Totally not a simp

This au will mostly consist of writting. I'll have some art but I've never had a very consistent art style and haven't drawn much in years. If anything here inspires you to create your own art please share and tag me!

Anyway I want to share some LORE to get me more hyped for the story. I’m introducing a lot of fairly unimportant characters for the sake of world building. I stole all of their names but one from other interests I have. When the chapter comes out if people figure out who’s who it’s gonna be hilarious. Some will be more obvious than others.

The point of these characters though is that the Plex is opening soon and it will need staff. (Also Nessa likes providing well paying jobs to the citizens). So the characters joining the cast are all “Human Helpers” for each animatronic. Most of the animatronics will have a primary human helper and a secondary human helper. The primary helpers will mostly only work with their assigned animatronic. The secondary helpers will have other jobs as well such as being a custodian or gift shop attendant.

Two of the human helpers are Mark, the maintenance guy we’ve already met in chapter two and Christopher who I actually won’t be introducing in this chapter but he is one of the few employees that stayed when the Plex shut down for the remodel.

Mark is Chica’s secondary helper because she just gets broken so much. And Christopher mostly works in the arcade but is also the secondary helper for the daycare attendant!

The animatronics get pretty much full control to fire their helpers so Vanessa paid Christopher through the closure to keep him around for Sun. Sun and Monty are very picky about their helpers.

DJMM has never had to fire his helpers before. (And he definitely won’t be any time soon)

For the next few weeks I get into a fairly easy routine. The construction seems to be moving along and I finally meet Monty, he doesn’t seem to care much about golf but he does spend one of my nights following me around and rambling about the theater and the shows they put on there. 

I can always seem to tell when the daycare attendant is watching me but I am never able to find him just by looking. I don’t talk to him though. I’m perfectly happy keeping all of my bones intact thank you very much.

I’ve been working here for a little over a month when I finally properly interact with the sun animatronic, I discovered a week ago that they are called Sunray and Moondrop. Roxy had explained a bit of their history when Monty had gotten angry talking about them and stormed off. She also told me that they are two AI’s existing in the same animatronic body. Sunray is active when the lights are on and Moondrop gets activated in the dark. Which explains why I have to make sure the lights stay on. She hadn’t explained why Monty got so angry about them though, told me it wasn’t her story to tell.

As I approach the daycare to check the generator, I see Sunray scowling and sweeping the floor. I debate just skipping the generator check, he does still make me a bit nervous but I have been thinking a lot lately about how all the animatronics here are just stuck. He’s especially isolated though here in the daycare, and he looks so defeated right now as he cleans. As I enter he stops his frustrated sweeping and looks startled over at me.

“Oh- ha it’s just you” he sighs, pulling the dustpan up and taking it over to one of the far trash cans.

I summon all of the bravery I have and ask, “Is- something wrong?”

He looks a little surprised setting the broom and dustpan down next to the trashcan. He has a small bounce to him as he stands and he tilts his head to the side. “They’ve just made such a mess” he says gesturing to all the dirt, sawdust, and plastic particles on the floor.

I realize for the first time that I’ve never seen one of the cleaning or S.T.A.F.F. bots in the daycare. Does he keep this whole place clean on his own? “Would you like some help?” I ask and then am mentally smacking myself. I shouldn’t be offering to spend more time in here! This could be dangerous! But then a soft smile graces his face and all my worries recede. 

He seems to sigh with relief. “Some help would be amazing” he says cheerfully.

I find a broom in the closet behind the desk and start sweeping by the door. We don’t talk but when I look over at him he seems much less distressed than when I’d seen him earlier through the window. Once the majority of dirt has been swept up I get a mop and start mopping the half of the daycare I’ve been cleaning.

When he’s finished sweeping his half to his satisfaction he approaches me. “Uh, sunshine, I’m sure you have other duties as the night guard, I can finish this up now” he says. 

He’s crouched down but still towers over me, I don’t feel quite as intimidated now though. I feel like maybe I could make an effort to at least say hi to him each night. Monty seems to have some sort of beef with him and the others act kinda strange whenever they talk about him. It feels sort of cruel to me that all these sentient beings were trapped here but the others at least have company and are free to roam. Sunray is just stuck here isolated and the construction workers seem to irritate him too. 

“Yeah, I probably should get back to my rounds” I say finally and the smile that seemed genuine before falters on his face. Still he takes the mop from me and continues where I left off. I start to walk away but turn back when he speaks.

“Thank you” he’s smiling again.

“Of course” I respond smiling as well.

He waves and I wave back almost unsure how I’d been so nervous around him before. 

~~~

After I interacted with Sunray and didn’t get dismembered I try to make an effort to talk to him each night when I work. At first he keeps his distance, but slowly he starts to walk along with me as I’ve started checking each of the generators themselves to make sure they aren’t damaged by the construction.

One day when I show up he was nowhere in sight. I assume he is probably in the room up on the balcony over the ball pit. He told me that it is sort of like his bedroom. He has a cable that he can hook onto or grab that his systems can control through the wifi or that can be controlled manually from a sort of joystick on the wall under the platform. He uses it to get up and down but I’ve never actually seen him use it. 

He’ll probably show up later when I do my second walk through, I think to myself as I check the light on the main generator control. As I walk to check the generator beside the ball pit I hear something moving. Then suddenly something pops out of the ball pit, balls fly at me and I jump back with a startled scream. I trip over one of the balls tumbling onto the ground and when I look up sun is standing over me looking sheepish.

He tilts his head to the side. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you so badly” he says but he looks like he’s holding back laughter. He reaches out his long robotic arm to me and I take his hand. It’s the first time I’ve touched any of them and he’s surprisingly warm. It's different from how a human’s warmth feels though, more like when you touch a dryer that just finished running.

He helps me up gently and sort of hovers checking me over for injuries. “You really got me there” I say, brushing myself off more on impulse than actually doing anything. This place is spotless all the time. Clearly he’d finished cleaning up after the construction workers left and plotted this little prank.

He hops along as I check the generator and continue on to the next one. It’s really strange how many generators are just in the play structures, it’s sort of questionable design, but I’m not here to be critiquing it, just making sure it all works.

After I’m done I go back to the main desk and sit down at the computer. I want to spend some more time with him tonight, just for fun. It’s not like I really have that much to do each night.

“Oh, right!” he says as he’s following me and I look up from where I was pulling up the control for the music in the daycare. His hands reach around in his pants, it doesn’t look like he has pockets really but he’s really rummaging around in there, then he pulls something out. A small chain hangs between his fingers and he crouches down holding his hand out towards me. “I found this, w-I was keeping it up in my room, I thought you’d like it, it matches your eyes.” He’s holding a necklace with a light purple iris flower. The charm is 3d and intricate with the petals shimmering with glitter. I take it and hold it up watching it spin in aww.

“It’s beautiful” I say softly. I’m not usually interested in jewelry much but I do enjoy collecting cool little trinkets and I’ve never seen anything like this before.

He stands back up and his grin is glowing. “I’m glad you like it!”

“I’ve got some more music to share with you, I guess we can call it a thank you” I say, plugging my phone into the computer. I turn up the music, and switch it over to be controlled by my phone. We spend a good hour of my shift just listening to music and chatting before I have to continue on to at least do one round of the whole place.

~~~

Despite the strange nature of this job I still haven’t bothered to even google it. (Otherwise I would have found out that there are no results on google about the Pizza Plex other than its location on google maps). 

I got a text message from the head manager Vanessa offering me a daytime position when the place opens back up to the public. She informed me that it wouldn’t be for another month but as the construction finishes up she is needing to restaff the place soon and will be taking back over as the full time night security guard. 

Of course I accept, I honestly love working here and have become pretty good friends with all of the animatronics, although I haven’t met Moondrop...

The position is a huge upgrade from my current position and I almost didn’t believe her at first when I saw the job description. She didn’t want to interview me for it, she’s just giving it to me. I’ll be the training manager for all the new “human helpers” for the animatronics. I wasn’t quite sure if I qualified but she said that I was the perfect person for the job because all the animatronics already liked me. 

The night shifts continue and I am slowly working towards getting an apartment, or ideally a house but I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to. 

As the reopening day approaches I can tell all of the animatronics are starting to get antsy. Especially Sunny whom I find pacing on his balcony when I enter for my last night shift. 

I check the generator quickly because I have to get through my shift fast tonight, I’m going to be working on opening day and have to give tours to the new employees tomorrow evening so I’m working a shorter shift so I can get some sleep. I approach the ball pit that is beneath the balcony and Sunray finally notices me.

“Oh, Sunshine!” he shouts and leaps down into the ball pit. He pops up right at the edge startling me.

“Hey Sunny, are you excited for opening back up?” I ask.

The look on his face shows nervousness but he responds with an enthusiastic, “Of course!” He hops out of the ball pit and bounces around me, “I can’t wait to have all our little guests back, the sounds of children laughing, leading arts and crafts, playing hide and seek, it’s all so fun!” 

I just accept his answer because it doesn’t sound like a lie and his enthusiasm is contagious. Even though his size was intimidating at first I can’t really understand the animosity all of my predecessors seem to have to the animatronic. Even the other animatronics seem to be weary to bordering on hostile towards him, yet he’s been nothing but pleasant to me since we first interacted. 

“I can’t stay too long tonight, I have another shift in the afternoon tomorrow so I have to get done here and get some sleep” I tell him.

His bouncing slows and he frowns. “I understand, I’ll miss seeing you around here every night” he admits.

“I’ll still be around,” I assure, “I’m not going to be full time nights anymore but I’ll still be here almost every day, just not at night.”

His bouncing seems anxious now and he’s staying in front of me, “do you know-” he hesitates, “if maintenance will be coming?”

“I imagine so, they’ve already taken all the rock stars down to parts and service, are you- nervous?” I ask unsure what exactly the energy coming from him is now.

“Nervous? Noooo... yes... maybe a little bit” he hunches down more to be at eye level with me but then averts his eyes. “Do you know if Vanessa is coming back?”

“Uh, she told me she was coming back to be the night security guard” I answer because it’s all I really know.

His frown deepens and he stands up again, he anxiously bounces from one foot to the other. “Could you- ask her if she’ll come back to fix Moon?”

I’m taken off guard by that, I didn’t even know she worked on the robots. “I can- uh- let her know you're asking but I don’t really know if she’ll listen to me” I respond. 

“That’s all we ask” he smiles slightly now, “I suppose I’ve kept you too long, on your way to go.” He ushers me towards the back entrance.

I allow him to push me on as I chuckle, “yeah, I’ve got to get to work, I’ll see you soon though” I say as I open the door.

“Don’t be a stranger sunshine” he says waving as I go.

“Ditto” I laugh waving back as the door falls shut between us. 

Although most of the construction is complete and we’re opening back up in just 2 days, there is still a section on the second floor boarded up. Roxy told me that it was a bowling alley but she’s not sure if it will be opening back up. She didn’t say much else and based on the sadness in her voice I decided not to ask more about it. Of everyone Roxy seems the most excited to be open to the public again. When construction had finished on her race track she’d tried to convince me to race her on it but I really didn't want to get fired for messing around too much on my shifts so I’d had to decline. I’d promised that once we opened, I’d come in off the clock and take her up on that offer though. 

~~~

I wake up to my phone vibrating which means it’s a call, not my alarm. I pick up because I’m awake and nobody calls me unless it's at least vaguely important.

“Hello?” I mutter, suppressing a yawn.

“Hey, uh- sorry to wake you, we sort of have a situation” I don’t recognize the voice on the phone and I look at the screen finally. I don’t recognize the number and I realize it’s only 11 a.m. I’ve only gotten 4 hours of sleep.

“What do you need?” I’m too sleepy to really question the situation and just want him to get on with what he needs.

“Sun is sort of refusing to leave the daycare to come down to parts and service” the man says.

Okay... how does this involve me? I wonder.

“He said that you were the only person that could make him... frankly I think he was sort of messing with me but if you know any way to help- I really need to get this done, we’re opening tomorrow” the guy sounds sort of exasperated.

“Uh- okay, I’ll be there in 15” I say before fully thinking it through. I really need sleep but Sunny had been acting strange and I don’t want anything to go wrong with this grand re-opening. I just hang up and turn my car on, shifting all my bedding into my back seat and blasting the defrost. After a few minutes my windows cleared up and I set off back to the Pizza Plex.

I only acknowledge that I’m in my pajamas briefly before just shrugging to myself and heading into the building. I’m trying and failing to suppress a yawn as I pull open the door to the daycare to find a maintenance guy having a very... intense argument with Sun.

“Uhhh...” I tilt my head to the side in confusion. This maintenance guy is the first person I’ve seen interact with Sun other than the construction workers and this definitely seems different. Almost like they know each other.

Sun looks startled to see me and jumps back from the guy and hunching down. “Oh Sunshine! What are you doing back here?”

“He called me?” I say pointing to the maintenance guy who I assume is the same one who I talked to on the phone. “What’s this about me being the only one who could get you to go down to parts and service?”

Sun’s eyes widen and he bounces nervously. “Wha- he told you tha- no I was-” he seems sort of flustered by my accusation and wrings his hands around then finally turns to glare at the maintenance guy. “I can’t believe you woke them up for this Mark!”

“Look I know you’d rather have Vanessa to maintenance on you guys but she’s not gonna be back until tomorrow, we can’t have the daycare still be closed for the grand reopening” the man sounds empathetic towards Sun, he’s treating him in a way I haven’t seen anyone else act towards the animatronics.

I’m not really quite sure what the big deal about all this is but I’m here now so I may as well help if I can. I decide to cut in with the dumbest suggestion because I’m sleep deprived. “I don’t really know what’s going on with you Sun but if you are really nervous or whatever I can like hold your hand or something, you’ve really got to let- Mark was it? let Mark do his job.”

Sun frowns looking up and away from us, “I don’t know- if we should-”

“That’s a perfect idea” Mark says just bravely grabbing for Sun’s arm which is nearly above his head.

Sun only sputters a bit but allows himself to be pulled along. “b- I- Mark- ugh” he could almost certainly pull away but he doesn’t and then he gives me the biggest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen.

“It’s gonna be fine Sun,” I say, although frankly I have no idea what’s going on.

Mark keeps a quite animated running dialogue going once we get down to parts and service. It’s a huge room full of mostly spare parts and some admittedly torture device looking chairs with all kinds of wires and lights around them. He just has Sun crouch down for most of the time while he sprays canned air into parts of his head and compares Sun to his gaming keyboard at home. 

Sun does take my hand when offered and he laughs sometimes sound a bit forced. When Mark pulls out a laptop and plugs something into a port on the back of Sun’s head though the animatronic whimpers. It’s not like a sound I’d ever expect to come from the animatronic and he’s grimacing, squeezing my hand a little tighter.

“I’m just checking on things” Mark says, gritting his teeth as he taps away on the keyboard quickly.

“Mhm” Sun stares down at the floor like it could just open and swallow him whole while I look between them wondering what exactly is going on. I don’t say anything though. I’m not sure I want to know why they are acting this way.

Thankfully Mark works fast and right when the cord is unplugged Sun is standing back to his full height. He’s still holding my hand and I’m pulled up with him. He leads me into a little twirl, “let’s get out of here, you need to get some more rest sunshine!” he says grinning down at me like that whole weird tense moment hadn’t even happened.

“B- uh” I start to protest.

“Yeah, I’m all done” Mark confirms, shutting the laptop. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You tooo!” I try to respond but I’m being yanked out of the room by Sun. I hear Mark laughing as I’m lead down the hallway and back to the maintenance elevator.

“You can sleep in the naptime area at the daycare” Sun says.

“I don’t know if I should-”

“Vanessa won’t mind, it’s not like we’re open yet, and it’s all fixed up and brand new!” he says enthusiastically, “we had all these new fluffy blankets brought in and new pillows and it’s gonna be so cozy! but... we can’t turn the lights off I suppose...” all the enthusiasm seems to drain at that. No one has even eluded to Moon in a while and I’m suddenly reminded that the animatronic beside me has a dangerous counterpart.

“That’s okay, I’m used to sleeping with the sun shining on me” I say wanting to lighten things.

“Oh! That's great!” Sun seems to brighten back up at that, “I’ll wake you back up when the new hires arrive.” 

I guess I’ve agreed to this.... whelp... He leads me into a section of the daycare I haven’t been in before. It’s a huge side room with the floor lined with sleeping mats. In the center of the room all of the blankets have been rolled up and piled into the coziest looking blanket nest I’ve ever seen. As I approach I can see there are also plushies of all the animatronics in it. They are strewn about, some looking like they’ve been sat on and others laying on the edges.

“Right! Perfect, you can sleep in the nest!” Sun shouts bouncing excitedly as he pulls me closer.

Getting an overnight job wasn’t as easy as one might think. The nights were freezing in my car but the days it could hold onto enough heat for me to sleep comfortably for a few hours. The cold winter and living in my car had turned me pretty much nocturnal, so when I’d stumbled upon the job listing for an overnight security job that didn’t require any references or qualifications I was thrilled.

I found it a tiny bit strange that they didn’t even bother to interview me but I was too relieved that I’d gotten a full time job to dwell on it. I put in my notice at my current day job and didn’t even bother to google the place.

Driving out to the Pizza Plex the first night was strange. I had looked into the nearby town since I’d never even driven this far north and hadn’t been able to find much. They had a library but no big stores or other attractions. When looking into the barely on the map town of Bylea I’d been expecting to be sitting in my car outside a small arcade for this job but as the fog parted as I approached, the building in front of me dwarfed anything I saw in the small town I’d just driven through. Just from looking at the outside it looked a couple tax brackets higher than anyone nearby could afford. But... it sort of explained my wages a bit better.

Just as I put my car into park I got the text message I’d been waiting for. It contained a link to a google doc with my instructions for the job and the message in all caps “READ BEFORE ENTERING THE BUILDING”.

I was nothing if not a rule follower so I turned off my car and opened the document. 

~~~

Before reading, please clock on for the night

~~~

Simple enough, they’d told me over the phone I’d just clock on and off by texting the number so I did that before going back to the document.

~~~

Welcome to your new job and Fazfamily Entertainments Pizza Plex. We are excited to welcome you to the Fazfamily and hope you will find your new job with us fulfilling and rewarding. Below you can find a guide to your employment with us and for your nightly duties. Please carefully read our employment agreement and liability agreement before entering the building for your first shift. By completing your first shift with us you are binding and agreeing to all contracts contained in this document.

~~~

Fazfamily? That name is familiar. I can’t quite place where I’ve heard it before.

I skim over the employment agreement and it’s pretty generic “at will employment” stuff.

The liability agreement is pretty specific, stuff about getting bitten by animatronics and your family not being able to sue if you mysteriously disappear but I assume it’s all just like some sort of joke for if you actually bother to read it. Of course the company is gonna make you sign a waiver of liability, people get hurt all the time doing stupid shit and they don’t want to get sued.

I finally get to the important stuff.

~~~

Nightly duty:

- Ensure lights remain on in the daycare

- Get all construction workers to leave the premises by midnight

- Help any cleaning bots if they get stuck or malfunction

- Keep all hallways clear of any animatronics other than cleaning bots

~~~

“Weird” I mutter to myself. Well part of this is already done because it seems the construction workers have already left for the night.

I figure that’s all the important information as the last section is labeled as something about notes. Finally I head into the building to get a lay of the land. I’m looking through the labels on the keys when the door just slides open as I approach. 

I make a note on my phone that the construction crew didn’t lock up behind them and just walk inside. My footsteps echo in the huge lobby and I hear faint music playing from somewhere deep in the building. I fumble around the door trying to shut it off and close it so I can lock it up when something hits the back of my leg.

I startle jumping away and turning to see a wet floor sign with eyes. I’d knocked it over from my startled flailing and it’s little wheels were spinning in the air.

It must be one of the cleaning bots I assume and I crouch down to stand it back up. For seeming to be some sort of high tech robot, it’s actually pretty light. It makes some little beeps and whirs before continuing it’s path of cleaning leaving a lightly wet streak along the floor as it rolls.

Finally I get the door locked and turn to really take in this place. Off to the right is a gift shop with mostly empty shelves and half the front wall windows missing. There is a strange tall robot thing sweeping up sawdust just outside the gift shop door. 

Straight inside is a huge double staircase with a pillar in between containing a glass elevator.

To the left is a huge wooden door and above it is a sign that reads “Superstar Daycare”. There are windows all along the wall so I can see the lights are on inside and I can see the huge multi colored play structure. I wonder to myself why they want to keep the lights on specifically in there? The electricity bill for this place has got to be massive, seems like a waste to be keeping all these lights on all night. 

But I’m not being paid to figure that out so I just walk further into the building getting a lay of the land. The cleaning robots don’t pay me any mind but as I approach a hallway of door with different characters names and faces on them someone calls out.

“Who’s there? Is that you Vanessa?” The man’s voice is booming and the door that I was just about to turn the handle on swings open.

I stumble back when faced with the huge bear who’s face had been on the door. Why is one of the mascot actors still here, I wonder as I straiten back up. “Uh, sir, we’re closed, you can’t be here” I say, because what else am I supposed to say? This place is under construction right? It’s not even open during the day...

He tilts his head to the side and it feels like the suits eyes are actually looking at me. It’s so high tech the suit almost looks confused, completely unlike the dead eyed mascot suits I’m used to.

“Are you the new security guard? I suppose I should give you the proper tour” he says reaching up to his neck and disconnecting a thick cord that was plugged into the suit.

“Uh- but you’re not supposed-” I stutter because I was completely unprepared for there to just be an intruder in on of these crazy suits.

“I am supposed to be here, I’m Freddy, didn’t you read the whole document?”

Did I not read the whole document? I question myself and then remember the like 3 pages that I had figured weren’t important after reading my job responsibilities. “Uhhhh” I pull out my phone and open the document again while this guy is towering over me.

~~~

Please add any things you notice on your shift to the end of this document, read through all new notes here before each shift.

~~~

Whaaa?

~~~

The animatronics are alive! This isn’t a joke, you’ll see it for yourself, all of them, there’s no people inside, they are just robots!

~~~

I skim the notes and think this has to be a joke, this is a person in a really high tech suit in front of me, not a sentient AI, we are like a hundred years from having that technology and if we did have it, surely I would have heard about it. 

“Oh ha ha, is this some sort of hazing joke?” I laugh nervously.

Freddy chuckles as well, “No, it’s not a joke superstar” the chest plate opens up revealing an empty cavity that couldn’t even fit a person, he reaches inside his own chest and pulls out a tablet with some stickers on it. “If you aren’t going to run away you should probably take this, it has an updated map with information about all the construction.” 

I’m stunned speechless but I take the tablet with shaky hands and turn it on.

It’s open to the notes app and after that shock from not reading the whole document I start looking at what my predecessor has written.

~~~

CHECK THE BACKUP GENERATORS. DOUBLE! TRIPLE CHECK THEM!

There is something wrong with the moon animatronic. Absolutely do not let the lights go out in the daycare. Do not stay in any room with the lights out for too long. 

Frankly if the sun tries to interact with you ignore it. There’s something wrong with that one too.

~~~

“Where are the generators?” I ask Freddy. Frankly all of this is starting to sound like I’ve stumbled into a horror movie. 

“Oh- uh- right, yes we can start with the daycare, it is best to keep the lights on... because of the construction of course” Freddy looks past me to the big wooden doors, “just- this way.”

I follow the huge bear who steps surprisingly lightly for how bulky he is. There’s just a small clank with each step and he starts to ramble a bit.

“Don’t get too intimidated by us, I know we kind of have a reputation but it’s really all a miss understanding and Moondrop... he’s not a bad guy it’s just... something has gone wrong with his code and with the renovations it’s just not really the companies priority to fix it right now” Freddy explains. 

He easily opens the door to the daycare and ushers me inside. He leads me over to a desk that seems to be for parents to check in at.

“This is the main light switch for the whole daycare, and here is the generator button, if the building loses power there are automatic generators that will turn on the emergency lighting system but each area has a full backup generator that we can run on for up to a week without external power, it’s really quite interesting how they’ve set it up, it runs with a combination of stored power and continually charging solar energy, we unfortunately can’t run off it forever but it works efficiently enough to keep the whole building powered to finish out the day and then keep us animatronics powered long enough to get the main power up again” the rambling almost sounds nervous as Freddy leads me through the daycare towards a back exit. 

I almost think I feel eyes on me but the infamous sun and moon animatronics are no where in sight. We leave through the back exit of the daycare using my employee key card and Freddy continues my tour. We find Chica in one of the kitchens and she seems a bit strange but then again, she’s a sentient AI I’m not exactly sure how they are supposed to act, although Roxy seems more human like Freddy, taking over the tour to show me around the racing area and excitedly explaining the upgrades construction is giving it. 

When we get to the golf course Freddy doesn’t open the door. “It’s not actually safe to enter the golf course right now, the whole thing is under construction, and on that note, Monty isn’t really up for meeting new people right now, so best not to bother him either.”

I nod in understanding even though I absolutely do not understand and we just continue on. The place is huge and there are to many corridors and areas for me to keep track of but the map is at least easy to read and keep my bearings with. I try to mentally keep all of the generator buttons locations in my mind though. Freddy had explained how the moon animatronic had been malfunctioning for a while but the new protocol had been put in place when the last security guard had been grabbed and dropped from the second story balcony down into the ball pit. The guy had only broken a few bones but I was not eager to be the next one injured here.

Freddy was really nice though and despite my initial shock at the situation here, my first shift went over without a hitch.

As I pull up for my second shift I get another text message from the company, “For your safety and the safety of others, REMEMBER: keep the lights on at all times and check the generators are functioning properly! Thank you for being a part of our Fazfamily!”

“Nothing like being welcomed to your second night on a job with a subtle threat to your bodily safety” I laugh to myself as I text to clock on. 

I check the daycare generator first, you can’t really properly check if a generator is working without shutting off the power and testing it but I do what Freddy instructed me last night and make sure the button isn’t damaged and the light in it is glowing. The whole time I am in the daycare I feel like someone is just staring me down but I try not to glance around too much. It sounds like I’m not in any danger from the moon animatronic unless the lights go out and that I should be fine if I just ignore the sun so I try my best to ignore the feeling and just hurry out taking a similar route through the building as the night before. 

I don’t linger in the kitchen with Chica but I do have a short conversation with Roxy. She tells me about the part of her track they were working on today, replacing the guard rails. How some of the dents reminded her of kids that used to come here, how she’s a bit sad to see the old rails gone even if she is excited to have everything fixed up like new. It sounds bittersweet and I almost forget that she’s really a robot, a super advanced high tech one but somehow beyond anything I’d thought possible she has feelings, experiences nostalgia, it occurs to me that it might be sort of cruel that they are all stuck here, forced to work these jobs and live these predetermined lives.

I try not to dwell on it too much and when it seems she’s done reminiscing with company I take my leave to let her process things on her own. 

When I show up for my third shift there are trucks and cars in the parking lot. I can hear drilling in the gift shop when I enter through the front doors and there are quite a few workers in the daycare. 

As I walk toward the daycare to do my first check of the generator I see through the window the sun animatronic. He has a goofy grin on his face but somehow it doesn’t seem to reach his eyes, he’s gesticulating wildly, and his rays spin around his head, possibly in frustration as he’s having a conversation with some of the workers.

I hesitate at the door. I can hear them arguing loudly as I approach and I’m a bit nervous to enter. When I open the door and meet the suns eyes though he goes silent and still for a moment. 

“You can not do ANYTHING to the second story balcony, that is final, take it up with corporate” he says when he turns back to the worker, still grinning widely. He backs away from the workers and only glances at me again for a moment before turning and walking away. His walk is goofy and his tone was cheerful but anyone could tell there was frustration hidden beneath it. Before diving into the huge ball pit I watch the sun stand up to his full height finally and I can tell he would tower over Freddy and the others. I quickly look away before anyone can notice me staring and just check the generator, only giving curt nods to the construction workers.

Thankfully all the construction workers leave on their own by 11:30 so I don’t have to worry about talking to any of them. 

I don’t see the sun animatronic again and I also don’t feel the staring on me when I enter the daycare again to check the generator later that night.

The next day I’m a bit nervous arriving to my shift. The supposedly most dangerous animatronics in the Pizza Plex were also the biggest and seemed to be stalking me from the shadows of the daycare when ever I was in there. 

To make matters even worse I got a text right after clocking on for my shift.

“Please retrieve stolen items from the Daycare Attendant before end of shift, remember for your safety do not turn the lights off in the daycare, bonus will be added to next paycheck for successful retrieval.”

I stare at my phone in slight horror. They want me to intentionally interact with that thing? When it stole something from presumably one of the construction workers? I’ve been perfectly happy avoiding it completely but a bonus? What kind of bonus? I can hardly afford to turn down extra money in my current situation, even though this job is paying pretty well, I still have debts to pay off and my whole... living situation to figure out.

I resolve to try and get the items. But if things seem even a little bit sketchy I will just book it and abandon my shift for the night.

When I enter the daycare I check on the generator first. Then I step just around the desk, leaning on it and looking around to see if I can spot the sun animatronic.

I clear my throat nervously when I don’t see him anywhere, I can feel him watching me but I have no idea how that huge thing is hiding from me.

“Um, daycare attendant?” I call, unsure what I should call him. There is a moment of silence before I hear a faint whirring to my left towards the ball pit. I look over to see him peeking around the play structure at me, his sun beams are retracted slightly and he ducks back when he sees me looking. It’s strange how he seems nervous, my heart is also beating hard in my chest from my own nerves. “Uh- they said you took some things, I’m supposed to get them back” I don’t make a move to go over to him just watching carefully for his response.

He averts his eyes as he steps out from behind the structure and his rays spin, but I can’t tell what it means. He’s not smiling like he had been the night before but the frown looks regretful not angry. He glances at me for a moment before darting off into the opposite play structure way faster than something that big should be able to move. 

I startle back against the desk but before I can regain my bearings, he is in front of me, dropping a pile of phones, watches, wallets and a drill at my feet. He backs away quickly, putting a part of the play structure between us and watching me. He’d moved so fast and so quietly I’m stunned speechless and even more terrified. What even is he?