Tag: drabble

One Wall in a Broken House, pt. 2

[[Yes, I know this is late, but darn it, I want to conclude this and get back into RPin’ generally, so bear with me please.]]

The Repairman looked back once he opened the door to the guest bedroom. He saw that Marie was holding onto the handle of the tool cart for dear life. Cat Slime had long since went and hid inside Marie’s toolbox. Even when he was packed away, the green toolbox was very obviously rattling.

The Repairman smiled sympathetically, remembering his first paranormal encounter, way back in ’47. He remembered how he was chilled to the metaphorical bone, and was completely unprepared for the specters that jumped out at him. And then there were the pratfalls…

He shook his head. He was starting to feel old.

“Aw, don’t worry, guys! Worst that’ll happen is some white sheet or other will pop out and make a kinda scary noise. There’s really nothing to worry about!”

Marie nodded slowly. The lid to her toolbox lifted, and the Repairman could see Cat Slime’s glasses peeking out at him.

The two of them tentatively moved forward, following the Repairman. Meanwhile, the inkblot was whistling in an effort to cheer them up a little, though all he accomplished was emphasizing how empty yet another dusty, ruined room was. That wasn’t to say, of course, that there wasn’t a sort of beauty (or at least a vague memory of beauty) to the room. Whoever once lived here clearly had the money to match their taste, with once-lush violet bedsheets and a massive frame that may have one time housed a mirror. There was even a very lavish painting of some very old people, torn into two, leaning against the old, asbestos-lined wall.

As the Repairman looked around in awe, Marie and Cat Slime’s eyes darted every which way, trying to steel themselves for a ghost going “boo!”

Suddenly, Cat Slime took one look up and leapt up onto Marie’s face, squeaking quietly and frantically pointing upwards. Marie followed his gestures, and could only whimper as she saw rows and rows of jagged yellow teeth, some of which had green or red goop dripping from them.

The Repairman’s eyes widened. He saw his family inside the mouth of a giant blue tube of a ghost, its hollow eyes revealing no emotion. Marie was holding Cat Slime tightly, and both were keeping their eyes shut.

He rushed in there, pulling them out before the ghost snapped its gargantuan jaw shut.

“NOW WHAT WAS THAT?!” the Repairman demanded, to everyone’s bafflement. “I was expecting ghost pranks, but THIS?! On Halloween, of all times, you try to EAT them?”

The ghost sat for a moment, mouth shut. Its meals didn’t usually talk back to it.

Marie and Cat Slime, meanwhile, slowly inched behind the Repairman. Once they were right behind him, they exchanged a glance and nodded.

“You think you can just snatch anyone up on HALLOWEEN of all days?! I’ll have you know–ACK”

The Repairman yelped as Marie picked him up, yanking him out of the way of a ghost bite.

“Oh, peachy,” the Repairman continued, “you won’t even let a rant slide–”

“REPAIRMAN!” Marie shouted, running down the hallway with an inkblot and a cat-shaped puddle in tow. “CAN THIS WAIT?!”

“…”

The Repairman pulled out a disproportionately large fan and aimed it at the pursuing specter.

“Right, just get out of here, you! W-wait, I wasn’t talking to you, Mari–”

CRASH

The Repairman thanked his lucky stars that the fan he brought was heavy enough to help them dangle on the windowsill. He looked down, past Marie clinging onto him for dear life, past the shaking Cat Slime in her arms, and saw that it would have taken a rather long time to get back up.

He grunted, hoisting himself up just enough to reach the fan’s power button.

A click, and then a continuous whirr. They would be able to climb back into the manor safely.

“…Right, let’s just…let’s just fix the Wall and go to a place advertised as a haunted house, shall we?”

Marie and Cat Slime nodded, and followed the Repairman as he waved the fan every which way, and they proceeded to the break.

One Wall in a Broken House, pt. 1

“So, uh, where are we going?”

“Oh, erm, I think there’s a crack in that house over there, heh…”

Marie turned to look at her brother, then back to the house. Past the rusty spiked fence, past the carefully trimmed brambles, and past the looming dead trees, she could see the silhouette of an asymmetrical three-story house. Some parts were tall, some short, some round, but overall, the house was very evenly broken. The flickering orange light on the porch only added to that, as the blobs could not only see the holes on the steps to the doorway, but also how haphazardly the door was thrown aside. The gaping hole where the door frame once stood spoke volumes.

The Repairman had to take some extra effort to keep from smiling, especially since his Baman costume even emulated the weird sausage-mouth the character had. This was quintessential Halloween, and it was lucky that there really was  a fourth wall break somewhere on the third floor. This would be a perfect introduction for Marie!

Cat Slime, meanwhile, was grateful his Catbert costume came with white spectacles. He didn’t need his owners to see his eyes darting every which way, and he hoped they didn’t hear his whimpering. He could swear he heard voices in the wind, and thunder rumbling in the distance…

Marie yelped as she felt something dart under her black wig. She grabbed her makeshift halo reflexively, and finally relaxed when she heard squeaking from on top of her head. She reached up and brought Cat Slime down into her arms. Cat Slime grinned sheepishly, while Marie fixed her Alice Angel costume.

“R-Repairman, are you s-sure about this…?”

The Repairman turned around, to see his sister and his pet huddling together, looking up at the mansion with wide eyes and noticeable shivers.

“Hey now,” he said, gently patting Marie on the back and stroking Cat Slime’s hair, “there’s nothing to worry about. Sure, there are ghosts and bats and maybe vampires, but it’s Halloween! We’ll be laughing about this tomorrow, if anything happens!”

Marie gulped, and then nodded. After a moment or two, both her and Cat Slime gathered themselves and followed her brother into the house.

The Repairman’s Birthday Gifts

The Fourth Wall Repairman looked at the two wrapped boxes in front of him. The one Marie gave him was large, and the rectangular shape was oddly familiar, while the one Cat Slime gave him was smaller and cylindrical. Both were perfectly wrapped in purple, with yellow ribbons, and the Repairman could tell Marie meticulously put the paper on both presents.

“So, um” he said, adjusting his red party hat, “which should I open first…?”

“Mi! Mi!” Cat Slime squeaked, quite loudly and enthusiastically as he jumped up and down, flapping his little nubs of arms.

“All right,” the Repairman chuckled, “Cat Slime’s it is!”

His pet cheered as the inkblot tore the wrapping off the cylinder, revealing a premium cookie tin from Sarsaland. There were plenty of the treats in there, and the tin seemed to strain to keep the lid on. The Repairman beamed, petting Cat Slime on the head.

“Hey, thanks, Cat Slime!”

Cat Slime beamed.

“Right, now let’s see about this,” the Repairman grunted, picking up Marie’s gift.

“I hope you like it!” Marie smiled. “I worked pretty hard on this!”

“I’m sure I will,” the Repairman assured her, lifting the wrapping off, “I’m just happy you–”

He blinked, looking down at his own toolbox.

“…Huh?”

“Open it,” Marie said.

“Um, okay…”

The Repairman gawked at his toolbox. Everything inside was neatly sorted. Every single screwdriver, welding torch, hammer, and wrench was put into a nicely organized compartment. Nothing was out of place, and the Repairman saw that Marie even scrubbed the oil and cement stains off every surface, and got rid of an awful lot of the rust.

“…”

Marie’s smile wavered as she waited for a reaction. She had stayed up all night to tidy up his toolbox, and it was quite the feat to sneak off with the thing anyway.

“…Y-you like it…?”

The Repairman slowly looked back up at Marie. Her face fell as she didn’t see a single change in his expression.

And then the Repairman beamed.

“Thank you, Marie!” he said, going over to hug her. “I was getting tired of digging for everything! Never DID have time to fix that…”

Marie breathed a sigh of relief, falling into her brother’s embrace.

“Happy birthday, Repairman!”

Cat Slime clambered into their hug, squeaking “happy birthday” as well.

“Aw, thanks, you two!”

When the hug broke up, the Repairman cleared his throat.

“So, um, Marie, could you tell me how you sorted this…? I’m not used to a clean toolbox.”

“Oh! Well, it’s simple. Compartments 1a through 3b are all different kinds of screws, increasing in size. Then we have bolts, in 3c, 4f, and 9d. Of course, the socket wrenches are in 8s and 14b…”

The Repairman listened patiently, trying to wrap his head around this new system. His head swayed from side to side and his eyes swirled as she kept explaining, and her guide only seemed to get less lucid as it went on. Hopefully she also left labels or instructions in there…

[[Happy Holidays, all! And now, the drabble!]]

Marie swallowed as the Repairman opened her gift. Was it enough? Really? A desk nameplate? All too late, she realized they didn’t have a desk. Her eyes darted.

“I’m sorry, I’ll get it exchanged if you–”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Huh?”

“This is great!” the Repairman smiled. “I’ll get to welding it to the cart later! You think the top or bottom shelf would be better…?”

“O-oh! I’m not sure… But I’m glad you like it! Took quite a bit to hide it from you!”

Sighing with relief, Marie began to unwrap the Repairman’s gift. For want of a better term, his mouth went dry. It wasn’t much, but he thought he could use…

“A mattress…?”

The Repairman shuffled a little. He was mostly used to sleeping wherever, but he saw Marie shifting uncomfortably from time to time. All the same, was a bed even a gift?

“W-well, I thought it’d make sleeping easier. There’s also a set of blankets, a pillow, and a sheet. Hopefully those help you keep…warm…I mean…”

“Oh, thank you, Repairman!” Marie beamed. “It‘s even the same size as the top shelf!”

“…Heh, glad you like it!”

Cat Slime squeaked happily. The inkblot and the paint spatter looked down to see him playing with the box for the gift they gave him. 

Marie sighed. “N-no, Cat Slime, we got you a–”

“Let him enjoy it,” the Repairman laughed. “It makes him happy.”

A Simple Solution

“…You want us to what?”

“Just pull ourselves separate.“

The Repairman pinched between his eyes.

“Look, we tried moving separately with Kit…”

“Exactly! We just need to be a bit more forceful!”

“…No…”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“…Well, how about using a knife to painstakingly get your paint and my ink separate, or maybe evaporate ourselves, or…?”

He sighed.

“Getting pulled apart it is.”

* * *

“Now, then, you’re clear on what we’re doing?”

The blended duo looked at the large tree that stood before them, and the absurdly huge wind-up elephant that the Repairman set up.

“Right…” Marie mused, “So one of us holds onto the tree, and the other one holds on to the elephant, until we’re finally split?”

“More or less. Now…” the Repairman began. It was still a challenge to admit his sister would be better in some respects, but he was trying. “…Y-you’re the stronger of us, so keep your grip firmly on that tree, okay?”

Marie nodded, and the blob got into position, with one arm wrapped several times around one of the massive roots, and the other winding the elephant up.

“Uh, Repairman?”

“Yeah?”

“Where…did you get a life-sized elephant toy?”

“Oh, that’s a funny story. It all started when–”

Too late. The elephant was moving, and the Repairman threw all of his energy into hanging on to its leg. Both blot and spatter felt themselves stretching. One half of the blob was becoming blacker. The other half was becoming bluer. Slowly but surely, it looked like the plan was working.

Then the Repairman’s grip began to slip. The two were seconds away from snapping back together.

“NO!” he grunted, pulling a huge horseshoe magnet from his hammerspace. This was not going to be his fault!

The stronger pull towards the metal toy, however, had other ideas. Marie’s grip never loosened, but the tree began to. As the Repairman focused on stretching them apart, Marie looked up in dread as the tree began to topple.

“TIMBER!” she screamed.

“Wha…?” the Repairman began, as the tree was about to land on them.

WHAM!

Follow-Up Question

It had been a week since the blending incident, and the Repairman and Marie were still feeling the effects. The Repairman was finally letting Marie help him out, partially because he had to, but also because she was right. She wouldn’t have tried to save him if she wanted to take his job.

“Hey, um, Repairman?” Marie asked. This felt awkward, given they were still fused together, but she had to know.

“…Yeah?”

“…What did make you think I was going to replace you? I mean, the letter clearly said…”

“You were gonna assist me, I know.”

The Repairman sighed.

“…You gotta keep in mind, I’ve been doing this alone for over eighty years now…”

“Yeah?”

“When you showed up, I thought I might be doing….doing something wrong. I mean, why else would they make an assistant out of the blue?”

He remembered that not only was Marie a blob of blue paint, but they were also both blue now.

“I mean, out of nowhere? I figured you were made as a way of saying ‘You idiot, we’ll show you how it’s done…’“

“…My creators didn’t animate me to say that, you know. They told me that you’ve been working alone for so many years, so I was gonna make your job a little easier. They said you deserved that.”

“…”

“…Repairman?”

“…”

And then the amalgamation hugged itself.

“Urk! Okay, remember our strength… and you don’t have to cry! Just…it’s okay…”

“I’M SORRY!”

Marie patted their shared shoulder, and after a moment, the two got back to work.

Adjusting

Once the two of them moved back to the crack in the Wall, the Repairman and Marie carefully opened the red toolbox. It still flipped open far faster than he would have expected. Even the cart was lighter when they pulled it over; it barely resisted at all, and they actually had to stop it before it plowed into them.

“Eugh, what happened here?!” the Marie half exclaimed, looking in. “It’s a mess!”

“Well, it works,” the Repairman half said defensively. “As long as I get my tools out, it’s fine.”

Marie grumbled, but watched as they somehow dug a hammer, several boards, and plenty of nails out of the incomprehensible pile inside the box. She could have sworn they put their hand way further into the toolbox than was possible…

No matter. They still had a Wall to fix. They moved to the crack, held one of the boards up, and…

“Hey! I got this!”

“W-what?” Marie asked, dropping the board. It landed softly in the sand.

“I got this! Just go and…keep…”

He stopped, feeling his sister’s quiet anger. He sighed, realizing how stupid what he said was.

“…Just…I got this, okay?”

Marie rolled her eyes. Fine, fine. Not allowed to do her job even when stuck to her brother? It was fine. No, really.

The Repairman tried to lift the board back up, but his arms felt heavy all of a sudden. He could barely get a grip on the board, much less pick it up.

“H-hey, you don’t have to hamper me!”

“I’m doing nothing,” Marie said, bringing the amalgamation’s hands up defensively. “You told me you got this, so…”

“Ha ha. Yeah, don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing…”

“For the last time, I’m not replacing you!”

“Why else would they send someone to compete with me?”

“…If I wanted to replace you, why would I try to get you out of the blender? Why would I even risk…this…happening?”

The blended blob shook, and the Repairman could feel tears on them. He was silent for a while, staring at the board.

“…You know,” he finally sighed, “if we’re stuck together like this, I guess…I could use the extra hand…”

He looked at their right arm, and how it had two “hands” at the end.

“…Th-thank you for trying to save me from that…”

The board could not have been held back into place faster if it was given ten energy drinks.

[[Drabble]] Bows to Bones

Prehistoric worlds mostly seemed the same. Hot, humid, and not a whole lot of grass. But a whole lot of rocks. And bugs.

All of these plagued the Repairman in some way as he tried to steer his cart up a slope. The way was rough, and he could feel his ink become runnier than normal. Marie wasn’t helping. Not because she didn’t try, but because she was assigned to “keeping watch”. He wasn’t too worried for either of them, though; most carnivores don’t care for ink or paint.

Still, he thought, at least he can keep his job another day…

He reflected on this as he wiped his brow, flinging several confused mosquitoes off of himself. The way up was slow going, and the heat certainly wasn’t helping. Even if the way was rocky as all get-out, he was going to do it by himself.

Halfway up, he took a quick glance at his so-called “assistant”. He had to admit, she was looking pretty vigilant. She was looking this way and that, and even her large green bow was looking tense and alert. If there was some kind of primordial creature after them, she would be ready. Thankfully, it wouldn’t come to that, but still…

He would never admit it, but he could respect her enthusiasm, if nothing else.

Marie seemed to notice her older brother looking at her.

“All clear so far!” she called out, cheerfully.

The Repairman rolled his eyes and continued uphill.

Finally,about twenty minutes later, he was almost…to…the…top…when…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The Repairman jumped in shock. Big mistake. The cart slammed into his chest and they both rolled down…down…down…

He couldn’t hear it over his own screaming, but the feminine yell was still going…slowly fading away…

WHAM!

The cart stopped, with the help of a boulder some distance away from the hill. The Repairman was little more than a sticker on the rock. After peeling off and bringing his shape back, he looked around frantically.

What in the world…? Oh, no…

His eyes widened as they passed Marie’s post. She wasn’t there.

Guilt and panic hit the inkblot like a runaway cart.

“Marie!”

Oh, why did he have her keep watch in prehistory? The land of dinosaurs?!

He ran around all over the place, looking for any sign of his sister. Any!

“Marie!”

After what felt like an eternity, he heard something other than the buzzing of insects and the bubbling of distant tar pits. He heard…

…whimpering?

It was coming from behind a nearby bush. He peeked in to see Marie, but something was different…

In place of a bow on the blue paint spatter, it looked like she had a cartoonishly clean bone on her head, kept on by non-specific plant matter. She was tentatively poking it. Every time, a small toing! rang out.

“Please…” she quietly begged. “I just want my bow back…”

The Repairman pinched the space between his eyes. All this time worrying, and this was the mess she got herself into…?

“All right,” he groaned, “what happened?”

Marie looked up at the inkblot, startled by his sudden appearance. She could feel her cheeks turn reddish as she explained, eyes darting from side to side.

“W-well…”  she stammered, “um, I was keeping watch and I dunno, nothing was, nothing was happening, so I, uh, just stretched, and began to play with my bow…”

She poked the bone again, with the same toing!

“It turned out it was kinda stretchy, so I pull and pull and next thing I know…BOING!”

She looked up at the bone, and began to get a little teary-eyed.

“And now I don’t know what to do and I’m really sorry for not keeping watch but this is freaking me out howdoesitstillfeellikemybowalskscvmns…”

The Repairman sighed as the rest of what she said became gibberish. He shambled over and placed his hands on either side of the bone.

“ascvkwe–huh?” Marie stopped speaking, not knowing what her brother was up to.

Then, in a flash, the inkblot clapped his hands together, and the bone seemed to squish between them. He removed his hands and stepped back to admire his handiwork.

“AUGH! What did you–?”

She stopped, and felt her head again. Fabric…familiar fabric…was on top of it.

Quickly, she glanced up to see a bit of familiar green.

“Hurk!” exclaimed the Repairman as the air was expelled out of him.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” said Marie, giving her brother a big hug.

After the initial shock, the Repairman awkwardly patted her back.

“Yeah…It’s fine…”

No way was he going to admit his relief.

“…I should probably go back to fixing the Wall…”

“Oh! You need me to keep watch again?”

“…Actually…I, um…might need help getting up that hill…”

Direction

The inkblot sat at a park bench in Toontown. This seemed to be a “mood” park of some kind, as everything looked much less saturated, it seemed to always be raining, and no one went on the play structures. No, every Toon here was moping alone on a bench or a table, with each being a good distance away from everyone else.

The hat and trench-coat offered minimal protection from the downpour, but what did the inkblot care if he was washed away? It’s not like he had anything else to do.

No job, no life, no form, nothing to his name but a pink slip, and no name…

Well, at least he had…

“Cat Slime?”

He jolted upright, desperately patting his coat. No use. The inkblot’s pet was sleeping in the toolbox when it was…

Despite being a little runnier, he began to wander off.

“CAT SLIME!” the inkblot called out, desperately. “CAT SLIME!”