“Sorry about that,” Shinko giggled nervously. “I mean, I know things
can get meta sometimes there, but I didn’t think it would be happening
so quickly…”

As soon as they reached the entrance, she opened
the door for the Repairman to follow. Shinko glanced inside to see that
Crystal and Belial had been chatting before they turned their attention
to the Toons.

“Oh, hey Shinko. Who’s that blob behind you?” Crystal asked.

“He’s not another shadow demon, is he? We already have a lot of those hanging around,” Belial noted.

“No,
no, he’s my friend, the Fourth Wall Repairman. I call him Mr.
Repairman. He’s a Toon, like me!” Shinko replied with a smile.

“Fourth
Wall… oh geez, was it because we were talking about Belial’s old
boyfriends? They were all from different worlds and different
roleplays,” Crystal replied, looking down at the blob.

“Eh, it happens,” he shrugged. He just happy for an excuse to be here legitimately.

As he followed Shinko in, he could have sworn he’d seen that woman before…He chalked it up to déjà vu

and gave a small wave.

“Heh, that’ll do it,“ he winced as she mentioned roleplays.

As he pulled in his cart, he stopped to look at the apparent owner of this cafe.

“Wait, are shadow demons an issue around here?”

“Waaah!” Having the Repairman on her head was starting to make
Bowyetta too top-heavy. Though she tried to keep her balance, she
stumbled over backwards, crashing into a pile of scraps on the way. He
managed to get them both out of harm’s way, but not without causing some
injuries to her back.

“W-why you having done that?!” Bowyetta
tried to pick herself back up, but her head was much heavier than she
was used to. “Be getting off of Bowyetta right now!” She carefully tried
to reach into her hair for something to get the Repairman off with, but
yelped as soon as her hand touched the odd mixture of synthetic hair
and ink that now covered her head.

The shadow took notice of this. “What
are you doing?! Get off her right now! You’re ruining her with your
goo! …No! You’re trying to take my perfect body from me, aren’t you?!” Two more arms sprouted from the shadow’s “back”, and she prepared to crush the pair.

The jolt caused the tongue depressor to snap in two, with one half on the floor and the other stuck between Bowyetta and Repairman. Clearly he would need something stronger.

“Are you okay?” he asked, as he pulled out a large metal spoon and jammed it between them. “Sorry ‘bout that, that thing was gonna attack!”

He wiggled the spoon back and forth, trying to get himself free. However, he soon dropped the spoon as he saw the creature grow a pair of arms.

After the clatter, there was a moment of silence as the Repairman dug through his hammerspace, desperately feeling for something to help. Seeing that their time was running out, he pulled out something at random…

“…A pogo stick?” he sighed, annoyed. This wouldn’t have been his first choice, especially since he was stuck on someone who’d be quite unwilling to go with this, but it would have to do.

He slammed the bottom part of it on the ground, and about a second later the two of them were sent flying through the air.

“Once a year?!” She laughed. “I can’t relate, fortunately. See, I don’t have to control every break in the fourth wall.”

Angie
put a paw to her chin in thought, and ran through the list of powerful
drink options in her head. Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she grinned
victoriously.

“I have an idea.” The coyote dashed to the cupboard
and pulled out the necessary ingredients for the drink. “What you’re
about to taste after I’m done is the most energized, action packed,
caffeinated coffee ever discovered by toon-kind. I call it, ‘The
Shotgun.’”

Sounded quite safe indeed…

“Don’t worry! I usually don’t offer this, so it’s on me!”

“Eh, that’s fair,” he conceded, unwilling to admit his sleep deprivation was mostly self-imposed.

“The Shhhhhotgu—” he yawned, “–un? ‘Scuse me…yeah, sure….thanks….”

He went to find a vacant (not mun-related) table, hoping he would be awake for when the coffee was done. He left the wad of cash on the counter, not really caring one way or the other. Besides, in any case, he forgot all about it. He just wanted some coffee.

Within seconds of waiting, he was fast asleep on the chair. His snoring was  normal for a Toon, with a bit of bubbling in it. After a minute he collapsed completely and landed on the floor in a still-snoozing heap.

Mmm. *nods* I just read something that made me sad, but I’ll be alright. I don’t mean a person but a PERSON *gestures vaguely, hoping he’d get what she meant* (kitterah)

“Ah,” he nodded.

As Kitterah tried to emphasize, he just tilted his head.

“Uhhh…”

Then it clicked.

“Oh, THATS why I heard creaking before! Well, that’s good to know!”

He couldn’t explain, if asked, why an odd wave of relief washed over him. He chalked it up to finally realizing why the Wall… wasn’t breaking, but making him a little uneasy.

[[@kitterahsdollhouse]]

Suddenly, Mr. Sir was swarmed by all three of the Misfits, along with a strange redheaded girl he’d never seen before. “ARE YOU OKAY HOW COULD HE DO THIS TO YOU WHAT HAPPENED*

The Repairman was just in the middle of putting his tools away when he suddenly found himself crowded by the Misfits and…that one girl from that one bizarre time.

As he clambered up on top of them so he could breathe, he assured them, “Yeah, I’m fine, nothing ha– what? What did you think happened to me?”

Angsty ‘Bad End’ Drabble

The Repairman felt…odd. Weaker, somehow. Like, something was chipping at his core.

He tried to shrug it off.

Maybe it was just an off day.

That is, until he failed to pull…anything out of his hammerspace. Not even a comically wrong item.

…Okay, maybe he just left everything in his toolbox…No problem…

He went to open it and pulled out a paint roller. For some reason, Cat Slime was in the red toolbox, just poking around. Upon seeing the Repairman, he squeaked in concern, leaping out to join him.

The inkblot wondered what concerned his pet until he looked at his hand. He was…fading?

No. Nonononono. He was NOT forgotten. He still had Cat Slime, Shinko, the Misfits, several Hylians, Doctor Whooves…

A truly sobering thought came to him. Did the kind of people he met…count? Or did he have to be remembered by folks on the other side of the Wall?

He shook.

He was going to go. And there was nothing he could do about it. Breaking the Wall for this didn’t even occur to him.

He looked back at the crack in the Wall. If he was going to fade away, he was gonna finish his job first.

He began to race over there, but it soon became slow going. As the Repairman started to grey out, his movements became more taxing. His vision was starting to blur, badly. Desperately, he used the paint roller as a crutch, hobbling over to the crack. He was about to make it!

But he collapsed. Cat Slime tried to help his master up, but to no avail.

The Repairman pulled Cat Slime into a tight hug.

“I-it’ll be okay,” he sobbed, stroking the top of Cat Slime’s head. He tried to keep strong, but his voice quavered. Not only was he scared for what little of his life was left, but everything was getting harder to do. Even crying was becoming more laborious. “It’ll b-be okay…”

His last thought was wondering if he’d be replaced. Would anyone know or care? It was a humbling thought.

And so the Repairman’s vision slowly faded to black.