“Oh, he looks like me but – 3:17!? IT’S GOING TAH LEAVE!!!”

Leaving the inkblot in mid-air, he dashed through the crowd trying to catch the last train.

A few moments later, another cup person peeked through the crowd. He was pretty similar to the one the Repairman met before, except for a few physical differences and that he was blue instead of red.

“…Cuphead…?” he muttered.

The Repairman felt a slight shift, but he didn’t think much of it until he saw the cup man make his exit. Looking down, he quickly fell of his patch of air and landed face first on the marble. It smarted, but it was nothing he wasn’t used to.

He looked up to see someone with a similar mug to the character he had just met.

As this newcomer asked for “Cuphead,” the Repairman looked around, trying to remember which way the red one went. Hmm. He forgot how disorienting faceplanting was.

“Sorry," he finally said to the blue one, somewhat regrettably, "you just missed him. Said his train was going to leave.”

“Broke the wall? Looked at a camera…?” Crystal frowned a bit as she tried to piece it together. He was called the ‘Fourth Wall Repairman’. After a few moments it finally clicked with her, her eyes widening. “Wait, ‘breaking the fourth wall’? You mean that’s what you fix?”

“…I don’t follow,” was all Falcon could say, looking between Crystal and the Repairman in quiet confusion.

“I’ll explain later,” Crystal repeated to the masked demon with a small sigh. She managed a small smile as she watched the inkblot Toon retrieve his costume. “Well… I guess if you gotta go, you gotta go. But… feel free to drop by if you can, broken fourth wall or not. And no problem! If you want, you can take some snacks with you to go, at least. I hope you have a Happy Halloween!”

The Repairman nodded at Crystal’s question. Though he found it concerning that Falcon didn’t know. It was always either the comical or the curious that made the Repairman’s life more difficult, and he wondered if Falcon was the latter.

Still, that could wait. There was a job to do, and treats to pack.

“Thanks a bunch! You too!” he said cheerfully, grabbing a few snacks before going to grab his costume. As he put the shell on, a cross appeared where his siren light was. This addition had a faint red glow to it. He was proud of that detail he made.

Giving one last wave, the Repairman left the house and started to make his way to one of the New York variants.

Everyone instantly backed away when the siren popped out, a bit weirded out by the sudden appearance of the siren light.

“…what’s that all about? Your cue for what?” asked Crystal, quirking an eyebrow at the Repairman.

Bedlam, on the other hand, was starting to feel irritated at how bored he was. “Ugh, forget you guys! Falc, I’m going out. Hit me up when you’re ready.” With that, Bedlam flew into a dark corner to meld into the shadows and slip away.

Falcon watched his friend go away before slowly looking back towards the Repairman. He had to admit, he was just as curious as Crystal was, and he had all night to go trick-or-treating with Bedlam.

The Repairman barely noticed Bedlam leaving, as he was currently trying to push the light back in, to no avail. However, he did note the way the demon exited. Some use cars, some use portals, some (like the Repairman) walk, but it was always neat to see how characters in a universe made their exits.

Pop.

He successfully pushed the light back in, only to have it spring up on the other side of his head. Ugh. Guess there’s no chance of that this time. He wished it would stay a nagging in his head, instead of on it.

“Oh, that just means someone broke the Wall again,” he clarified, jerking his thumb behind him. "Apparently someone in some New York or other can’t keep their eyes off the camera.“

He pulled a ratty, ink-grease-and-jam-stained towel out from behind his back and wrapped it around the light. There was still a glow, but at least it wasn’t as obnoxious.

”…So,“ he said unenthusiastically, "that’s my cue to head there. Thanks for letting me drop in for a bit.”

He turned to pick up his tombstone costume, then stopped. Perking up, he looked back.

“Oh, and thanks for the treats!”

“Honestly I don’t think so. At this rate I’ll have to take the train without him! By the way, has it arrived yet?”

Without asking first, he lifted the inkblot up, above his head.

“Can ya’ see anythin’?”

“I don’t know, I’m not – WAUGH!”

The Repairman quickly found himself trying to make sure none of his liquid form got into his companion’s head. He did not want to find out what would happen.

Once he felt secure enough to look around, he looked up at the nearest clock.

“3:17,″ he said to the figure beneath him.

He then realized he could see everyone in the sea of Toons that surrounded them. Dogs, cats, mice, and more unusual creatures and animated inanimate objects were all around. The smaller Toons were seen deftly darting through the crowd, while bigger ones generally moved in straight lines.

“Say,” the Repairman remarked, looking back down at the cup man, “you haven’t told me what your friend looks like…”

Crystal took a bite of a pretzel spider, thinking on what sort of question to ask before she finally thought up a reply.

“Well… you said you’re a Toon, right? So …. what does that mean for you? Can you be stretched and pulled and not get hurt or….what?” she asked.

Bedlam rolled his eyes. “Ugh… look, as much as I’d love to stay for Q and A, I’ve got better things to do. Falcon, you coming? I’m going out haunting,” he told the masked demon.

Falcon looked between Crystal and Bedlam, seemingly a bit unsure as to what he should do. “…in this form, I might not be suited for hiding along with you…” he replied.

“Oh, go out and have fun. Maybe you can go trick-or-treating for a bit?” Crystal suggested with a smile.

“Hey, yeah! I’ll show you to how to do that! And while you’re grabbing treats for us to share, I’ll be pulling all the tricks!” Bedlam chuckled mischievously.

“Well, yeah,” the Repairman replied, happy that the subject changed, “we can shake things off really quickly. You saw me wake up just a minute after I was knocked out.”

He rubbed his temple a bit. It didn’t hurt anymore, but it felt right to illustrate his point.

“Doesn’t mean we don’t get hurt, but we do bounce back all the time.”

The Repairman blinked and looked up at Bedlam, somewhat curious about his intended activities.

He smiled encouragingly at the suggestion that Falcon trick-or-treats. With a getup like that, Falcon would definitely fit in.

However, he found Bedlam’s chuckling a bit concerning. Just how much scenery would the demon be chewing tonight? The Repairman would have to keep tabs.

But that would have to wait, as the inkblot suddenly felt a jolt from the siren light emerging from his head. Apparently someone in one of the many New Yorks glared at the camera or something.

He was very glad he had pressed the mute button on the thing long ago. Having that siren was awkward enough without it screaming.

“Heh….” he laughed nervously, “I guess that’s my cue.”

[[Previously: http://ask-cuphead.tumblr.com/post/131752961285/this-seat-taken]]

@ask-cuphead

At first, Cuphead did not seem to pay attention to his new seat companion. Tapping his foot impatiently, he looked at his wrist, only to realize he was not wearing a watch.

“He is a friend”, replied, “we’re supposed to take a train to the port and we agreed to met here. He should have come here already! …Where are you goin’?”

“Oh, me? I’m just going on the Townsville Express to fix-”

He caught himself. A toon train station was no place to discuss the Fourth Wall.

“…A few things on there.”

He looked around. Gosh, even for a cartoony place, it was crowded. There was no chance the small inkblot would even be able to see past anyone at this rate, and he doubted his companion could, either. The Repairman silently thanked his lucky stars for the empty seat.

“…You think your friend could come through all this?” he asked, doubtfully.

Crystal nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll go first, if that’s okay. You said you took a ‘big detour’. Where did you come from?” she asked.

Bedlam was floating next to Falcon, playing with his ‘monster sandwich’ by opening and closing it and making roaring sounds as he did so.

The masked demon watched his friend mess around with the food, chuckling a bit as his goopy mouth formed into a soft smile. Bedlam was always a goofy one, and thus a joy to be around in his opinion.

Bedlam laughed in return before finally putting the sandwich in his mouth to take a bite.

“Oh, I just came here from the Warner lot,” said the Repairman, swallowing his pretzel.

He sighed, dropping his forehead into his hand as he remembered why he was there.

“You wouldn’t think they’d be able to smash the screen after they’d been off the air for years,” he grumbled, “but that’s ‘90s Toons for ya.”

He looked back up to see Bedlam and Falcon enjoying themselves. Gosh, that kind of joy was contagious. The Repairman’s mood noticeably lifted.

Still, he had to find out what kind of universe this was. His job depended on it.

“Anyhow, what do you guys do around here?”

Huh… well, umm… if you want, you can help yourself to the food on the table, too. Better hurry before Bedlam eats it all though. Same goes for you too, Falcon,” said Crystal as she glanced back at the masked demon.

Falcon nodded as he slowly made his way over to the table to start sliding bits of food onto the fringes of his sleeve. However, since his goopy-looking mouth was now placed where his neck was, he didn’t need to slide the food into his sleeve as he usually would’ve done.

Crystal couldn’t help but smile back at Falcon at seeing that he seemed to be eating normally and enjoying himself. However, she slowly turned her attention back to the Repairman. “So… is it okay if I keep asking you questions cause….yeah, never ran into a living Toon before.”

The Repairman sighed with relief. “Thanks. It’s been a bit of a big detour, coming here.”

With that, he walked over to the table and plucked the nearest “spider”. He noticed Falcon picking up snacks as well, and he realized how inconsistent his physiology seemed to be, as well. Maybe having a solid form wasn’t that important, if major characters could get along just fine without it.

He smiled a bit, and was about to start eating when Crystal turned to him.

Well, this was a first. The Repairman paused, wondering if he was the best Toon to ask, as well as what kinds of questions he would have to answer.

“Well…” he replied, hesitantly, “All right. I guess I can.”

He gestured around himself vaguely. “As long as you can tell me about this place.”

“A Toon? Like…a cartoon?” asked Crystal, blinking a bit in surprise.

“…what is a cartoon?” Falcon asked, turning to Crystal for an explanation.

“I’ll show you later,” she told him quickly before looking back towards the Repairman. “Umm, well… my name’s Crystal. I live here. And this masked guy here is Falcon…”

Falcon made sure to wave to the Repairman with his sleeve when Crystal introduced him.

“And that guy with the skull-head who’s scarfing up all the party food is Bedlam,” finished Crystal, pointing in the direction of the shadow demon near the table.

“Hey,hey! I’m not scarfing, I’m sampling…. and you cook pretty decently, by the way. Everything tastes awesome,” Bedlam told her before stuffing a few more pieces of food in his maw on the upper side of his skull-like head.

“Yep, a cartoon,” replied the Repairman.

He was somewhat surprised to learn that the demon didn’t know what a cartoon was. It was the first time he had ever heard that question.

Still, they all seemed friendly enough, and it was nice to know that, yes, Crystal was a main character as well.

“Charmed,” the Repairman said, waving back at Falcon.

Bedlam’s compliments to the chef reminded him of something he’d forgotten in all the confusion. The smell came back into his nonexistent nose at full force, and he began to unconsciously stare at the spread.

“I’m sure it does…”

“This seat taken?”

ask-cuphead-deactivated20170309:

“Well, it is taken, but I don’t think he’ll come anytime soon”

The train station was always crowded, which was unsurprising as it was somewhere in Toon Town (an empty lobby is seldom funny). The station housed all sorts; a man with a teacup for a noggin was likely the least surprising thing the Repairman had seen that day.

At any rate, he was happy to find a seat that was still open (for the moment, at least).

Sitting down, he looked at the clock. He still had time. Might as well make conversation.

“So…” the inkblot asked, “who’s ‘he’?”