Chapter's theme:

[Recording Gold- by CK9C]

~

"Aah...Mama's gonna be so proud..."

The long brown and curly hair flaps into the warm breeze, which brings the sweet and foral scent, opening her little nose with the gorgeous floral perfume of the 1932's spring. The grey street is covered with petals of cherry blossoms and other yellow and red petals, coming from roses and tulips.

She comes to an halt, smelling a beautiful red rose coming from a hole into a barrier. Its gorgeous scent envelopps more the woman into the dreams she was starting to feel and reach.

With her, she has taken her little leather briefcase, with inside some personal things and that letter she read ten times this morning in order to realize the real thing that was happening to her within years and years of searching.

They want a voice for a new cartoon character and they have chosen me! She thinks with a great smile

Holy cow she wanted that job! For months, she had asked for the first woman cartoon character into this studio, but they have found someone else before she could even know that it was available, the one who has been picked was Susie Campbell for the Alice Angel's voice, or someone like that, she saw it into the local newspaper four months ago.

Turning at her left in the end of the street, she immediately sees what must be the enter of the Joew Drew's Studios, a little building made of yellow wooden planks. Puzzled, she continues to walks, the little building getting a bit bigger.

Reaching the wooden door of the wooden building, the woman hangs her arm in order to ring at the bell, but before she could do it, someone calls her.

"Hey? Whatcha think you can do, my dear?"

The woman turns around, her two hand holding her briefcase in front of her knees, her eyes meeting the tall men before her, who's wearing overalls and a white shirt, with his short dark blond hair, smoking a thin cigarette between his long and delicate fingers. His skin is white, with no hint of mustache nor beard.

"Hello! I'm here to meet Joey Drew at the Joey Drew's studios. Is that the right building?" She asks.

The man simply nodded, analyzing every inch of her body.

"Can you help me to find Mr Drew? I don't want to be rude and interrupt you in your cigarette break, but I don't know a thing about this place."
"Of course, it's a pleasure to help a magnificent lady like you..."

She sighs as one of her hands rets onto her hip, shaking a bit her head at the man. Ignoring this, he follows the discussion while stepping on his cigarette and guiding the woman inside.

" So, what's your name?" he asks calmly.
" My name's Claire Lockwood. I'm here in order to voice one of the new woman character."
"You have received the letter?"
"Yes! You want to see it?"
"Yes please."

As Claire puts her briefcase on one of the yellow wooden tables, she searches between the others papers the letter that she holds directly to the man.

Closing her leather briefcase, her eyes look up to the big room, with an imposant elevator at the center, with black and thin barriers. Speechless, her eyes are full of stars as she looks at a sheet of paper onto the table, beside her hand, with a little and cute Bendy drawn on it, and take it in her hand in order to see it much perspicuously.

"Okay, good. I was waiting for you to come. Nice to meet you, Miss Lockwood.

Taken aback by the man's phrase, Claire jumps a little and quickly puts back the Bendy's drawing onto the table, an awkward smile on her lips. She takes the letter, putting it back in her briefcase, and then gazes at the dark blond haired man in front of her, his green and brown eyes piercing through her skin.

He was looking at the brown curly haired woman,a bit littler than him, her beige skin, her little nose, her khaki eyes, her pink cheeks and her seductive lips, tainted in a dark pink naturally. What most intrigued him was the fact that she is wearing blue jeans with a white and black shirt, the last button of the neck opened. His eyebrows lift, an interrogative gaze pinned in her eyes.

"Why do you-"
"Holy cow, if it's a crime for a woman to wear jeans then-"
"No, no. It's just going well on you." he cuts Claire.
"W-wh-Whut ? You like it? Really?" her eyebrows lift as she asks.
"Yes. Some changes like a woman wearing jeans make my day."

The brunette smirks as she takes her leather briefcase into her hands, looking another time into his eyes.

"Oh and by the way the name's Sammy. Sammy Lawrence." he suddenly talks.
"Nice to meet you, Sammy" she responds, smiling.

He smiles a bit, and then starts to walk, guiding the woman in front of the elevator, and soon they enter the wooden and grand elevator, Sammy pressing one of the dozens of buttons, named "level O".

Without any questions, Claire looks as the elevator starts to drag down smoothly, dragging Sammy and her into the darkest depths, a little bulb, placed onto the elevator cabin ceiling, keeps the brown curly haired woman into a bit of sanity, beside of this endless and calling darkness. Abruptly, Sammy breaks the growing and paralizing silence, which almost dug a huge gap between the two people.

"So, why do you wanted to be the voice of Dinah?" he asks simply.
"Oh well, Joey Drew was the only one to be polite within his letters. Everytime I casted or send letters for a role in a movie or to be the voice of a cartoon character, the director or the one who was in charge of this situation would always wanted to have me in their bed... You know... And since I'm not an easy woman at all, I would always refused the role, even if it was a big deal. My honnor will always be immaculate, such as Mary was the Immaculate Conception." she spits with a little nervous smile.
" Oh... I'm-"
" Don't be sorry, the men are like that... Fortunately I'm single."
"Whut?" he asks, surprised.
"Oh gosh I didn't meant to say that, oh crap I'm a big mouth." Claire says with a little red blush onto her cheeks, frustrated.

As she becomes redder by the second, Sammy starts to giggle a bit, Claire becoming more cute by the second.

"S-t-stop giggling, you li-little..." she starts.
"You little what? And I would like to add that you are incredibly cute when you're frustrated."

His words don't improve the situation, as she turn around, in order to not see his piercing gaze on her red face.

The elevator finally arrives at the level O, opening its doors, into a little room with the same yellow wooden planks onto the floor and wall. Claire, her cheeks taking the pale tone of her skin, notices simply on a table a little plant, planted into a bol with a weird liquid in it.

The man quickly stepped out of the elevator cabin, opening the door not far in front of them, which allows them to reach a long corridor with the same wood that garnishes those walls and floor.

Turning to the left, Sammy resumes to walk. Before following him, Claire looks at the right, seeing on a long and thin sign hanged from the ceiling, with written on it, in a dark ink, the words:

Ink Machine

Puzzled, she stops and tries to think over these two words. What could it be? What's the Ink Machine? A machine which allows to synthetize black ink? A machine which...? She doesn't even know.

A hand rapidly landed on her shoulder, making her squeak and jump a bit.

"Don't get lost here okay? I don't want someone to get lost and spy everything here before I can really know them, is that clear?" his voice said abruptly with a hint of authority in it.

Finding nothing more than nodding, she follows him closely, a bit shaken yet by his strong voice.

The two of them resume to walk, passing near from a black pipe, with a strange and sticky liquid dripping a bit from it. Looking at her left, Claire sees a little space with a door behind her shoulder, right beside a wooden chair. As she turns her head, right in front of her, is a poster for The Little Devil Darling, with the forearm and hand of Bendy.

Turning to the right, Claire quickly notices at her right a sign with those words on it, with arrows:

<-- Art Department
Ink Machine - - >
Theatre - - >
Break Room - - >

Meeting another time the words "Ink Machine" swallows her into more perplexity. Seeing a big chest of drawers, they turned to the left.

Sammy soon lead her to a big room, with, at the center, between two wooden beams, a little table with some drawings on it, in the background, a projector rests onto a little end table, projecting nothing more but a white screen, beside a speaker on a chair, a Bendy cut out not far from it. At the right of the projector and a commode, reposes one office with a drawing of Bendy on it. Right beside her, on the wall, are three big film reels, with on it:

Joey Drew Studios

In the corner of her sight, a silouhette starts to move, not that far from the table on the center, and walks towards the two.

"What about some ink, miss?"

The man holds before her a cup full of a dark and bubbling ink, as she turns her head and body in order to see more clearly the man who's talking to her.

"Heh sorry, I always do that joke to the new people here. Nice to meet you, I'm Joey Drew, the only."

Taking her hand, he kisses softly the back of it, looking directly with his grreat eyes into hers.

"Are you the new animator?" he asks, strengthening his body.
"Euh... No. I'm Claire Lockwood, the new voice for Dinah the Devil, I presume." Claire says, lifiting an eyebrows.
"Oh yeah perfect! I was waiting for you, hun. I thinking you already know the Music Department director, Sammy Lawrence, who was the one who lead you here."

Turning her head towards the tall man, surprised.

He is the Music Department director? Holy cow, I was so rude towards him, hope that I've made a bit of good impression... She thinks.

Catching herself a bit of staring, she quickly turns back her head in order to come back to reality.

"So, Sammy's gonna lead you to the Music Department with me, and we're going to see what do you keep into your beautiful throat, darling."

Trying not to respond to this new nickname, Claire simply nods, following another time Sammy with Joey, heading back to the elevator they took before.

~

Claire finally reaches the little recording voice cabin. Hanging from the ceiling, two microphones hold into the air, calling to record a voice. Before he leaves, Sammy holds a paper to the brunette, with only a refrain.

"Good luck" he says before he leaves, and after some seconds he returns at the side of Joey, looking at her through the glass.

Placing the paper and the little music stand, she stands right in front of the microphone, looking at the two men in order to see if she can go on.

Seeing the two of them nodding, she clears a bir her throat, and looks at the little refrain, handwritten by Sammy, maybe.

"For the tune, you can choose whatever you like" the tall man says behind the glass.

Claire nods another time, taking a deep breath as she begins to sing the lyrics.
(video up there at the beginning of the chapter)

You gotta sing,
Keep singing
Don't let that tempo slow down.
Ignore the monsters running in
Oh,
We're recording gold now.
Play band,
Stand your ground,
Don't let that tempo slow down.
This might be our final gig
But we're recording gold now.

As Claire finishes, she gazes at Joey's and Sammy's faces. They were surprised a bit by her deep and bewitching voice.

"Alright, that was something really good. You're hired here, at the Joey Drew Studios, dear."

A great smile make its way onto her lips. What a beautiful day today, a day she'll never forget, never never forget.