Optic Ink

*”exasperated projector man follows sometimes ink man around a demonic building and is the voice of reason despite being unable to talk"*
-A one sentence Description of Optic Ink via @boxeption.

Basic Summary:

This AU takes place in the Bendy and The Ink Machine universe during present, in-game time. The main difference between canon and Optic Ink is that it follows the (mis)adventures of Sammy Lawrence and Norman Polk through Joey Drew Studios™ rather than Henry. Other characters make appearances as well, most notably Wally Franks and Henry Stein Drew. There are also frequent flashbacks to the world ‘pre-ink,’ which takes place in 1932. There's frequent shipping, and most of it’s gay.

Many other AUs have spawned based on this one, because of how flexible and lovable the characters are.

Characters:

All of the characters in Optic Ink appear in the game in some form or another, from a tape to a brief mention. Here are some brief descriptors, along with their fates post-ink.

**Sammy Lawrence:** Sammy is a sarcastic and somewhat jaded personality, not unlike his role in the game. Unlike in the game however, Sammy is considerably less observant and dense. This is often stretched to extremes. Sammy’s considered attractive by a good portion of the studio, including Jack Fain, Susie Campbell, and Norman Polk. Sammy is interested in Norman, but that denseness contributes to a lot of unnecessary pining for both of them.

Post-Ink, Sammy is ‘haunted’ by his split personality, lovingly named ‘Smay’ by the community. Smay, or the Bendy-worshipping side of Sammy, appears when Sammy makes contact with ink, and goes away when the ink is removed (via acetone or, more commonly, bacon soup.) Smay is really more a nuisance than anything, and rarely causes any actual harm.

**Norman Polk:** Norman is Sammy’s foil in many ways. Norman is considerably more observant and clever than Sammy is and, despite his sarcastic quips, is generally kinder to people than Sammy. He is a frequent liar, often seeing it as an easier solution than facing his problems. He has feelings for Sammy, but–unable to identify if Sammy returns them– keeps them a secret.

Post-Ink, Norman is transformed into the Projectionist, whom Sammy named 'Lensey’ due to the lens of the projector. Despite being very sentient, Sammy hasn’t figured out Norman and Lensey are one in the same. Norman has made no move to correct him, partially do to his muteness, and partially due to his chronic dishonesty. Since the fall of the studio, Sammy and Lensey travel together, and Sammy has explained to him his feelings for his 'former coworker.’ Norman, feeling that he’s dug himself into a hole, wrestles with his feelings of guilt for almost all of Optic Ink.

**Joey Drew:** Joey Drew is significantly less evil and significantly more goofy in Optic Ink. Though his mismanagement and frequent Satan magic did result in the downfall of the studio, it wasn’t with malicious intent. The man can barely function on his own, and is very dependent on his partner Henry for everything. The collapse of the studio was almost a direct response to Henry taking a brief vacation. He adores breaking rules and status quos, so he goes out of his way to hire a crew comprised of people often discriminated against in society, like minorities, women, and members of the LGBT community. It’s the best explanation I got for the amount of gays in that studio.

Post-Ink, Joey is generally unaffected. He does, however, act as a solution to a lot of problems involving the other crew members. Any instances of people getting 'fixed’ or 'cured’ are usually attributed to Joey’s magic. Granted, he rarely offers a perfect solution, and they’re often accompanied by numerous side effects.

**Henrietta 'Henry’ Stein Drew:** Yes, you read the name right. And no, Henry’s not a girl. And they’re not siblings. In an attempt to divert law enforcement, Henry legally changed his name to 'Henrietta’ to marry Joey. That’s a fairly good depiction of Henry, to be honest. While he appears to be the stoic voice of reason, (and certainly is to Joey), he can be just as sporadic as his husband at times. To a lesser extent, he often consumes things that are not meant to be consumed (i.e. paint thinner), and to a greater extent, he can make extremely stupid decisions. Though definitely the more competent of the two, Henry is by no means a role model. Henry, like Norman to some extent, also keeps a lot of his problems close to his chest.

Post-Ink, Henry drives the narrative for a small portion of time, before getting trapped in the ink machine himself. He is the perfect Bendy by the end of the 'game,’ but it is heavily suggested he’s been trapped in a time loop for much longer than he’s let on. He also frequently seems uncaring about his own well-being, suggesting he might have figured out he respawns. When he’s Bendy, he operates under the same ink form/human form logic as Sammy and others.

**Wally Franks:** The crowd favorite for inexplicable reasons. He has no personality besides 'look he’s cute and doofy.’ That’s it. And cake, if cake is a personality trait. Yes, he’s trans, but that really shouldn’t be his only character development. So yeah, Franks’ll probably be undergoing some serious character renovation in the future. Don’t worry, he’ll still be your doofy comic relief and 'innocent baby boi.’ He’ll just have some actual depth to go with it.

Post-Ink, he’s the rejected Bendy. Joey was originally supposed to go in the ink machine himself, but upon getting stuck behind the organ and jokingly going 'go on without me,’ Wally did so and unknowingly did himself and everyone else in the studio in like a dingus. Whenever the ink machine is activated, he loses all sense of humanity and goes on the murderous rampages we see in the game. I wonder how pissed people would be if i diverted all of my Susie hate on Wally? Oh, i’d get slaughtered, wouldn’t I?

**Allison Pendle:** See, this is a Wally-esc character done right. Allison gives off the vibe of a super sweet and kind person. She’s everyone’s favorite intern, and she’s the number one reason why everyone hates Susie. (“How could you hate Allison? She’s so nice!”) But secretly, there’s a lot more to her than that. She’s from a lineage of mobsters that rose to power in the 20s during Prohibition, and she’s the heir to the empire. She was sent to the studio to hunt for a rival mobster that may or may not work at the studio. She \*claps\* has \*claps\* DEPTH. And it explains her expert swordsmanship post-ink. She’s been trained formally with several weapons.

Post-Ink, as mentioned before, she’s the sword-swing Allison Angel. For the most part, she still acts kind to other people, but she’s much more liberal with a weapon as she separates searcher bodies with their heads. While she puts up the facade, she does genuinely care about the fates of some of the studio members. She probably also misses her family. She’s not heartless, she just…has less heart than most. She, unlike many other members of the studio, doesn’t transform back upon contact with paint thinner.

**Susie Stein Campbell:** Henry’s sister, who goes by a different last name to avoid Henry being accused of nepotism. Most people hate her, I hated her for a long while, because she’s needy, annoying, and often has little to no respect for boundaries. Her habit of flirting with every male in the studio is based of the tapes in the game, by the by. She, for a very long time, had no redeeming qualities…but then, last September, the strangest thing happened. I developed her character a tad more