#plexverse

"Starting tomorrow, your duties will be to man the register in the gift shop, restock the shop, and whenever the daycare attendant requests help, you are to temporarily close the gift shop and go help, unless it's drop-off or pick-up time, that's when parent buy things from the shop the most. Got it?" The employee told the new hire, who was looking around in awe. 

"O-oh, yes, got it! Mainly run the gift shop, restock the shop, and help the daycare attendant when requested except during drop-off and pick-up." The girl said, looking at the employee showing her around. 

The employee nodded in satisfaction, then handed the girl a slip of paper. "Now, before you leave, go get your personal security badge so you can get into the storage rooms and such. You'll need to go to the main security office to get one made, and this paper will help you get there, just show it to a security guard and they'll help you. That's all I've got for you, so see ya." With that, the employee walked away, leaving the girl on her own. 

Looking at the slip of paper, she used her open hand to twist some hair around her finger, holding it there as she left the daycare to find the security office. After a while of wandering and asking around, she finally made it, breathing a sigh of relief as she showed the security guard the slip of paper. 

The guard let her into the office, where another employee was waiting. "Name?" They asked without looking up. 

"Aria." The employee typed the girl's response into the computer, then hit a few more buttons. After a few moments, a security pass plopped out of the machine onto the desk, which the employee grabbed and handed to Aria. 

"There ya go. Buy yourself a lanyard, you'll need it." And with that, they returned to what they had been previously doing, gesturing for the girl to leave the office. 

Aria looked down at the security badge with her name on it, and smiled. "Alright, it's time for a new start! Let's just hope it goes well..." 

The next day Aria arrived to work early, eager to begin her new job. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress and fixed the star hairpin she decided to wear after seeing the posters around the daycare of a sun and moon character. She started to single out a strand of hair when she heard someone approach from behind, startling her. Turning around, it turned out to be a security guard, who looked at her quizzically. 

"Aren't you going in?" They asked, gesturing towards the daycare. 

"Oh um, This is my first day, I didn't know if I had to wait or..." Aria replied awkwardly, and the guard laughed. 

"You've got a badge, don't you? You're allowed to go in whenever, as long as you're not late for your shift." The guard laughed warmly. The girl nodded and smiled in embarrassment. 

"Oh, right... thanks. I guess I'll go in then." She said before quickly heading into the daycare, fighting the strong urge to slide down the slide.

 She opened the gate of the gift shop, the lights inside the small room turning on as she entered. Clutching onto her star pendant, she walked behind the counter and checked out the register, making mental notes on where things were. Aria checked the time, surprised to see it was almost time to open. Stuffing her bag under the counter, she headed out to the displays and checked everything over, glad to see someone had stocked for her. 

Soon she heard the tell-tale sounds of excited children as the daycare opened, and she stood behind the register with a smile. A few parents bought stuffies and other toys for their kids before they left, and once there were no more parents coming in, Aria went about her other duties, restocking the shelves. 

After about an hour of trying to keep herself busy, Aria heard a new voice call out from the children's play area. "Excuse me, new friend! Could I ask for some help?" She dropped the hair she had in her hand, her eyes lighting up in excitement. 

"Of course, I'll be right there!" She replied as she stood up from where she had been sitting, then headed over to the large set of doors leading into the play area. 

She stood there for a moment, trying to figure out how she was going to open such heavy doors, when one of them opened a little. "Quickly, before any of the little ones try to leave!" The strange voice said, to which Aria complied and squeezed inside as the door closed behind her. There were children running around the large play area, laughing and screaming wildly. "Alright! First, what's your name, new friend?" The voice asked from next to Aria, and she looked to see who it was that had called her. 

To her surprise, she had to look up, as the figure next to her was taller than the average human. In fact, it wasn't human at all, but in fact an animatronic. This animatronic looked like a caricature of a sun, but dressed in a jester-like outfit, complete with frills and even bells on the wrists. 

"Aria. I-I'm Aria." She stuttered, feeling a bit intimidated by the height of the animatronic. It noticed, because it crouched down slightly as it grinned, and Aria could finally see its features better. It had a state-of-the-art face system, allowing it to make different expressions. 

"Well, Aria, it's great to meet you! I'm the daycare attendant here, but you can just call me Sun!" It said joyfully, bells jingling as it held out a hand. Aria shook Sun's hand, enthused by the bells like a child. 

"It's nice to meet you too, Sun... So, what did you need my help with?" She asked as they let go of each other's hands, Aria bringing hers to her head to fiddle with her hair. 

"Oh! It's time for arts and crafts, but I'm out of a few things and the young ones are being very rambunctious, as you can see." Sun said, gesturing around the daycare. "Would you mind helping and getting me a few things so I can settle them down?" Aria smiled, shaking her head as she knew all too well the struggle of taking care of rowdy little kids all too well. 

"I don’t mind one bit! What do you need? I'll go grab it from the storage room, I know I saw tons of art supplies there." Sun beamed, clapping their hands together. 

"Oh goody! Well, we're going to need a new box of crayons, a glue stick, more red and pink glitter glue, and some popsicle sticks." They rattled off, and Aria scribbled the items on her hand with the pen she had pulled out of the waistband of her apron. 

"Alright, I'll be right back!" She said with an excited smile before struggling to go through the door. 

A short while later she returned to the play area, a box of the requested art supplies in tow. Aria noticed that it was a bit quieter as she squeezed through the door. Sun suddenly appeared next to her, causing her to let out a small shriek and clutch her chest, dropping the box of art supplies. "Oh Jesus, you scared me." She panted, trying to calm her heart rate as Sun frowned. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! Please, follow me with the art supplies, the kids are waiting!" They said as they gestured for Aria to follow. She picked up the box and followed the animatronic, who led her to some tables that had been set up where all the children were gathered. 

"Kids, this is Miss Aria, and she's going to do some arts and crafts with us today!" Sun said cheerfully, opening his arms like a person presenting a piece of artwork would, causing a few kids to giggle. "You need to listen to her, and can ask her for help if you need it. Now, let's get to it!" They said as they took the box from Aria, setting the supplies on the table in front of them as kids rushed forward to grab stuff. 

Like a child herself, Aria grabbed a sheet of paper and went to one of the tables with the kids, sitting next to them.

She grabbed a crayon and began coloring, making sure to keep an eye on the kids at the same time. After a while, Aria felt a tap on her shoulder, and she looked up to see a little kid holding a pair of safety scissors and construction paper.

 "Miss Aria, can you help me? I can't cut this out..." The child held out the paper, which had a drawing of what seemed to be a cat.

"Of course I can. But first, what's the magic word?" She asked, smiling softly. The kid looked puzzled for a moment before realizing what she meant. 

"Please?" Aria nodded and patted the child on the head with a proud smile. 

"Good job! Now let me have the paper and scissors and I'll cut it out." They handed the things to Aria, and she carefully cut out the cat, handing the cut out drawing, scissors, and scrap of paper back to the child. "There you go. Let me know if you need more help!" With a smile, the child nodded before walking back to the table they came from. 

Not long after, Aria heard a frustrated yell from somewhere near her, and she looked over to see a little girl getting angry at something. Aria got up and walked over, kneeling down next to the girl. "What's the matter?" She asked, and the girl grumbled. 

"The crayons keep breaking- see?!" The crayon the girl had in her hand snapped, and she threw it onto the table angrily.

"Woah, calm down, it happens, okay? It's no big deal." Aria said, making sure the crayon didn't go towards another kid. The girl picked up a new crayon, gripping it tightly in her fist. Noticing this, Aria reached her hand over to gently touch the girl's hand. 

"Don't hold it so tight, that's why they keep breaking." The little girl looked up at Aria then back down at her drawing, loosening the grip on the crayon before starting to color. After a few moments, the girl looked at Aria again and smiled. 

"Thank you!" She said before going back to coloring. 

After arts and crafts was over, Aria helped get the kids cleaned up and ready for snack time. Some of the children weren't cooperating with Sun, so Aria went over to help. When her kinder attempt at getting their attention didn't work, she sighed, then straightened herself up and cleared her throat. 

"Kids, it's time to get cleaned up, not play around. You will not get a snack if you don't wash your hands." She said in a firm tone of voice but not yelling, which got the kid's attention and they quickly went and washed their hands. 

"Wow, how'd you do that?" Sun asked Aria as she checked their hands when they were done, making sure they actually washed them. Aria laughed softly, looking up at them. 

"Oh, I work with kids quite often. That was what I like to call my 'Mom voice.' It always gets the kiddo's attention." She replied, smiling proudly before checking over the group of kids, whom were all waiting for their snack. 

Aria quickly went and grabbed the snacks, making sure the allergy friendly snacks were apart from the regular ones. Once all the kids got their snacks and started eating, Aria sat down. She was genuinely happy, as she loved working with kids, and it showed on her face as she smiled lovingly at the little ones. She began to fiddle with her hair, pulling out a strand every so often as she watched, making sure nobody choked or anything. 

A dozen pulled hairs later snack time was over, and Aria made sure the kids picked up the trash after themselves. The messy kids had to wash their hands again before going to play, and Sun came up next to Aria as she made sure the last few kids took care of their trash. "Usually they just run off and I have to clean up the trash." They commented, causing Aria to look up at them and cross her arms, seemingly disappointed. 

"Every child has to learn to clean up after themselves, otherwise they'll become lazy bums." She said as though it was obvious. 

Before Aria could say another word her eyes went wide when she looked at the play structures. "No, get down from there, that's not safe!" She shouted, running over to one of the slides where a child was climbing on top of it. 

Sun chased after her, reaching over her head to pluck the child off the slide and set them on the ground. Aria put her hands on her hips, frowning. "That was incredibly dangerous, you could have fallen off and gotten hurt! Don't ever do that again, got it?" She scolded, and the child dropped their head in shame and nodded. 

"Yes Miss Aria." They muttered, and Aria patted them on the head. 

"Alright. If you've learned your lesson, you may go play again." She said, and the child ran off to another part of the play area. She let out a sigh of relief, putting a hand on her chest before looking up at Sun. "Thanks for getting them down, there's no way my short as- butt could've gotten them down. Sun simply nodded, waving their hand dismissively. 

"I deal with that all the time, I'm used to it." Aria shook her head before laughing. 

"You almost NEED a team of a human and an animatronic to take care of kids. That or a really tall human." She snorted then covered her nose and mouth, holding in her laughter, embarrassed. Sun cocked their head. 

"Did you snort?" Before Aria could answer, a kid piped in from inside the play structure. 

"Miss Aria snorted!! She snorted like a piggy!!" A bunch of other kids started making snorting noises, giggling like madmen as Aria's face turned bright red and she hid it in her hands. 

"Don't make fun of Miss Aria, it's not nice!" Sun said as they put a hand on Aria's shoulder causing her to look up at them, her face as red as a tomato from embarrassment. "Are you okay?" They asked, and she nodded in response, taking a few deep breaths.

Soon it was lunch time, and Aria had to run and open the gift shop as some parents came to pick their children up, leaving Sun alone with the kids. "Where'd Miss Aria go?" One of the children asked Sun while eating lunch. 

"Miss Aria had something to do, she'll come back after lunch." The kid pouted, frowning at their pizza. 

"Okay..." Sun chuckled. 

"You really like her, don't you?" The kid looked up at Sun and nodded. 

"Yeah! She's really nice, and she helped me today!" The kid said before taking a bite of their pizza. 

Once lunch was over, Sun convinced the kids to clean up after themselves by promising that Miss Aria would read them a story for naptime, which got most of the kids to listen. The few who didn't want to listen were told that Aria would be mad if they didn't clean up before nap time, and that got them to hustle and clean up. 

Sun began getting out the blankets for naptime when Aria returned, squeezing through the doors. She hurried over and took some of the blankets from Sun, helping to distribute them to the kids. Once all the kids were settled in, one of them looked up at Aria excitedly. 

"Now will you tell us a story?" Puzzled, Aria looked at Sun, who shrugged with a chuckle. 

"I told them you'd read them a story if they cleaned up after themselves, that's it." With a sigh, Aria found herself a cushion and sat down, then began telling the children a story from memory, the last child falling asleep about halfway through the story. 

Sun had almost drifted off to sleep themself, but startled awake as they spotted Aria by the light switch. They scrambled to stand up, hoping to stop her, but it was too late. Aria flipped the light switch, turning off the lights in the daycare as she hummed softly to herself. Sun backed out of her view as she returned to the children, looking around to try and find them. 

"Sun? Where are you?" She whisper-yelled before being grabbed by the waist and hoisted into the air, causing her to let out a squeak of surprise and fright. She looked down to see a pair of arms that looked almost identical to Sun's, aside from the fact they had different colors on them. She squirmed and whoever was holding her laughed in an unfamiliar voice. 

"Don't squirm unless you want to fall." They said, causing Aria to stop moving. "Good girl." The voice cooed, and Aria tried to see who it was holding her. 

"Who are you? Wh-why am I in the air?" She stuttered, gripping onto the arms holding her. The voice chuckled again, and they began to move in the air. 

"The name's Moon, and I've been dying to meet you." They said, flipping Aria around to face them. She had squeezed her eyes shut as she was turned, and as soon as she could she wrapped her arms around this 'Moon', holding on for dear life. "I'm not going to drop you, calm down." They said, using the cable to make a sort of hanging chair thing.

They sat there with Aria clung onto them, finding it funny that she was so scared. "Hey, c'mon. Open your eyes." They said, and Aria slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes. The face she was met with looked similar to Sun, but grey and black, with red eyes and a blue nightcap with stars on their head instead of rays like Sun. 

Moon gestured outwards, grinning. "Look out." Aria slowly shifted, still holding tightly to Moon as she looked out. From where they were, the two could see the whole daycare, including all the kids that were asleep. 

"O-Okay, this is cool, but could you please put me down now?? This is freaking me out." Aria said, shaking slightly. 

"Aww, alright. But I'll be up here if you need me." Moon said before undoing their seat, lowering down and setting Aria down before rising toward the ceiling again. 

Aria breathed a sigh of relief and smoothed her dress, fixing her hairpin before going to sit next to the children. Once naptime was over, Aria turned on the lights and woke up the kids, still wondering about that curious Moon character when Sun approached her from behind, tapping her on the shoulder and causing her to startle, letting out a squeak. 

"Oh, it's you Sun. I've got a question for you." She said as she folded a blanket neatly, setting it on the growing pile. "Who is Moon?" 

Sun froze when she asked the question, and they hesitated before responding. "You... weren't supposed to meet Moon. I forgot to tell you the number one rule here; Keep the lights on." Aria blinked in confusion before frowning, hanging her head. 

"Sorry, I had no idea... I mean, it is my first day after all..." Sun grabbed the blanket Aria had stalled on, folding it the rest of the way. 

"It's alright, just keep that in mind from now on, alright?" Aria nodded silently and she and Sun finished folding the blankets. She went and put them away as Sun got the kids together for their afternoon lesson. 

The rest of the day went by without anything else interesting going on, a couple of the kids didn't want Aria to leave when she had to go get the shop ready for pick-up time. "Noooo, don't goooooo!!" One child said, holding onto Aria's hand as she tried to leave. She chuckled and patted the kid on the head. 

"I'll be here tomorrow, I promise. Okay?" She said as the kid looked up at her and nodded, letting go of her leg. 

"Okay... but you better keep your promise!" They said and stomped their feet, and Aria laughed. 

"I will keep my promise. Now, see you tomorrow, alright?" The child nodded and Aria left the play area, heading to the gift shop and restocking the shelves before the parents came in to pick up their children. 

A few parents stopped in the gift shop with kids in tow, and all of the kids smiled at Aria and waved before leaving the shop. Once all the kids had been picked up and parents had all left, Aria restocked the shelves again before closing the shop, yawning as she looked at the time. She stuck her head into the play area, looking around for Sun before just calling out.