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Battat makes his way down the dark hallway off to the side of the Mike room. An area once shrouded in mystery, now all too familiar. He once gathered enough courage to march down here with a flashlight, but it proved useless. Even before the batteries mysteriously died (a complete anomoly, he had just replaced them to ensure they wouldn't) the dark was so pressing, so endless, even the brightest light source wouldn't have a done a thing.
After his first meeting with the… thing that lives here, however, he found himself a little more able to adjust. At first he only traversed the dark when absolutely neccessary. Only when he was called upon. But now? He's started to go seeking it out. He does feel a little ridiculous. Headed straight into the dangerous lion's den because he's started to get comfortable living in fear. But he's already been swallowed by the pitch black all around him, might as well commit.
He stops in the hallway, clinking footsteps echo around him. He glances around, uncertain. He'd never had to call for it before. He hesitates, doing his best to swallow down the thick fear stuck in his throat. He's alone.
But he can feel that he isn't.
"…Friend?" He nervously calls into the void. His own voice bounces off the non-existent walls and right back to him. He nearly winces. The sound of his own voice tends to scrape against his brain like sandpaper. Nothing happens for a few seconds. He finds himself shuffling anxiously on his feet, glancing around at the ceaseless darkness.
And then he looks up.
Two giant glowing eyes- one pink, one yellow- stare back at him. Like they'd been watching him the whole time.
"Why hello, Green." A grin unfolds from the dark. Just a little too wide. A little too sharp. A few too many teeth. "What a pleasant surprise, to see you here." Battat steels himself, standing up straight and crossing his arms. He's unbearably tense, doing everything in his power not to shiver.
"Could we talk?" He forces out, attempting to sound stern.
"Your specialty." Friend chuckles, a deep, reverbarating sound that climbs it's way up his spine and makes him feel hollow.
"Oh quiet."
"I thought you wanted to talk."
Battat huffs, fear partially replaced with annoyance. And a tad bit of embarrassment as the thought of what he came here to ask settles back over him. He glances at the ground, a subtle blush coming over his cheeks. Hardly even visible in the dark. Friend's face travels down, off the "ceiling" and closer to Battat's face. The vague shape of something large and cat-like begins to form, still nearly invisible against the black background.
"You can…" Battat hesitates. He looks back up at those giant glowing eyes, that uncomfortable grin. The face shifts slightly to the left, as though it's tilting it's head in curiousity. "You can shapeshift, right?"
The uncanny face gets smaller, approaching Battat's height. A shadow takes shape, forming into… something. A darkened mirror of Battat, almost him, but something about it is… wrong. It seems intentional. Friend gets close to his face. He cringes.
"Into anything." It whipsers, and yet it sounds unbearably loud. Battat has to forcibly tear his eyes away, like he's being compelled against his will to look. But god, he doesn't want to.
"N-No not me-" Battat practically begs.
"Oh?" He can somehow feel Friend changing form again, the air shifting around him. He gains the courage to look. That cat towers over him yet again. "You want me to do something specific?" It slowly starts to circle Battat, like it's stalking prey. Battat refuses to follow it's movements, clenching his fist and standing firm. Maybe, just maybe, if he pretends not to be scared, it won't pounce.
"We could… make a deal." He hates the way his voice cracks. Hates that he has to listen to it echo.
Friend stops its inane circling. Its ears stand on end, its tail twitches. The only indication of interest Battat can see is the way its smile impossibly widens, stretching the darkness of their face uncomfortably.
"Really?" There's a small lilt to its voice, an uncontainable excitement. Already Battat regrets his words. He's in too deep now.
"A small one. Favor for a favor." He mutters.
"I'm listening…" Friend resumes their slow circling, tail tracing the arches of Battat's head. He tenses, sinking further into himself.
"Could you… ah…" he feels himself start to sweat. He takes a shaky breath. "Turn into Tenna?"
Almost immediately Friend obliges, making it's way to Battat's front. Friend adjusts to this new form, a version of Tenna near indistinguishable, just slighty off. A slight pink and yellow tint to his screen. An unsettingly posture. An uncanny grin, almost too wide for his face. "Tenna" stares down at Battat, arms folded tightly behind its back, screen glued to the small pippins as it resumes its circling. A little faster this time.
"And did you want me to do something?" A voice that is distinctly not Tenna's surrounds him. "Say something specific? Pretend to be him for a while?"
Battat looks down at his feet, an embarrassed flush coming over his face. This was a bad idea. He knew this was a bad idea. He wants to take off running, but he resists the urge to allow it a chase. He knows it would chase. Friend laughs- an uncomfortable echoing sound that makes his skin crawl- and hooks a finger under his chin, forcing him to come face to face with this false approximation of Tenna.
"Oh, Green, you're too easy. Here, how's this?"
Friend stands up straight, making sure Battat is watching. He couldn't look away if he tried. It tightens it's tie (or at least pretends to) and clears its throat. When it speaks again, it sounds… almost like Tenna's voice. A speaker-static quality, that unmistakable excitement. To anyone else, it would be an indistinguishable impression.
To Battat, it only feels wrong.
"Oh Battat!" The false Tenna swings its arms around, up to its face, holding its hands and kicking one foot up in the air. Well, the body language is certainly Tenna-esc. "I simply must let you know how much I adore you! And your cute little face!" It pinches Battat's cheek affectionately. It makes him blush. He thinks he shouldn't let it do that to him. Shouldn't allow it to touch him. He doesn't move.
He feels guilty.
"You're so hardworking and dutiful, how could I ever find a reward befitting such an artist?" It gently holds Battat's face in its hands. Its smile is almost warm. Almost comforting. Just a little too sickening and not enough sweet.
All Battat can do, for a moment, is stare. This feels wrong. A facsimilie of something that was never meant to leave his imagination. It feels wrong that he even tried this in the first place. He glances back down at the ground, almost missing the way its smile briefly fades.
"Th-this isn't gonna work."
"Aw, am I not a good enough actor for your fantasy?" Friend's voice is back to its own, like whiplash. He can tell by its tone the grin didn't stay gone for long. "Or do you have your own script written?" Battat snaps his head back up, preparing to defend himself.
"N-No I just-"
Before he even gets the chance, however, Friend has stood up straight and snapped its fingers, interrupting him. It seems to have no intention of listening to a word he says.
"Wait, I think you do!" Friend spins in place- okay, so he must admit that move was very reminscent of Tenna- and when it's facing Battat again, it has a notebook in it's hand. Battat recognizes it immediately. His eyes go wide.
"Wh- h-how did you get that?!" Battat jumps forward, desperately attempting to grab the notebook out of its hand. Friend easily holds it out of his reach, without even having to try, and casually flips through the pages with a wry grin.
"Oooh~ how scandalous!"
"G-Give it back!"
"How do you think he'd react if he found this?" Friend shuts the notebook with a slam. Battat's efforts come to a sudden stop. He takes a hesitant step back. Friend does nothing but grin at him. For some reason, he gets the feeling he knows what's coming next.
"Please don't-" He can barely get out a sentence before Friend bursts into cackling laughter, placing a hand on its thigh and waving the other about. The same way Tenna does.
"Oh, you make everything such a catastrophe!" It stands up straight again, clutching the book to its chest and pretending to wipe away a tear. "I know you've thought about it before! An unusual amount for someone who supposedly doesn't want to get caught." Battat looks down again, blushing bright green. "So many different scenarios! Countless possibilities… And yet they all end the same."
Friend leans in close, smile suddenly gone, and waves the book in his face. Battat's gut instinct is to lunge for it, but-
"I can't believe this!" Tenna's voice bellows out again, making Battat shrink back. Suddenly the urge to cower, run, hide do anything to get away is overwhelming but Tenna grabs him by the poncho, holding him in the air like one would a cat by its scruff. Battat yelps. "How disgusting!" He flinches. "Insubordinate!" He flinches again. He thinks he's going to cry. "I should have you FIRED for this behavior!"
Battat curls in on himself and closes his eyes tight, expecting to be flung across the room like he is everytime he imagines this scenario. But instead, he's placed gingerly back on the ground while Friend laughs and laughs, left to sit there and attempt to catch his breath. He barely gets the chance before Friend starts to speak in its own voice once again.
"Oh, it is quite a fun thought to entertain yes." Battat shoots it a look of pure horror. It doesn't seem phased at all, returning it's casual purusal through Battat's most personal writing. "But I for one think he'd be flattered!"
Battat snaps to attention. His poor pounding heart can't seem to catch a break.
"…What?"
"Oh, please. The man is completely obsessed with himself!"
Something like anger wells up inside him. The sudden need to defend Tenna becomes more important than whatever the hell else this creature is on about.
"That's not-"
"He'd love this!" Friend doesn't even give him the chance. "Knowing someone around his studio is this maddeningly obsessed with him. And a Pippins, no less. How thrilling is that?"
Battat pauses, giving himself a chance to mull it over.
"You think… He'd like me…?"
Friend, too, takes a small moment to think.
"He'd like… your infatuation. You're undying obsession with him." Friend crouches down, hands on its knees, to be face to face with him. "I can show you exactly how I think it'd go, if you like."
"I-I don't think-" Battat blinks. Only blinks. And suddenly Friend is gone, and the darkness has retreated. He finds himself standing in the middle of the darkened green room, late at night. Battat scrambles to his feet in a daze. He spins around, desperately searching for any kind of clue as to what just happened. "Wha- h-how- is this-"
"You there!" Tenna's voice. Well, almost. Battat whips around to face him as fast as his body will allow. He quickly stands at attention, even though the logical part of his brain is screaming that this isn't him. "You! Green pippins!" He pulls Battat's journal out from behind his back. "Is this yours?"
"Um- I- Are you-"
"Well?! Spit it out!" Tenna shoves the book in his face. Oh no. Oh no no no not again. Its not going to make him face this again is it? "Is this yours or not?"
His eyes dart around the room. He's struggling to distinguish what about this is real and what isn't. Desperately, he looks back up at "Tenna." Just… standing there. Waiting.
Seems like it wants him to play along.
"Um… Y-Yes?"
"Tenna" stands up straight, seeming surprised, before an unsettling grin breaks out across his face. Definitely not Tenma. He scoops Battat up with ease, holding him in one hand like a small toy, and brings him up to his face. The screen isn't nearly as bright as he'd expect, save for a faint pink and yellow light.
"Oh how exciting!" A flower sprouts from his nose. Battat does his best not to be endeared. To remind himself this isn't Tenna. "I've been searching all day for the author!"
"Uh-"
"I'm simply charmed by your writing! I should've known it was you! My most dutiful, hardworking, and dedicated Pippins~ Of COURSE you would feel so strongly about me!"
Battat can't help but let a smile slip. Even though he knows how unrealistic this is. He has to make an active effort to remind himself this isn't happening. This isn't what would happen.
"Well, I- y'know-" Still, he can't help but feel flattered, tripping over his words despite himself.
"I mean really, for someone to write such incredible things about me?! You must really like me. Why, I could just kiss you!"
"Huh-"
Before he even gets the chance to think about it, "Tenna" leans in and plants a comical kiss on Battat's face with an exaggerated "mwah!" Battat's head nearly rolls, and even though it doesn't, he feels dizzy. A giggle- distinctly friend- snaps him out of it, if only for the briefest of moments.
"So small and cute too, you've been right under my nose all this time! How lucky I found that journal, otherwise I never would've known!"
"Well, I, uh-" Battat blinks again, and suddenly he's sitting on the ground, back in the darkness. He's left reeling from the experience and he scrambles to get back on his feet. He feels like he can hardly stand up.
"Or y'know, something like that." Friend's voice surrounds him again. The large cat-like form lays idly in front of him, tail flicking back and forth. It watches him with interest as he fruitlessly attempts to form coherent words.
"What the- y-you can just do that?!" He takes a nervous step back, despite knowing he couldn't do anything to escape it. If it wanted to, it could keep him here.
He never should've come here.
"It's nothing complicated dear," Friend lazily rolls over to face him a little more properly. "Just a trick of the light."
"Th-that's it, I'm done here." Battat crosses his arms, doing his best to appear stern. Friend makes a face, like it finds his efforts cute.
"Oh, you'll be back."
He hates that it's true. That he's in far too deep now. That he has to return whether he wants to or not.
"Can I have my notebook back?" Battat puts his hand out expectantly. Friend shows off their paws. Empty. With a dramatic groan, Battat turns on his heel and begins to storm away, fists clenched at his sides.
"Sorry Green," Friend chuckles. Its voice follows him. "Was that not what you wanted? You're so picky! Don't worry, I'll get it right next time!"
"There won't BE a next time, this was a stupid idea in the first place!"
"Sure, sure. Just let me know what you when you want to try again!"
Friend's laugh echoes through him even after he's stepped out of the shadows, rattling his bones and sending a shiver up his spine.
Until next time.