Whelp, here's a start of a new project.~ You all may not remember about the poll I had set up back then about this. So, I got the poll votes back and deleted that poll long ago as it wasn't getting many responses. I'm surprised I didn't get that many votes in, but that made it easier on me to see how many wanted this. There was a total of 3 Yes's and 0 No's. :D What luck! What this'll be about is it's a half story/half episodic based story, showing off both on screen and off screen of the whole studio. Of course, there will be OC's within this, but don't fret over them. There's not gonna be a whole lot of them anyways and most of them are cartoons. Btw, don't rush me on this since I got some things planned out for it, but haven't written them down yet. Making this sort of thing isn't gonna be easy. x3x Also, I'm still in school and have a collab in the works with a friend of mine, so that's putting a bit of a hindrance on me to make new pages. I hope you all understand.

Also, here's the full version of the Description. :3

"Greetings, Ladies and Gentlemen! Today's series is about a mischievous lil' fella' going through crazy an' different adventures! He meets new dangers, new places, and new friends along the way! Without further delay, take your seats and enjoy The Lil' Adventures of Bendy The Dancing Demon!~"

This is a partial AU that takes place before the game and during the Golden Age of Animation, the 1920's to the 1960's! Well, technically, it's from 1928 to 1969, but it's still technically in the same era! Instead of just knowing there was a cartoon show with a normal looking Bendy, how about there's a prequel with a small version of him as he's starting out in the world of cartoon animation? Don't worry about the other two though! They'll possibly be within this prequel.~

Creator Credits:

TheMeatly - Bendy and the Ink Machine game

Mentioned cartoon & human characters

Cover artist for Lil' Bendy Adventures!: xcrystalthewolfx

Author Credits:

Plot

Semi-Episode Ideas (They're a bit tough to write in my opinion. XD)

I don't own anything from the Creator Credits except the Author Credits.

"Places, people! Places!" The director yelled out loudly while having one of his hands cupping around his mouth and the other hand holding up a packet of written dialogue and actions.

From everywhere you look, people were working around the set, placing props here and there and getting the scenes of the upcoming episode rolling with minutes ticking by them, though those minutes felt like seconds to all of them. Ranging from some of them ordering others to fetch whatever they've said to small groups of two or three talking and planning, they all scampered about. If someone from out of the blue were to come here, they couldn't keep their darting eyes off of the well-mannered actions each of them displayed. Sometimes, studios like this one would be in a ruckus when it comes to making on time for something special.

And that special something was the first of a show coming alive to people around the country.

Of course, it wouldn't be the first show to air on the silver screen, but none of them either actually cared or simply didn't want to put up the hassle of being in the first company that created an animated show in history. There were other companies playing in the cartoon industry, the golden age of animation, and they began representing themselves through their own mascots: a black and white, pudgy pooch character, a high-pitched mouse character, a long-eared rabbit character, and a big-eyed, face-ripping cat. From their company, their mascot is… different than the others, both in design and in personality. However, that won't stop them from showing him to the country.

"You, intern." The director called out while pointing at a young gentleman.

"Yes, sir?" He asked as he readjusted his glasses.

"Go get them. The set's almost up and we need to get going with production. The faster we get rolling, the better."

The intern nods his head once. "Right away, sir."

Turning around and making his way through the crowd, occasionally bumping shoulders by accident with someone and apologizing for that, he speed walked towards the workshop where the animators, voice actors, and screenwriters worked at. Going through the door, he walks up the stairs and enters the hallway, several doors lined up from left to right. Co-workers passed by him with some things in their hands, no odd glances given, and a couple of times, he was greeted by someone he knew. After that, he continued onwards to the Animator's Room.

If he knew where that mascot was located, he was somewhere around where the animators worked on the scenes. Perhaps that mascot was being mischievous with one of the animation workers again, especially that Co-Founder who first pitched the idea of the character to the director. When will that mascot learn not to bother any of them while they were working? That is, if he is doing it right now. Although keeping the place lively as possible with one of his shenanigans, the little one would make a ruckus and end up either spilling something or ruin a piece of an important scene to an episode. That has happened before, but luckily, it wasn't very much. Just a bit of a fix up and it was good as new.

Finally getting to where the animators were placed, he opens the wooden door. It let out a creaking noise from its hinges, catching a couple of animator's notice before they went back to working on what was given to them. The intern then walks through the almost narrow walkways and as he gets through, there were multiple animation employees sketching at each desk, either working on the next episode or on the very next one after that.

The placements for each of them were by the walls, their desks standing between them and the enclosure. Also, their desks are a bit apart from the other's, giving them enough room without invading their personal space unless discussing on something. There were also two rows of desks in the middle of the Animator's Room, a couple of them unoccupied, but otherwise has several animation workers seated. Walking through the rows, the intern goes towards the back of the room where a door on the right side stands. This room, known as the Lead Animator's Room, occupied the Co-Founder and his workplace. Since the director wanted him to have his own space, he decided to let him have an office.

Before knocking on the door, he can faintly hear the Co-Founder speaking and a happy cooing sound from the mascot. The intern made a small smile from hearing them conversing. 'It looks like there wasn't any mischievousness going on in there after all. Not yet, at least…' Not waiting anymore, he knocked lightly on the door and the voices stopped their conversation.

The Co-Founder's voice then came in response. "Come in!"

Having permission, the intern turns the knob and pushes the door forward. Stepping in and closing the door behind him, he rounds the corner. He passes by over laid sketched papers of before and after designs of characters pinned on the office's side wall, or what the office is like at the moment, the back wall, taking a quick glance at them. Most of them were early concept projects of the current mascot and the rest of the others were of various cartoons still in the development stage. So far, a couple of them made it to the show, but the others are either still in concept design or were going to be saved for future episodes.

The intern sees that more sketches of characters surround the Co-Founder's desk, again pinned up and over layering each other. And while they hover over the heads of the Co-Founder and the mascot, the intern finds them together at said desk. The Co-Founder was hunched over, a pencil in his grasp that's carefully handling a partially sketched character who's standing between the mascot and other character. On the Co-Founder's shoulder was the mascot who looked awestricken at his co-creator's skill of drawing, the overhead light bulb above the both of them making his eyes glisten.

"Okay, that's the second character done..." The Co-Founder noted as he switches the pencil to the ink pen. He dips the tip of it into the inkwell, getting rid of the excess before its ready to be used. "Now, it's on to the ink tracing part."

The mascot nods his head, not looking away from the scene panels.

The Co-Founder chuckled as he takes a peek at the mascot's fascinated white face. "Please, Bendy, I must warn you about this part of the process. Ink doesn't come off easily as pencil can and when one mistake happens when using an ink pen, it ruins the panels permanently. You mustn't let that happen or you will have to start all over again. That is, if you don't have this little helper with you." He pulls out a small, green colored bottle from under his work desk. It has the label titled Acetone across the middle of it in bold black lettering, along with wording on the back side of the bottle.

Bendy tilts his head as he stared at the bottle. He looks puzzled, wondering what it is and what it does.

Henry catches the toon's puzzlement. "This is Acetone, an ink remover and paint thinner. A drop or two of this and it gets rid of excess ink or paint mistakes. It helps out with correcting panels and other projects that involve ink and paint. Another warning to you: Don't let this stuff get on you or something very bad will happen."

The other shakes his head, understanding crossing his face, but with a flicker of fright showing in his pie-cut eyes.

"Also," Henry continued, "During this part, you must carefully retrace the pencil line work perfectly and once that's done, you get rid of any smudges and markings from the pencil. After that, you're basically done and have a finished panel! Do you understand what I have said, little one?"

Bendy replies with a toothy smile and a nod while turning away from the panel to face Henry. He giggles with a static-like noise when Henry rubs his head gently between the horns, his smile widening a bit from the affectionate move.

Unbeknownst to them, the intern was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, smiling at the two. He found the action the Co-Founder made was cute and he meant it. Whenever he finds them together, either working on sketches, screen panels, playing, or doing anything else, he would just stand there with a smile as he lets them do what they were doing and then come to either of them to tell what the director told him. The affections that Mr. Henry gives to Bendy when seen by him remind him of a father and child, him and his, too.

Henry nods and turns back to the panel, getting his drawing hand ready to add in the ink layer. Bendy followed suite in turning his head back, continuing to gaze at the sketched paper with fascination. "Good. Pay attention and watch how I do it."

Bendy bobs his head, ready to go through the next part of the lesson.

Before the ink pen touched the paper however, he was interrupted by a double tap on his shoulder. 'Who could that be…?' Henry thought. Giving a questioning hum, he turns around to see the intern retrieving his hand back to his side and with a patient expectant look in the man's blue eyes. Bendy followed to where Henry was looking at and tilted his head to the side, a confused look on his face replacing the awestricken expression.

"Mr. Joey would like to see you both at the stage area, please. Production's almost ready." The intern announced.

Henry nods and begins to get up out his wooden chair. The young Co-Founder stretches his arms over his head, hearing satisfying pops coming from a couple of bones. While doing so, he was mindful of Bendy being perched on his shoulder, not letting the little cartoon fall off and get hurt. He's sort of like a parrot on a pirate's shoulder by the looks of it, except not squawking annoyingly. Once done with getting the kinks out, Henry sighs. "Dang, those chairs are not comfortable at all after sitting in them for several hours..."

The intern bobbed his head in understanding. "Agreeable, sir; It's hard to imagine sitting in an uncomfortable chair for so long without anything to handle the discomfort."

"Yep. I'm considering getting a cushion for that chair when I'm off work today. I'd rather not let myself get a bad back later on and get a cane for it." Henry replies back as he starts gathering up the finished panels. The intern chuckles as the Co-Founder double checks on how many of shots were in the pile before being satisfied with the amount he's gotten finished. "Well, let's get going before Joey bites our heads off for being late." Henry chuckles as he begins to walk towards the door with Bendy and the intern in tow.

"Good idea, sir." The intern replies back with a bit of nervousness showing on his face.

When the director, Mr. Joey, gets angry, he can be hard to calm down. Dealing being late would begin the spark, but it wouldn't fully trigger the fiery beast of an emotion. A few times that he'd seen him like that were freaky as Hell...

The first time was when Mr. Joey had to let off some steam after getting frustrated with a couple of workers who were working on the spotlights above the stage. During a practice scene for the upcoming premiere of the show with Bendy trying out some of the new tap dance techniques, one of the workers was trying to position a spotlight on the mascot while the other was below on the side of the stage, telling the first worker where to position the light fixture. But, without the both of them knowing what would've happen next, the spotlight that they were working on suddenly got unhinged in the midst of the first worker from above moving it a few times.

The fixture fell straight down onto Bendy, making a direct hit onto him when he started his tap dancing routine again. This was due to him messing up on the timing of the piano's tempo. What made it worse was it short-circuited after he was hit, caught on fire, and broken glass from it breaking on the mascot's head was scattered around him. Bendy went around screaming his head off while the spotlight was still on. With the fire blazing his inky head, his feet were getting cut up. Mr. Joey, with the help of Mr. Henry and a couple of others, manage to grab him before he hurt himself more. The fire was put out with an extinguisher, the spotlight removed, and all that was needed was to patch Bendy up.

In the meantime, while Bendy was sent to the Infirmary with Henry, crying his eyes out, Mr. Joey confronted the two workers. He wanted to know what happened while he wore his angry expression. They told their side of the story and though it was a total accident, they were told to check each spotlight so that this incident doesn't happen again. Also, a bit of their money from their paychecks was taken out so that the director can buy a replacement spotlight.

The intern shuddered a little as he, the Co-Founder/Head Animator, and the mascot headed through the hallways towards the stage, passing by other workers like beforehand. He's very glad that he never had been at the receiving end of Mr. Joey's anger like the others did in the past. He just wants to work hard, get good pay, and be cooperative with everyone, even with the brutes that would occasionally toy with the other workers just for shits and giggles. Though, their silly antics just get on his nerves almost often than not...

Henry takes a peek behind his shoulder, a small smile on his face. "I would rather be called by my actual name than being called 'Sir', 'Boss', and the like, Ev."

Ev snaps out of his thoughts and tilted his head a bit, a questioning look appearing on his face. "How come, si-... I mean, Mister Henry...?"

Henry shrugs. "Don't have enough authority around here like Joey does, but still have enough to be a fitting Co-Founder. Though, while I am fine with being called those around the others, when it's just us, and of course when Bendy's around as well, it's alright to call me Henry."

Ev blinked a couple of times before nodding understandably, though he still head on the uncertainty expression. "Okay... Henry."

The Lead Animator grinned at the response and patted Ev's shoulder. "At'a boy, Ev! Now, let's keep up the pace."

As they're walking and turning corners, Bendy looks behind him. He sees the intern with his face tilted a bit down, a haze of thinking casted over his face. Tilting his head and putting a fisted hand under his non-existent chin, he gives off a questionable and curious look. He learned the questionable look when Henry puts it on while concentrating on his work or thinks too much on something. The curious mien, on the other hand...? Just on his own after being born, he guesses. However, this mixed emotional face goes unnoticed to the intern, which he can now call him Ev. What could he be thinking about at a time like this...?

He would have voiced this question out in a whisper to the man, to say what's the matter that gotten him in a thoughtful mood. He simply couldn't though... Not because he's mute - actually, scratch that, he's completely mute- or has a shy part in his personality, but it's because he hasn't gotten his own voice yet.

You see, when he was 'born into the world' by Papa Joey, he was about to ask him who he was, but found out right away that he couldn't utter a word, let alone a sound. And as he went through the process of getting to know Uncle Joey more outside of the small room and then meeting Uncle Henry and the rest of the staff workers, at first, he didn't understand why he couldn't just make one single sound. He did notice that he didn't have a neck and went to ask Uncle Henry about it being missing. After telling him about it, he was about to blame it for not giving him a voice, but then Henry had assured the toon that he never had one in the first place because of character design.

With a bit of confusion and a few explanations out of the way about that missing piece being a part of him, the no-voice condition later on became a pain to him to the point he was going to cry over it in despair, possibly even hit something by accident while spilling ink tears or knock over inkwells that were full of ink. Maybe drink some in the process as well, which he did grab a couple while being in a fit. Of course, his sadden expression got the attention of some staff members while he went through the hallways and they went to see what was wrong, but he waved them off as he went to hide somewhere to continue his distraught.

Bendy even got Uncle Henry's attention sometime in the afternoon when he accidentally walked into his office while being out of it. He was about to run off to escape being caught, but Uncle Henry had grabbed him before he was even out the door, a concerned look masking his face. Uncle Henry asked why the toon was crying, but because he was completely silent for the most part, that made it hard to communicate to him. The animator comforted him despite not knowing what had gotten him to cry this much and after that was done, Bendy pointed at his non-existing neck. That seemed to make Uncle Henry understand enough and he told him that they were going to visit Papa Joey about his problem.

Uncle Henry told Papa Joey about the situation once he was in his office with Bendy being held in his arms. At first, Papa Joey was reluctant because the business didn't have much use for a voice actor and that no one would understand lip talking without words to back it up. The films were mostly silent after all with just music and sometimes having speech slides.

Bendy shook his head at that notion, creating a frown and squinting his pie-cut eyes a bit to look frustrated. He didn't want to get a voice for the show; he wanted a voice just to talk to someone without struggling so much. Uncle Henry may have had read his mind because then he said that it wouldn't be for speaking in shows and that getting a voice for the toon was to speak with anyone around the studio. With that misunderstanding out of the way, the producer happily agreed and planned on giving Bendy a voice of his own once he was old enough for show biz. That and he needed to find the right actor that had the cartoon's perfect voice.

Back then, sound wasn't included within black and white cartoons, which included voices, but some voice actors made their cut by giving sound effects to objects and such, along with working with props. At least some sound effects can be good enough to give Bendy acknowledgment to the others in the meantime, like a horn, a trumpet, a few bells with different chimes, a whistle, and an alarm for starters.

It took a bit of implementing the effects by testing out each one in the Recording Room due to getting a kick out of some trials in the process. Then after that, each one was synced with Bendy's mouth movements, but it was worth the wait to finally be no longer completely silent. Bendy can now be able to reply somewhat with the prop sounds, such as using the alarm when a visitor comes in, using the chiming bell to greet someone, and using the horn when being hit by something. He never did use the whistle a lot, but he could use it to indicate he was interested or amused in something.

Now moving on five and a half years later, Bendy was old enough for sure to get a voice of his own, but Papa Joey hadn't found a voice actor good enough for him yet. He said that the people he interviewed didn't have the personality fitting enough for the cartoon character, thus making it tricky to find whoever has it. However, that news didn't stop the producer from trying out another method of communication on Bendy and the toon didn't give a hesitant response to it.

It was around a week until the new method was introduced. Papa Joey had come in one day in the workshop as usual, seemingly a bit more chipper than usual. He asked both Uncle Henry and Bendy to meet up with him in the Break Room during break hour, saying that he's got good news for the both of them. When break hour happened later through the work day, both cartoon and Lead Animator came into the room and seen Papa Joey with several, thick, rectangular objects in his hands. Uncle Henry had asked why Papa Joey had what he called 'books' and he recalled Papa Joey saying that these will help the toon learn how to communicate with everyone.

Bendy was lively to hear the news while Uncle Henry smiled happily. Finally, the cartoon character can get to fully speak, but without using his mouth. That didn't tip him off though from the enjoyment. Papa Joey and Uncle Henry had kept him educated on the other method when they had free time since then, even a bit after work hours. It went smoothly at first, having Bendy trying out the different motions with his hands to form letters first, then going on in doing the word meanings together, like how to ask and such. Of course, there were some technicalities that involved with work, but nothing that won't hinder off both men and cartoon character.

After a couple of months went by, Bendy understood enough to fully communicate with the staff workers and to those who visited the workplace. It was a good thing that he was a quick learner or otherwise learning about the many hand signals would've taken more months to go through and that could've been nerve-racking with a side of headaches. The hours of working on 'sign language', as Papa Joey had put it that way, through the work hours and several nights were well worth it. Of course, the toon didn't throw away the prop sounds during his time of learning sign language and he still uses them to this day.

What would he give to finally speak with his own voice now that he learned so much…? If only he knew he would get his wish granted later on.

The intern looks up suddenly, thus knocking out Bendy's train of a memorial path, and the haze of thinking faded away from his face. His eyes went straight to Bendy's pie cut ones upon noticing the little mascot looking at him strangely, the hint of concern etched within the black pits. He tilts his head a bit to the side, matching the cartoon mascot's expression of questioning.

Bendy, in turn, holds up his hand and puts down his index, middle, and ring fingers while keeping his pinky and thumb up.* He then points to the intern, more concern pooling in the inky black eyes. From the gestures given, the intern could make out that he was asking him what was wrong with him right now. Making a smile, the intern points to his chest where his heart is and makes an 'okay' sign, indicating that he was okay.

Although this could fool someone, Bendy wasn't convinced that he was alright. There still lingered something in the intern's blue eyes and that alone wouldn't sit well with the mascot. What could it have been to make him act like this? He gave the intern an incredulous look, which in turn made the intern sigh silently. Leave it to him to not be a convincing guy towards someone.

There was no way of getting around the mascot's intellect at his age in making things seem better between the both of them.

Okay, I think that's a good start to the story, don't you all think? :3 I thought of doing more to it, but nah, gonna save it for the next part.

And yeah, the game's inside building surroundings aren't similar in this chapter, but like I've said, this is an AU that takes place before the game itself, like in around the middle of the 1920's and 1930's, so there'll be some minor or major differences. The building's gonna be altered from within and outside, like the animation department, music studio, and whatnot, but will still have the same rooms like within the game as to not stray away from the original source material. :D

As for the characters, how'd I do with Henry, Joey, and Bendy? And please, be honest about your opinions so that in the future, if I make any mistakes, I can learn from them. Thanks. ^-^

I've wanted Henry to sort of be like a laid back person behind the scenes where formal greetings and such don't matter to him. Around the other workers, he's more of a hardworking workaholic and keeps himself formal towards them. He spends as much time with Bendy as possible, even during his breaks and off-times for a little bit. He cares for his friends and does what he can to fix the situation. Though, if he gets stuck in a situation, he'll have backup with him.

For Joey, as he's been hardly known in the game, he's going to be a caring father figure for Bendy and a friendly guy to Henry, but due to his semi-short temper when things don't go right, like the light fixture incident, he'll get agitated towards those who were involved. Of course, he doesn't outright fire someone for accidents. Those happen often in productions, I think. If I'm wrong, please correct me. He's a sweet guy once you get to know him, of course with getting passed the temper problem, and would do risky business in order to live out his dreams, no matter the cost.

Since we've also known little of what Bendy would act like, in this, he's going through the process of becoming a full-fledged cartoon for show biz. However, for him to be like that, he'll have to go through the process of what cartoons do and such, both being in the cartoon universe and in reality. As for being mute, he'll have to wait until there's a voice actor for him. Back then when technology was limited, there wasn't any sound to motion pictures and they were under a minute. Dialogue had to be pictured as well for audiences to see what the silent characters were saying, which I'm hoping to capture later on. Fun fact, I had to do an assignment in my Speech class during Junior year about making a silent scene. It was a bit of fun, except the apple kept falling off of my partner's head during the presentation. XD Since Bendy's a toon that came into reality, he's going to resort to sign language (Known as ASL (American Sign Language)) so that he can communicate to the others. He hasn't learned about hammer-space yet, which is where objects that are either too small or too big comes out of a cartoon's imaginary pocket, so he can't pull out a chalkboard out of his 'pocket' all the time.

*As for describing this part, the reason why I had to do the signs "What's wrong" and "I'm okay" is because… Well, I don't really know, to be honest. I guess just to give an idea of how sign language works for a bit? *Shrugs* Don't worry though, that's not gonna happen throughout all this. My God, that would take, in a sense, HOURS to replicate in detail! o-o Well, to me anyway... I'm just gonna put the signs in italics instead.

Ev is short for Everett, who is Joey and Henry's intern. He's basically an apprentice who overshadows the both of them to see how the animation industry works from the inside out. More on his backstory will be shown about why he chose to do this, if I can get my lazy ass off that is... -_- He's formal to others, even to those that don't mind it, like Henry, though he prefers to just be on everyone's good side by doing so. Of course, he can't stand silliness and will get annoyed by whoever bugs him during his job. Yes, even he gets annoyed by Bendy when the cartoon does tricks on him, but he would never outright get angry. Instead, Ev will gently scold him a little. That doesn't mean he's exceptional to being pranked unknowingly.~ X3 Everett isn't going anywhere (Not like a throw-away OC who's just there.) as he's as important as the other characters in here, so maybe you guys and girls will like him a bit down the road. :D

Hopefully that'll explain how I'm interpreting the characters. The next segment will be about the pilot episode, which will have a name to it. I'll tell you all a hint: Wander.