Chapter Text
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO MIKE?" HE MUST BE HERE!!! " The TV headed darkner shouted at the little green pippins who sat turned towards his boss on a way to high chair. "Mr. Tenna, i can ensure that none of us-"
*CRAKHHH*
The pippins looked down and at the same time averted its gaze from the broken vase the zapper bought the other day. Innocently, the lone flower lied on the floor in a puddle of water before Tenna ragingly stomped at it. Well, the last thing alife in this room was destroyed, well done.
Annoyed, the green pippins looked up at their boss and froze up. The wide teethful grin was no go- "YOU. YES YOU. YOU'RE CALLING MIKE. RIGHT. NOW."
"But-"
"NO BUTS. CALL HIM"
"Mr Ten-"
"NOW!!"
"He- he-"
"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?"
"Uhm, Mr. Tenna?"
The slightly uncomfortable situation was interrupted by Elina peeking in, apparently seeking for their boss. She quickly explained the reason for their call, making the host storm out of the small room. But before slamming the door shut, he threw one last thing towards the small creature. It seemed to be a book, tons of them lying all around the room.
---
The green pippins stared at the floor, wordless against his two coworkers who exchanged a glance. Even though their communications were brief, he was always very talkative, or just mumbled to himself. If he wasn't speaking or rambling, it couldn't mean something good.
Before any of the two darkners could make a move or drop a word, the pippins stood up and angrily walked out of the room, stopping at the door. After muttering something about taking a break, the smallest exited the room. His next destination was the bar in the green room.
---
Tenna wanted Mike, right? Wanted him so bad, he started destroying his own property? Okay, he will get them. It'll find a way to figure out where the mysterious Mike is. And who they are.
---
Hour after hour passed, but the greenish dice stayed with the same amount of clues no matter who he asked. Most darkners just said they must be an employee in the filming room, others had no idea of them, except for one zapper who mentioned a "Mike room", but they said it's highly controlled and no one ever goes there.
The First "theory" gets easily debunked by the fact that Greeny HIMSELF works at the filming room, and the other two employees seem as clueless as he is. But honestly, it should ask them too, what if Mike was a former worker- oh god why did he think of it just now.
After hitting its hand on his face, the greenish darkner hurriedly ran over to his working room. A few zappers gave him strange looks, he nearly made a few other Pipinses fall, but it didn't have a care in the world outside of Mike.
Slamming the door open, he stood for a few seconds to recover from his fast movement. Afterwards it proceeded to its colleges, still panting every now and then when he spoke too fast.
"Okay so. WHO IS MIKE?!!?!??"
The two darkners turned on their chairs, now facing the smaller one. The Shadowguy was frowning while the other's eye? Mouth? Eyeline? Mouthline? Whatever it was, it twisted downwards, which seemed to be a sad expression on the zappers' faces. The green gremlin just started learning how to read their expressions.
"We have no clue boss" they said, a small hint of worry in their voice, but that didn't matter to the pippins right now. "So you never worked with a Mike?" The dice now paced around in the room, careful to not knock anything over. And there were tons to kick over.
The guard-supposed creature's features turned even more down before they spoke up once again. “Nah boss, we ain't ever worked wit' no Mike.” The Shadowed darkner rapidly nodded as a confirmation. This answer didn't satisfy the little self-proclaimed detective, but it had no options left but to shut up with that mystery before he-
His train of thoughts got RAPIDLY interrupted by Tenna shouting in their room over the loudspeakers that the next programme will begin in a few minutes and everyone's gotta get ready!!!!!!!!!!
---
The green darkner's job was changing the camera which got displayed, but since the current show was a rerun, he had nothing to do. It boringly stated on his screen which displayed the currently running sit-com, this episode was about someone impersonating someone else, and sure with lots of drama, what else??? But honestly, where did they even get the idea to pretend to be his boyfriend? What was the goddamn reason for it?? Isn't that a crime here???
Its gaze wandered around his workplace, the filming room. It was pretty full of random shit, such as books, DVDs, cassettes, magazines and other interiors. On the walls hung many posters, most of them themed over TV TIME, on some there was a blacked out person, some featured only Tenna with his big ass smile. The room itself had little to no light, being filled with mostly blueish or greenish hue.
But none of this interested the green guy at the moment, the only slightly more interesting 'thing' in the room was the Shadowguy sitting on the opposite table who was managing the noises and music. It never really spoke or sung, opposite to their shadow fellas. Since the zapper recently left for a break, the greeny had no choice but to plumb back down in its seat and try to survive till the end of the day.
Well, the other darkner had other plans. It noticed the bored atmosphere around the dice and being bored themself, it decided to annoy it.
"He- HEY!! THAT MY FAVOURITE MUG?!!"
The said item was torn away from its usual place by the quirky hands of the Shadowguy, who contently giggled at the lost expression on Pippins' face. God it's so adorable.
The Shadowguy was fond of the Pippinses in general. He loved how expressive they are and how cute their pantaloons are.
The dice rolled their chair over to the other darkner's side, simultaneously standing up and reaching to his mug, which was high up in the other's farer left Hand. Stabilizing itself on the Shadowguy, the smaller one used the former to fully lean to its mug, still not accomplishing his goal.
Annoyed, the Greeny tried to climb up Plu- the other one, but just as he came high enough to get the desired item, Shadowguy put it back on its original place, making all the trouble the Pipins vent through to sit on the taller's shoulders useless. Even more annoyed, it bumped its head into the other one. "God damn you"
The Shadowguy didn't give any verbal response, but the Pipins was already used to this. Actually, it still seemed so strange, most of their species loved talking and being loud, this one was visibly different. But who was he to question its life choices? Bat-
Being honestly, the dice kinda even *enjoyed* working with it, it was far more responsible than the others. Sometimes they even did extra stuff, like bringing Greeny its coffee at the start of the day, or giving their other coworker a Cowboy hat after the Infamous western Show got cancelled. It was... Actually, it's pretty nice to be around.
This thought nearly made the Pippins fall down, but the taller one protectively held his legs in its hands, saving the Green from falling from its back. A bit surprised by the sudden gravity (and contact), he decided to grab on tighter on their coworker. But god what was that what huuuuhhh this idiot just played with your mug and you start thinking of them this way? Are you fucking insane?? M̶̺̼̠̊̃͋̾̈͝i̴̧̙͚̞͔̞̪̗͉͠ͅͅk̷͎̞̬̰̠̮̝͉͇̮̲̥̃̀̊́͠é̶͙̂̈́̈́͊̀̈͌̕ ̶̢̫͔͔̼̣̥̼͔͉̚c̵̜̞̖͈͕̲̺̮̬͆̔̋̇͑̋̐͠a̷̟̔̆n̶̡̺̦̤͍͓̬̭̬̹̜̙̣̐̀̋'̶̢̮͉̞̫͉̓̋̃ṯ̸̢̮͔̰̣̓͐̍̋͗͒̓̕-̵̳̬͕͇̊̄͝͠
...
The static in its head rang so hard it could feel his head breaking into pieces. It h̸̨̧̨̞̻̣̣̠̣̫̙͍̊̕ͅừ̴̢̮͈̣̆̊̽́̈̄͒̚ȓ̴̨͚͕̻͎͙̼̪̻̱̉̆̈́͑͌̔̃͘ͅt̷̫̥̬͈̪́̾́͝
I̷̛̛͔̯͂͊̔̈́̀̿̿̈́͒̍̚t̴̥͓̼̤̯̰͓̟̹̙̻͆̾ ̸̰͇͈̯̺̝̈́͊̌̄̔͂h̴͇͚̗̥̪̍̽͠ṷ̶̇͋̑͆̚̚̕͘r̵̛͈̹̫̖̬̝̯̦̻̼̱͎͛̃̅̓̃̍͐̾̓̏͝t̸͎͔̫̯̮͔͔̬̮͑̿̆̎̇͝
Ǐ̶̡̡̖̹̳͓̪̪̱̣̙͈̻̤̞͔̗̱͎͒̒̀̌̀̈́̅͌͊̅̇̓̔͆̓͘͝͝Ț̶̦̦͉̤̲͓̪̗͍̫͍̘̹͔͉̬̰̼̙́͜ͅ ̶̨̛̛̦̝̫͇̮̫̣̲͈̳̙͖̥̤̪̟̗̱̥̲̜͙͒̊̂͒̓͛͆͗͂̍͐̈́͜͜͠H̷̨̤͈̣͕̥̤̰̩̠̖̦͇̪̤̺͖̲̝̔̅́̈͝U̶̧̢̙̹̜͙̯͇̯͇̩͉̳̦͓͍̲͍̤͔͕̖̥̩̖̙͈̓̔͊̉̅̉͂͜͝R̶̨̧̧̛̙̲̞̰͈͙̻͙̟̟̖̗̲̦̘̟̿̓̀̈͑̅̒̽̆̒͑̇͒̒͆͋̂͌͜T̵̘͖͋̅̓̓̅́́͒͝
...
...
The agonizing silence in his head got slowly replaced to the chatter of someone, the dice still far too sleepy to find out who it was. As he started to hear normally again, the Pippins started noticing some strange things. First off, he was on a couch. Second off, the other two figures didn't seem to be qualified enough to work in the Medicine Department. Through the tv world, hell knows what Tenna might come up with.
As the Pippins' vision cleared, it lifted himself up to a sitting position, trying to sneak by to avoid any trouble for falling asleep in the workplace. But before it could even stand up, the two figures hurried up to him, and the Zapper started talking real fast and nervous while the Shadowguy silently nodded. Still, it was too much stimulation for the newly awakened brain, so the dice tried to reduce it by closing its eyes and covering its ears with its hands.
A few seconds passed and the Zapper stopped their rant, seemingly more worried than before. After a moment of silence, Greeny opened up his eyes just to see the two others very close to him. Much more than he liked.
"You good, boss?" The Zapper's tone was much more gentler than the most of the Zappers, but looking at their friendly nature, this was no surprise. At least not after weeks of working with them.
"I'm alri-"
At these words, the Shadowguy's expression fell even more down, and the guard-supposed darkner decided to interfere before the evil and almighty lie was finished.
"I don't think it's alright to just pass out whenever, boss."
After a slim Exchange of glances, the tallest continued: "We're takin' over fuh the rest of the day, bos-"
The slowly paced atmosphere got abruptly cut by the door flowing open, all thanks to their boss. "MIKEEEE" he shouted through the room, and just like before, no one answered. Annoyed, Tenna walked over to the trio near the sofa.
"Where's Mike."
The usually gloomy-never-glooby showhost's tone seemed like 10x darker than it normally was, echoing off the walls of the dimly lit room. None of the mikes workers dared to say a thing, they all froze in time looking at the devil from their nightmares. Everyone in the TV world knew that if Tenna was angry, he could NOT control himself.
"WHERE'S MIKE?! DID THE CAT EAT HIM??!"
It was about 9pm that the Greeny sat down on the flight of emergency stairs connecting directly to their room. He was mindlessly staring down, trying to absorb everything that happened today. He didn't hate Tenna, but him shouting at them two whole times today really went overboard!! This couldn't continue like this!
"How ya doin' out dere, boss?" The all-too-known Newyorkish accent disturbed his "trance" making the dice look up to the Zapper. They were holding a bowl of TV Slop, mindlessly spinning the spoon. “Tenna was so angry today…” He twisted his eyes away as they wandered around on the stairs.
“We didn’t even do anything!!! Who’s the GODDAMN MIKE?!?!?!!” The dice finally exploded. He abruptly stood up, attracting everyone’s attention, even the Shadowguy emerged from the filming room. “I DON’T KNOW THEM, YOU DON’T KNOW THEM, NO ONE ELSE KNOWS ABOUT HIM EXCEPT TENNA, WHY THE FUCK DOES HE EVEN KNOW ABOUT MIKE???” It walked around the small flat area between the two staircases. Both other darkners exchanged a worried glance, but they had zero idea how to help the third.
“Ohh gggggoooooooooddddddd what should we do now…” The Pippins slammed its hands on its face as an idea emerged in it. An insane idea. The most insane idea ever. He never had such dumb ideas. He was so shocked that it stopped moving at all. The duo looked much more worried now, and then the Zapper finally decided to raise their voice. “Yo, boss? You good or what?”
The shortest looked quite terrified, much more terrified than before. His pupils were as slim as they could possibly be, the green nearly fading away.
“I’ve got-... I’ve got an idea.”
The other two perched up.
“An insane idea”
…
“What's da exact idea, boss?”
…
“We could… Impersonate Mike.”
“WHAT??”
The Zapper and the Shadowguy both exploded in horror? It was quite hard to understand in the two seconds they spent in this expression, before the guard became distressed even further. They jumped up, putting their hands on their hat, and anxiously turned around, seeking confirmation from the other one. But it seemed pretty content with the new idea, their white mouth twisting upwards.
“Shadowguy, you okay with this?” The Greeny smiled surprised, looking up with newfound hope at the former. Zapper was even more frightened at the sight of the happy duo, concerned for the consequences this idea might have. As a guard (or at least they were supposed to be one), they knew the rules of this world very well, and impersonating could end up in kicking them all out of the TV world.
“Boss, you know dis is wicked dangerous an' we could get tossed outta heah for dis?”
“But if Tenna won’t find Mike, we'll get trashed out too! Or at least he’ll shout at us more!!” The green Pipins rose his nose, the Shadowguy put its hands together in a silent prayer. Slowly but surely, the Zapper started to admit that the idea had its charm and that they will get kicked out one way or another, impersonating seemed like the safer variant at the moment.
The first Mike costume was finished the next morning, with the help from his two friends the Pipins had mastered its costume. They still had lots to do. Since they all had different heights, they needed 3 whole costumes to imitate Mike. But they all should look the same. Haha.
Because of the ambiguous workload, they splitted it. While the Pippins was responsible for the actual costumes and worked at its desk, the Shadowguy was highly invested into designing them on former's bed. Their last friend helped out however they could, mostly by getting all the materials from the costumes room. As a Zapper, he was granted much more freedom in moving around than the other species. It's so dumb.
Greeny sighed loud as they barely could help their head from falling asleep while sewing another tie for the Zapper's costume. It looked almost the same as his, except the cowboy hat. But right now nothing else occupied the half asleep mind than not cutting himself with the needle.
His inner peace got disturbed by a paper sliding over to his table. It slightly lowered its head to see what was drawn- oh god a CAT??? "What does a cat do with Mike??" The Shadowguy shyly looked away before grabbing the paper back and drawing a few columns with cats on them. "Yeah, there are these strange things in our room, but that doesn't mean Mike was a CAT!!!!"
The dice facepalmed for the nth time today, sick of all the nonsense happening all around. They couldn't be serious, could they?
"Boss, didn't Tenna actually bring up cats when he was yellin' at us last time?" The Zapper asked more curiously, not strictly for or against the cat costume. I think so. At least they tried to look this way
"Yeah, fair point, but that doesn't mean-" once again annoyed, the Pippins spun in its chair, until the Shadowguy stopped the motion with their knees and silently pleaded, trying to make themself as cute as it could be. God they're always so sweet
Some way, some very twisted way, it worked. Greeny felt the constant pressure of two (invisible) eyes looking at it. Khm khm, two invisible PUPPY EYES.
The shortest one first tried to look away, but the cuteness of their coworker took over it. "Fine, you can have a cat Mike costume. But just because of these statues! Nothing else!!"
As the Pippins started returning to his work, the Shadowguy was celebrating its victory with fists shooting to the antennas of the building. In the periphery of his vision, the Greeny saw the Zapper happily petting the other's head. God they're so adorable.
The green Pippins just wished the trick would work. Hopefully they won't have to leave the TV shaped world just because of impersonating some little motherfucker. Hopefully.
Fragment 2 collected.