Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Bim had been at the manor for just a few days when he and Wilford started working together to get Bim ready to film the pilot of his new show. He was on the Warfstache Tonight set with Wil, after filming had wrapped up for the reporter for the day, in order for them to start getting down to business. The younger host wore a set of black slacks and a pale purple buttoned shirt, with a dark purple vest over it, looking put together as he usually did, but still seeming fairly relaxed.

“To be a good show host, no matter what show it is, you’ve got to find some way to make yourself stand out,” Wilford stated, walking around Bim as if he were inspecting the younger man.

“Really?” Bim questioned, watching as Wil circled him.

“Yep!” Wil confirmed. “If you wanna make it big, you gotta stand out. There’s gotta be something about your voice, your look, the way you conduct things, something has to get people interested the first time they see your show, and that they’ll remember so they recognize you when they see it again.”

“Like how you’ve kept the suspenders and bow-tie look?” Bim asked.

“You’ve got it! The look is one of the things that helps me stand apart from others. The way you present yourself is key.”

“Okay, so, gotta figure something out for that…” Bim mused, tapping his chin a bit. As he moved, the studio lights caught on some glitter that was still clinging to his vest from the last time he’d worn it.

“How about something, shiny?” Wilford suggested.

“Shiny?” Bim inquired, looking up at Wil.

“There’s glitter on your vest,” the mustached man clarified. “That’s something you could work with.”

“I’ll have to figure out a way to work with that,” the younger host replied.

“Now, hosting isn’t just about how you look and sound, it’s how you hold yourself. You want to look confident, like you know what you’re doing. If you’re too stiff, the viewers and contestants will think you’re nervous, and your contestants could end up mirroring that from you. But, if you look too relaxed, they’ll think you don’t care and aren’t trying. It’s a fine line.”

“I’ll say.”

“But, you’ve got a good foundation to work with. Your voice in your last show? Perfect. Not too quick, you’re clear, but it’s still fun. Your posture is what I’m concerned with.”

“My posture?” Bim cocked an eyebrow. He always thought he held himself pretty well. Sure, sometimes he’d get nervous in front of the cameras, but he didn’t let it show that much, did he?

“Your posture,” Wil repeated. “Usually it’s fine, but in reviewing the footage for Hire My Ass , I spotted a few things. You tend to go from being fine, to being far too stiff, then go to being far more relaxed than you should be,” he told Bim. “Now, some people can make that work. I’m going to be honest with you, with the visual front you put up, you don’t pull it off. You need to bring a little more structure to it.”

“I didn’t think it was that bad…” Bim sheepishly admitted.

“Like I said, usually, you’re not bad, maybe a bit generic, but not bad. You need to smooth things out, maybe add a little flair to things. At the manor, you talk with your hands, use that, a lot of hosts don’t use that, it’ll stand out, and might feel better.”

“I think I can do that.”

“Good! Now, stand up straight, I need to see something.”

Bim did as he was told, standing up straighter, as he’d learned to do over his years in community theater and the like. He watched as Wilford circled him again, humming in thought and tapping his chin.

“You need to relax, you’re too stiff. This isn’t the army, you know,” Wil told him. The pink-loving Ego set his hands on Bim’s shoulders, lightly pressing them down, urging Bim to relax them a bit. “And try not to extend your neck; it looks stiff and forced, and it can cause pain and stiffness over time. Don’t make my mistake.”

Bim adjusted the position of his head, letting the muscles in his neck relax a bit as he tried to follow Wil’s instructions. The older Ego seemed to know what he was talking about, considering the success of his current show, and if Bim were honest, he actually looked up to Wilford.

The day went on like this, with Wilford giving Bim various tips to improve his on-camera presence. Wil clearly had more experience than Bim had figured, seeing as the reporter would give examples of mistakes he had made early on when correcting Bim or giving him advice. By the end of the day, Bim felt he had picked up quite a few things that would undoubtedly make him a better host.

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With the recording date for the pilot of Bim’s new show drawing ever closer, the man could feel the anxiety building up. Along with this, came the frustration the man often had with himself for making tiny mistakes, and then the annoyance with himself for nit-picking.

As a result, Bim decided he needed to blow off some steam. It had been a while since he’d properly worked out, after all. Though, with his car currently in the shop for repairs, he’d have to figure out what he could do around the manor. There were plenty of things around he’d be able to use, he just needed to get clever about it.

Bim pulled on a basic set of workout clothes; a simple set of socks, grey compression pants with a set of black shorts over them, and a random orange T-shirt he’d gotten from some event he didn’t remember, over which he pulled on a lightweight purple hoodie that he’d long since cut the hood off of. The game show host grabbed his phone and wireless headphones, walking out of his room as he turned on his music and put the headphones on, tucking his phone safely into his pocket, and grabbing a small backpack with some various small pieces of equipment he’d acquired over the years, heading out to see what he could do.

Google was roaming the halls of the manor, searching for something to occupy his time. The android had managed to fix his glitching systems just days before the newest Ego, a human game show host called Bim Trimmer, had arrived. The two had crossed paths, though Google’s file on the man was lacking compared to his files on the other residents of the manor. The construct only had the bare basics on record concerning Bim; the man’s name, height, age, and occupation were filled in, but he had little else concerning the man. With this coming to his attention, Google made the decision to do a bit of observation and see what information he could gather.

The blue-clad android found the newest Ego outside on the shoveled pathways that surrounded the manor, jumping rope on one foot. Google simply watched as Bim paused for a moment to switch feet, before continuing what he was doing. The man was clearly strong, despite his slim appearance, if the pace he kept was anything to go off of. He watched as Bim kept hopping over the rope for a time, before stopping and coiling the rope up, tucking it into the small backpack that was off to the side. Google observed Bim pulling out a pair of small dumbbells, which a quick scan determined to be five pounds each. The game show host held one dumbbell in each hand and dropped to the ground, beginning to do push-ups as he held the weights, rather than supporting himself with his hands on the cold ground.

After some time of watching Bim go through various exercises, Google decided to leave and mull over the information he had gathered. Bim seemed to enjoy exercising, and was clearly physically strong as a result, though with some quick searches for comparison, the android could tell that Bim was likely one who preferred proper equipment, which he currently didn’t have access to. The android wanted to seem as if he were an asset to the manor, in order to avoid any possible suspicions arising concerning whatever he might be planning. Maybe there was something he could do in order to assist the newest Ego in blowing off steam.

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It took Google until Christmas Eve to finish the project he’d assigned to himself. He was able to get his hands on general parts fairly easily, and gathering standard weights wasn’t difficult in the slightest; what had been difficult was getting everything assembled. Even being an advanced android with strength that rivaled even the strongest humans, Google still only had two hands. It came to the point where he had to enlist the help of Silver in order to get things finished.

The timing couldn’t have been any better, considering Bim seemed to be growing more and more anxious with each passing day. The date of his first recording session was at the start of January, which didn’t leave much time to prepare. 

Everyone had assembled for Christmas, exchanging gifts and having a generally good time, when Google stood from his seat on one of the couches, clearing his throat in order to grab the attention of the others in the room.

“There is one last surprise to be unveiled,” the android stated with his characteristically monotone voice. “If Bim Trimmer would please follow me. Others are welcome to accompany us if they so wish, in order to satisfy their curiosity.”

Bim cocked an eyebrow, though he stood from where he sat on the floor, moving to follow Google as the android left the room, followed by Silver, Dr. Iplier, King, and Dark, as Wilford, the twins, and the Ego currently going by The Host stayed behind in the living area.

The android led the other Egos down one of the hallways on the ground floor of the manor, stopping at an unassuming door. He waited for the others to catch up and form a semi-circle around the door, with Bim in the center of them all. Once everyone had settled, Google calmly opened the door to the room, revealing a fairly well put together home gym, which took the place of a room that originally stood empty.

“In observing your usual routine, I noticed that you seem to enjoy exercising, and as a result, spoke with Dark about converting this room into a small gym for you to use,” Google stated. “Silver also offered some assistance in getting everything situated.”

“This is pretty damn cool, you guys,” Bim mused, stepping into the room and looking around. The space was equipped with just about everything Bim normally used at the gym he’d been going to, with some room to spare, and there was even a full mirror on one wall, and a TV mounted for him to access various shows or display routines to follow. “I’m kinda surprised you picked up on all that, G, it’s really cool, actually. I really appreciate this.”

“It is good to hear that you are satisfied with the result. This was not exactly an easy feat to accomplish.”

“I can imagine. It’ll get a lot of use, no doubt.”

Google gave a bit of a nod, watching as Bim looked around for a bit longer, before stepping out of the room and shutting the door. The android watched the others begin to make their way back towards the living area, Bim chatting with Silver excitedly as the hero seemed to be telling him about some of the features he and Google had included in his little gym. As he began to follow, Google hardly noticed the small white arrow pointing up in the corner of his vision; he was too distracted by the sense of what he would later know as pride at having provided Bim a better way to battle his anxieties.

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January 3rd seemed to come extremely quickly once Christmas was over. Bim and Wil were able to fit in some extra work in order to make sure Bim was as ready as he could be for filming, and Bim was able to meet the contestants the day before filming in order to get some basic information to work with when speaking to them. They had done all they could in order to get him ready. Now, all they could do was hope for the best.

Bim’s alarm went off early in the morning, and the game show host groaned in response as he shut it off, sitting up in bed and stretching. He jumped in the shower, getting cleaned up before pulling on a set of dark purple socks, black slacks, and a white undershirt, tucking it in and pulling on a dark purple belt as he made his way down to join the others for breakfast.

King had cooked this time, and Bim couldn’t help the smile that came to his face when he saw that each table setting had each Ego’s preferred morning drink, a layered yogurt parfait with chopped strawberries and granola, and a large peanut butter banana muffin, likely still warm from the oven. King himself was just sitting down as Bim came into the dining area, smiling when he saw Bim’s reaction to the breakfast laid out.

“My Mom used to make me a breakfast like this when she knew I was going to have a big day, always said that starting off a big day with a nice breakfast and a good mood would help things go well,” the older Ego stated. “Since you’re filming your pilot today, I thought it’d be a good time to do something like this.”

“She might’ve had a point,” Bim replied, sitting down at his place at the table. “I’m gonna need all the luck I can get, if my last pilot’s anything to go off of.”

“Hey, hey, no,” Wilford cut in. “We talked about that, what did we say you weren’t going to do?”

“Uhm…” Bim thought for a second, chewing a bite of his muffin. “Oh! I’m not going to think about my last show. I’m better now than I was then, and this is a new shot. No worrying about repeating the past, because I’ve lived it and learned from it.”

“Exactly!” Wilford praised, smiling. “What happened is in the past, this is a new show, so it isn’t worth the effort to worry.”

Bim gave a bit of a nod, going back to enjoying his breakfast. When he and the others finished, Bim hurried back up to his room to finish getting ready for the day.

In his room, the game show host started going through how he would introduce the show. He still hadn’t quite nailed how he wanted to open things, but he was sure he’d figure it out. He went into his bathroom and draped a towel over his shoulders to try to keep the glitter from getting all over his undershirt. The man picked up the bottle of purple glitter spray from the counter, and his comb, and began to style his hair, combing it back away from his face and letting a little bit of it hang over his forehead, twisting it around his finger in order to sort it out a little. He sprayed a mist of the glitter over his hair, followed by a mist of his usual hairspray, to tame any fly-aways and ensure everything stayed in place. Bim quickly brushed his teeth, and looked himself over in the mirror, smiling brightly at the shine the glitter added to his hair. He removed the towel from his shoulders, setting it aside, and went back out into his bedroom.

There were already a pair of hangers on a hook fixed to the wall beside his closet door, holding his shirt, tie, and jacket. Bim pulled the shirt off the hanger, pulling it on as he looked in the mirror fixed to his closet door. He did up the buttons and tucked the shirt into the waist of his pants, before grabbing the shiny dark purple tie he’d picked out, and draping it around his neck. Using a simple four-in-hand knot, he tied the tie around his neck, centering and adjusting it before grabbing his simple silver tie bar, one of a set of three Dark had given him for Christmas. He fastened the bar and finally grabbed his jacket, a fitted dark purple one with black buttons, lapels, and black trim to the outward facing chest pocket, and pulled it on, adjusting it and fastening the top button. Bim pulled on a set of black dress shoes and a silver watch, before looking himself over in the mirror once more. Taking a final breath, Bim ran through his intro to himself in the mirror one last time, before grabbing his phone and leaving his room, shutting the door behind him as he went.

When Bim reached the bottom of the stairs, he found Wilford and Dark waiting for him. Wil smiled proudly at him, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet when he saw the younger Ego emerge, while Dark had a more subtle, but still proud look on his face.

“You look great,” Dark simply told him, making a small adjustment to the younger Ego’s tie.

“Thanks. I actually feel pretty good,” Bim responded with a smile.

“It’s about time for us to get going,” the older Ego observed, checking his watch.

“Then let’s go!” Wil exclaimed, clapping his hands once.

Dark couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle, withdrawing his aura. With his aura contained, Dark looked like a healthy person; fair complexion, smart black suit, silver tipped black cane, and warm brown eyes. The ringing that followed him was silent, and the black mist and shimmering duplicates that surrounded him at all times were gone. The older Ego tore a hole in the Void, and ushered the other two men through, before following them; the three emerged in front of the studio, and walked inside.

Bim took a deep breath as he walked into the studio with Dark and Wil, running through his intro in his head as they made their way to the set of his show. Dark took a seat in a spare production chair, while Wil talked to some of the crew, and Bim was whisked away by hair and makeup for final touches.

“Places, everyone! Quiet on the set!” the Director urged, taking his seat by one of the monitors displaying the camera’s view. “Rolling in three, two, one.”

As the Director spoke, Bim shut his eyes, adjusting his glasses as he took a final deep breath. As action was about to be called, he opened his eyes again to see Wil smiling brightly, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up, which brought a bright smile to Bim’s face.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen and all those outside the binary! My name is Bim Trimmer. And this is Disc of Riches !”