wally knew the ink was normal in canon, based on that one audiolog where he talked about the ink actively moving and avoiding his mop, and since he was the janitor most likely worked later than others, cleaning after most had left or just at night if the staff were forced to stay late at crunch times. Norman’s just too observant to not notice Sammy’s changed behavior after being exposed to the ink and won’t just write it off as Sammy being stressed. My original idea was that Sammy actually tries to fight the ink and keep himself from consuming more of it because in the beginning he’s lucid enough to know that’s not normal and he would hurt himself if he did. But after being overworked and stressed from a deadline, he was exhausted enough to not realize he was giving into the ink’s demands until AFTER he had consumed more ink. Then it becomes harder to fight back since the ink’s building up enough that it starts affecting his mind and thoughts, but Sammy still tries because 1. WELL, THIS ISN’T NORMAL BUT I CAN’T TELL ANYONE WITHOUT ENDING UP LOOKING CRAZY AND BEING LOCKED UP, and 2. he’s stubborn and DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! Which eventually results in an incident after pretty much everyone else has gone home when there’s actually enough ink to puppet Sammy’s body/limbs to force him to move and collect more ink while Norman and Wally try to stop it from happening while Sammy begs them to stop him. Afterwards, none of them know what to do, so even though Wally and Norman keep checking in and keeping an eye on Sammy as much as they can and just being there so Sammy can talk to them if it gets too rough on him, they sort of just... Have to get more information and try to come up with a plan. (Buddy would get involved like not during the incident but maybe the next day after eavesdropping on them quietly discussing it. He’s dropping something off and just mentions like ‘hey, did you guys notice the ink moves?’ at which point he would be grabbed and dragged back into the room.)
(Still going off the point above because as I mentioned that was my original idea...) BUT THEN, UH I READ @inkdemonapologist ‘s SHORT FIC ‘PARASITE’ AND SHAZZ HAD IT SO SAMMY WAS BEING SUFFOCATED BY THE INK IF HE DIDN’T GIVE IT MORE AND I LOVE THAT IDEA! SO MUCH! I am seriously tempted to incorporate that idea instead so Norman and Wally get involved by finding Sammy half dead from the ink suffocating him for not giving into its demands after which the ink only gives Sammy enough air to tell him what it wants. Which results in Norman desperately trying to keep Sammy from dying while Wally runs off to get what he needs and returns. Everything else would be the same in the point above.
It’s not long after this that Sammy ‘snaps’ and when he regains his senses, realizes he kidnapped and sacrificed one of his coworkers to the Ink Machine. For these AUs, this is finally the point that terrifies him into confronting Joey Drew to try and fix what’s happening to him. Joey tries fast talking and smoothing things over, but Sammy isn’t having it given how freaked out he is plus the ink in his system making him more erratic and aggressive. Joey is also worried about Sammy leaving and getting outside help because that would reveal what’s going on with the Ink Machine and Ink Demon. Things escalate quickly as a result and.... Sammy goes into the Machine.
At some point after this, Norman is killed by the Ink Demon after investigating where the strange noises and shadows where coming from under the projection booth. Before his death though, he discovers what happened to Sammy (both of these AUs). (Buddy would discover this as well before Norman’s death, if involved, as well as accidentally free the Ink Demon.) Wally leaves the studio when Norman disappears as well, not even bothering to put in a two week notice or anything. He just calls Joey, let’s him know he quit, and goes looking for work elsewhere.
