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Battat likes to think that he has his life in order, His life is exactly like a ship sailing the seas. The ship is his sense of stability, His routine is something like a map, His routine is one of the things that keeps him motivated and him and his going, being able to see what is going to happen everyday gives him a sense of comfort, knowing what, how and when to do it gives him the feeling of control, Sure the ship shakes a little when there’s a turn or shift in schedule and (god forbid) a storm, Everything will be fine so long as the ship is there, small cracks can always be patched after all.
The waves and obstacles inside all are the things that could inhibit him from continuing on. Sure a small wave of problems isn’t going to hurt the ship much, But a problem as threatening as a pack of sharks, sirens or a possible rival crew out for his and his crew’s title of Mike would be, he’s gonna have to act fast or the whole ship could sink. A storm of doubt and hesitation may come every once in a while but so far none of them have stopped him. Whatever may come, he has to do everything he can in his power to protect the ship and his crew, lest he drowns in a sea of his fear and regret.
What is a ship without its crew? Pluey and Jongler are just as important to him as the ship itself, Two other misfits like him, A mute shadowguy and a Zapper who has a jammed volume button. He may not realize it or even like admitting it, But their mutual respect for battat and the ship mean so much to him, They both often assist with Battat’s protection of the ship, However they are not afraid to admit to him when they need to steer the ship in a new direction to protect the ship in order to avoid a problem or use a new method to patch a hole. But after a bit of communication, maybe some push and shove if needed, they all will come to a compromise. Even if the ship is going through a rather uneventful day or Battat is stressed, they've been there to keep him entertained on slow days or drag him out of the water and help him dry him off if need be.
But due to his restrictive routine he’s unknowingly trapped himself in a bottle, This bottle is made of glass infused with his fear of life changing events and losing everything carried in the ship, including his crew. There’s a reason why his ship and the bottle exist.
To put it bluntly he has lost everything before, Back in castle town he was nobody special. Sure life then was plain with the occasional mockery for his off coloring, but he had become friends with castle town’s band of misfits who invited him to join them.
He had lost his friends just as fast as he had first met them because his he and his friends got into a fight it was a small fight, one that easily fixable with an apology, but when he went to sleep that night he went to sleep and it was as if he had his life stolen away from him, or he had been stolen from his life, He had lost his friends and the ability to apologize to them in the process. He hates thinking about them and refuses to bring them up, no one in tv world was given any real details of his life in Castletown, Hell he hasn’t even told Pluey and Jongler yet. He decided it would be better to forget and only mourn for them when he has the time too, Unfortunately that was one thing he never accounted for in his schedule, it’s more neglected than his sleep schedule.
His ship in a bottle adjacent lifestyle had served him well… That is until the day the fun gang came, The bottle had been shattered. He knew the petrification was inevitable but he had not accounted for the idea Pluey and Jongler would petrify instead, Nobody in the TV world saw it coming.
The minority of card castle originating Pippins themselves thought they’d all petrify over anyone else, They all swore themselves to secrecy they were not to tell others about their future petrification as to not cause fear and risk getting fired by Tenna. Sure Tenna and the other tv world members welcomed these Pippins with open arms, but they were still different genetically from the native Pippins, the petrification will happen but it would only be delayed, It’s as if the world will take longer to notice they don’t belong because they look like they do but have just enough of a difference to doom them to inevitable petrification of them all.
They all worried that if Tenna were to find out about the upcoming petrification they’d all risk being fired because they’d risk petrifying on set… Only a few of them ever told a Non-Pippins that they cared about enough, like a friend or their partner that the card castle Pippins would petrify to warn them about what they expected to be their own petrification that’ll happen some day... Battat was one of the many who said nothing about it, He had planned hiding from Pluey and Jongler when it was happening because he didn’t want them to see and possibly hate him for lying about petrifying when the rumor of card castle Pippins petrifying would float around once a year…
Several Pippins both native and non-native alike had watched their friends and loved ones become petrified. This event hit Battat hard. He was forced to watch his best friends petrify before his eyes, unable to do anything but blame himself for it all. He’s the one that came from castle town, Not them. He’s mad at the fact he’s just so exhausted from all of the stress he’s forced to rest because he hadn’t even had just enough energy to brew a cup of coffee.
The ship was destroyed, he’s been separated from his crew, The blue waves have dried up and all of this was because the bottle was forcefully broken due to the shock of the results of the petrification events, He has to rebuild it all again and he’s not sure when he can reunite with his crew or if he can rebuild the ship.
~
Battat awakens in what appears to be a new darkworld, on the ground… Seriously? Did no one think about moving him? Whatever, back to the point. Battat got up and dusted himself off and wandered into town, This dark world glows with hues of blue and teal and yet it’s still just as dark as any dark world, it looks like many people live here, there’s several homes and new darkners moving in, after overhearing a conversation, Battat found out this dark world is called Castle Town. So that answers his first question, but now he has to figure out where Pluey and Jongler could be.. If they are around, he just hopes that they’re at least alive… This is starting to all be a little much for Battat to take in, especially since he’s just woken up, he decides that he should at least get a cup of coffee before exploring the rest of town, seeing as the cafe isn’t too far away from where he’s standing currently.
Upon walking into the cafe, Battat is nearly knocked over by a tasque running into the cafe, Upon further inspection, the cafe appears to be a themed cafe, seeing as the cafe attendees and staff have or are wearing cat ears, Battat, puzzled, asks “...Is this a cat cafe?”, Swatch sitting at the front desk says, “Dear Customer, I am aware this cafe appears to be a “cat cafe”, but I can assure you that this is a temporary arrangement.” Battat squints at Swatch, despite his statement he’s wearing cat ears, before realizing something, He decides to peer around the room, Looking around, he notices that a lot of the cafe attendees are Tasques with the Tasque manager, Shadow guys and a bunch of other attendees wearing fake cat ears, So much for it not being a cat cafe, Battat walks through the crowd of attendees and a certain shadowguy catches his eye, Battat had only come into the cafe expecting decent coffee, he was certainly not expecting to see Pluey sitting by his lonesome, solemnly drinking a glass of milk. Battat takes a few steps towards them just to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him, only for the shadow guy to almost spring up as soon as they saw him their body language immediately switching out for a more joyous tone, they wordlessly scoop Battat into their arms and brought him into a hug, Yep, that’s Pluey.
Battat reluctantly returns the hug for a second and then immediately starts asking questions. “Wait if we all woke up here, why didn’t you or Jongler think of moving me off the ground?” Pluey puts down Battat and signs (“We must have woken up in different places, I woke up in here.”) Battat thinks for a moment “If you’re not petrified, then Jongler has to be somewhere in this dark world!”, But almost as if on que, a familiar Zapper walks in, “Huh, They really shoulds update the sign outside.” Swatch protested “Mx. I don’t seem to understand what you are implying but this isn’t a cat cafe.” Battat and Pluey cut through several members of the crowd, Pluey almost tackling Jongler and Battat reluctantly hugging them. He was doing a lot of hugging today and he silently hopes that it’s the correct thing to do in this situation. Jongler returns the affections by wrapping their arms around the both of them. Swatch mock clears his throat, “I understand that this is a heartfelt reunion but… this is a cafe.” someone in the crowd chimes in with “A CAT CAFE!!!” Swatch sighs and says “Sure, Whatever. I recommend you three take this reunion somewhere else.” The three chuckle awkwardly and nearly dash out of the cafe. The three take a moment to breathe.. “So Jongler, Where did you wake up?”, “Uuh, the main castle, A lot of people are movin’ in there” Battat pauses “Tenna wouldn’t happen to be in the castle would he?” Jongler confirmed “Yeah, Tenna’s there, I also I founds out there’s a Mike room there, and no ones in it!” Battat stares wide-eyed at Jongler and murmurs “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” Jongler replies “Nope I-” only to be cut off by Battat “YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT SOONER, WE’VE GOTTA GET THERE BEFORE TENNA SEES MIKE ISN’T THERE!!!” Battat Starts running, Jongler and Pluey follow suit
~
Upon entering the Mike room, they found out it was more like a Mike apartment because the room was much bigger inside and had two rooms separated by a hallway. For some reason, The mike room was very sparsely furnished, whoever set up the room left them all with an empty corkboard, a fold up chair and two closets, One acted more like an absurdly tall drawer and the other had their mike costumes neatly sorted out in the closet, They’d have to find out who did all of this for them and why. But for now, they all decided they just needed to take a break just for tonight at least.
The three sit together leaning against the same wall, after a small moment of silence Battat speaks up “Well, I don’t got any ideas as to whats going on so for once I’m gonna ask what you two think.” Jongler asks “‘Bout what?” Battat puzzled “I don’t know, Where Mike could be, the petrification?” Pluey signs (“I think we need to talk about the last thing Jongler said, That’s a good starting point.”) Battat is about to protest “I- HOW DO-...” Battat pauses to think and sighs, “I guess that’s not a bad idea to start off with...”
Battat and Pluey turn to Jongler, Battat asks “Alright, Was that meant to be platonic or romantic?”, “Uhhh, Th’ second one.”. Pluey sighs and signs, “Good, I was trying to hint with that too. I’ve felt the same with both of you for a while now.” Battat hesitates “This is gonna sound super cheesy, but I didn’t realize I liked you both it until…” Battat’s breath hitches as he hugs his legs to his chest, Pluey frowns as they hold Battat closer producing a purr adjacent sound, Jongler wraps their arms around both of them, “‘s okay, What matters is, wes here now.”
After a bit of comforting the three end up leaning against each other and falling asleep one after the other, Battat will have to remake their daily schedule but he’ll no longer enclose his life in a bottle. He won't be too concerned about what’s next in life, so long as his partners are close by, almost everything is going to go according to their plans.