Chapter Text
"Oh, nice!" The teen hummed, tapping a foot to the song that echoed out the radio.
Noel had wandered in not too long after the man they'd been following. When they first heard the stranger ask about a "Sillyvision Studios," the teen couldn't help but be curious. So they trailed the guy through town, until they got to the studio. Originally, they'd hesitated due to the rumors that floated around the place, like a bad stench. But now they were in here?
Noel could definitely say it was a lot nicer-looking than they thought.
With a click, the music stopped, snapping the teen out of their thoughts. Eyeing the machine, they gave a shrug, before simply picking it up and putting it into their backpack. 'Not like anyone would use it anyways.' They reasoned, opening the door in the little office they were in.
A small wave of ink washed over their boots, and Noel quietly cursed as they tried to shake it off. Taking large steps over the ink, -That seemed to be rising rather quickly too,- the teen wriggled to adjust their backpack. Noise other than the rushing ink caught their attention, the sound of somebody running echoing off the walls. Peeking out, Noel noticed the man they'd followed in, who in turn noticed the teen, and looked fairly shocked. Taking a glance over his shoulder, the shock was replaced with worry, and he grabbed Noel's wrist and tugged them along.
Nearly yanked off balance, Noel glanced back to see what had the man speeding up so much. There was a veritable wall of ink behind the two, and an encroaching darkness heralding its coming. Noel really didn't want to get caught up in something like that, so they simply ran faster behind the older man. It didn't take much more than a half a minute, and soon they reached the beginning of the studio. It almost felt like they were being herded, the teen vaguely noted, with other exits being blocked off by falling boards and a waterfall of ink. Still, the two kept running. A corner was turned, and finally the exit was in sight. Noel almost wanted to stop and cheer, but that could wait.
Then the floor collapsed, and they
f
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Hitting the floor with a squelch, Noel quickly scrambled up to keep from accidentally inhaling any of the hip-high ink. Coughing, the teen barely noticed the man scrambling to turn some sort of valve as the ink rose. Right as the ink came to their waist it began draining off elsewhere. Letting out a relieved sigh, Noel looked up to see the man looking at them curiously.
"What's a kid like you doing in here?" The teen raised an eyebrow at the question, mildly insulted by the implication that they were a child.
"Could ask you the same, old man." He chuckled quietly, but waited for them to continue, ".....I was following you. For curiosity's sake." Noel finished sheepishly.
Shaking his head, the man sighed and replied: "Might as well tell you why I'm here, if that's really the reason you followed me this far." Seeing that the teen was listening, he gave another small chuckle.
"A couple a days ago, I got a letter from my former co-worker, and friend, Joey." Noel noticed how the man slumped a little, but didn't interrupt. "Now the last time we saw each other, we had what you could call a falling out, if you wanted to be real polite about it. Thirty years later, and you can imagine my surprise when I got a note inviting me back here." He finished, now scowling.
"Huh. I can admit to not expecting something like that." They said, slightly nodding, until a surprised expression crossed their face. "I just realized, we haven't introduced ourselves! I'm Noel, an' you are?"
"Ah, well, I'm Henry. Nice t' meet you kid." He replied, only grinning in response to the dry look sent his way. "Greetings aside, we do need to get out of this place. I wasn't quite sure in coming here, and that whole thing definitely wasn't reassuring."
"You're right, I gotta be home in time for dinner! My pa's gonna freak if I'm late." Noel worried, looking around the room.
Noting a doorway, they took a moment to peek out before groaning quietly. Looking back towards Henry, they saw him listening to a tape, with a contemplative frown. Deciding not to ask, they caught his attention with a "Hey mister!" And waved a hand at the doorway. Walking through, Noel glanced at the danger sign, before shrugging and splashing down the stairwell. Remembering what they'd seen Henry doing in the first room, the teen jumped onto the pipe and turned the valve, simply hanging on as the ink drained. Once the floor was clear, Noel jumped down, glanced at said man, and shrugged. Henry was struggling to keep his composure, but small snickers escaped here and there as the man led the way to the next room.
Waiting at the edge of the ink-filled room, Noel watched Henry simply wade his way through to the next valve, only coming down once it was clear. Opening up the door, the teen let out a relieved sigh and walked in, plopping on the floor in the middle of the room.
"Don't like the ink very much, do you?" He commented with a wry smile.
Dumping out a boot, the teen just gave Henry a flat stare before repeating the process. Not minding the lack of response, the man eyed the boarded up doorway before taking the axe that lay on the table.
'Crack!'
The sudden noise nearly startled Noel into dropping their boot, and they watched in mild shock as Henry went to town on those boards. Judging by the noises that echoed from the now unblocked doorway, it seems there were more. Staring in a little awe, the teen decided to wait until the man was done. A minute passed, and they weren't hearing any more boards breaking. Pulling on the other boot, Noel strolled through the hallways, avoiding the broken boards as they went. They did speed up upon hearing a familiar-sounding 'thump', and quickly entered the room, only to see Henry laying passed out on a pentagram.
Sputtering as they tried to comprehend what they were seeing, Noel made to try and pull the man from the circle, but paused when they heard him groan.