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Over and over again, Boris would meet old friends, but no matter what, he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t tell them how to avoid the fates that they (and he) suffered. Most of them weren’t even aware of the repeats.
Henry was the only one who showed any indication that he knew, but even then, the world would shape itself to force him down the path he was supposed to go.
Before Henry, the Studio kept the same shape, regardless of who walked the hallways. It was thanks to this that Boris was able to notice that even when things were moved, certain details stayed the same.
Some of which were the pianos in the studio. For some reason, Joey had omitted the pedals, and never saw fit to fix that. Even though Sammy, the music director and first protagonist, had made a comment about it back when this madness first started.
Some of the other more musically minded people had also noticed the missing feature, but due to the Searchers that would always pop up near it, it was often too unimportant for them to think on. Not that Boris could blame them. They thought they were always in danger, and Joey never made a point to do anything with it.
When the newest protagonist was forced in, Boris was prepared for mostly the same story. There would be new elements, he was sure, but Joey was rather fond of the set pieces with Sammy and Susie. He was afraid of the pain, but in some ways, he already knew it was going to happen again.
It didn’t occur to him that the man who was the creator of the Ink Machine might not bend to the same rules.
When he met Reeve, it was after the man had been chased by Bendy, as usual for the story, but the longer he spent around Reeve, the more things felt different. Boris nearly jumped out of his chair when he laughed at something, and he made a sound instead of the wheezing chuckles that had been his norm.
He still couldn’t tell Reeve why Boris’s real laughter was so unusual, but it alerted Boris that something fundamental had changed in the story.
It wasn’t until they had sneaked back to the main music department area for some food when Boris noticed it.
Reeve had wandered back to the piano in the orchestra room, and he was just idly running his hands across the keys.
“I never got around to playing anything for you, did I?” Reeve asked, suddenly turning towards Boris.
The toon wolf’s jaw had dropped, and he was pretty sure his eyes were all but bugging out. His gaze was fixed to the center of the piano near the floor. A can of bacon soup comically dropped and rolled towards Reeve.
Confused, Reeve bent down to pick up the can and tried to hand it to Boris, but Boris was unresponsive.
“Are you okay? Is something wrong?” Fearful, Reeve reached towards Boris and tried to turn him around so that they could leave, but Boris wouldn’t budge.
Glancing around, Boris noticed some other tiny details that he had ignored before. Instruments were properly organized around the room, including the ones that would normally be too big to move on one’s own.
Joey never bothered with that much attention to detail with this room.
What changed?
There was only one thing that had changed that Boris knew of, and he was standing in front of him. Someone who knew how the room should be arranged, having had to move the instruments in and out with Boris’s help multiple times.
Boris shook his head to clear his thoughts and gave Reeve a smile in an attempt to calm his worries.
It worked, but like a mother hen, Reeve still reached up to touch Boris’s forehead while asking, “Are you sick? You spaced out there.”
This time, Boris promptly shook his head to respond to the question. Due to Boris still being mute, Reeve didn’t try prying verbally anymore, but Boris could tell that once they got back to the hideout, Reeve would try asking again while Boris had something to write on.
As they walked back, Boris was lost in thought. He wasn’t sure if he could explain. Reeve already knew more than most protagonists starting out, but he didn’t seem to be aware that his mere presence was altering the studio. Unless Joey was suddenly interested in the minutiae…
The mere thought nearly made Boris laugh. Joey “Big Picture” Drew never paid attention the details. It was only thanks to his employees that the company didn’t sink under trying to hold up his ideas. And for their efforts, he gave them this hell.
But if someone else could change the world from the inside, maybe there was hope for them.