Alright! This is a crossover between the manga/game Alice in the Country of Hearts and the game Five Nights at Freddy's. This is just a silly idea I had. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
"So, Aria," started the manager. Aria was currently sitting in the manager's office of the children's restaurant Wonderland Cafe. The manager, a tall older man wearing spectacles dressed in a ridiculous yellow suit that clashed with his red hair (which was short and choppy with the exception of a long braid hanging over his shoulder) looked her up and down. "How old are ya again? You don't seem like your eighteen, sweetie."
"I am eighteen! Why would you think otherwise, because I'm short?" Aria fumed. Why did people always do this? Just because she is only five feet tall does not make her a kid, or adorable for that matter. "I am a perfectly capable adult! I am not a kid or cute, Mr. Gowland. And I am most definitely capable of handling the night shift here!"
Gowland, the manager, raise his hands in surrender. "Alright alright, sweetheart! Just wanted to be sure, ya know? The night shift around here can be pretty tough, and I wouldn't want a cutie like you getting scared or hurt."
Aria's eye twitched at the word 'cute'. Why did everyone do that to her? Was she cured or something? It's bad enough when Cadence and Melody tormented her with those words. Rising to her full five-foot-one height, the blonde addressed the manager, "As I just said, I can handle this job. I am not a child, and I am definitely not 'cute'! Now, if your not going to give me the job then I'll be on my way." Turning to walk out she was stopped by Gowland.
"Wait a minute! You can have the job! I'm sorry sweetheart, it's an ol' habit of mine to call people that. Don't take it personally." He called, standing. Moving from behind the desk, he walked up and clapped her on the back. "Welcome to the family Aria! Everyone's going to enjoy having someone new around!"
"But I'm only working the night shift. No one will be around when I'm working, so what do you mean by that?" asked the teen, genuinely confused. What could he mean by 'everyone'? She wasn't planning on sticking around after her shift, she had too much school work to do. In fact, the only reason she was looking for a night job was because she was so busy during the day with school to have a regular job.
"Oh nothing, you'll see soon enough." Gowland replied with a knowing glint in his eye. "Hey! How about I introduce you to the gang? You'll be spending quite a bit of time with them, might as well know who they are, right?"
"Um… sure. I guess." Aria wasn't sure why he was talking about the animatronics like they were real. All she would be doing in sitting in a chair the entire time, probably doing homework. However, she simply shrugged it off, the manager clearly cared about the place and this was probably just his way of showing off what he loved.
"Wonderful!" Gowland praised, leading her into the main room. The large space was filled with tables decorated like different cards from a standard deck with that had the backs of one of the four suits of the cards. The walls were painted to give the appearance that the room was in the middle of a forest. The whole room made Aria feel like she was about to sit down to a tea party with the mad hatter. Staff workers dressed in costumes correlating to different suites walked around cleaning up after a busy day of work. "Ah there they are! The main stars of the place!" the manager said, pulling Aria from her observations. Looking to where he was pointing, the blonde took notice of two stages with what appeared to be real people standing motionless. It took her a moment to realize these were the animatronics characters. The first stage held only three figures. One dressed in a red heart themed ball-gown with a small crown atop her purple curls. The second was a man wearing a red checkered suit jacket and tan pants; hanging at his side from a long chain was an oversized pocket watch and on top of his head, sprouting from a mop of white hair, were two white rabbit ears. The final character was a man dressed in a long red trench coat with -what Aria assumed to be- a fake sword hanging at his side, his messy light brown hair and goofy grin gave Aria the impression that if he were real he would be a trouble maker.
'The Queen of Hearts, the White Rabbit, and the Knave.' Aria identified in her head. The first two had been obvious, but it had taken a moment for her to remember what the final character was. Turning her attention to the second stage, Aria inspected the five male positioned around a tea party scene. The first wore a white suite decorated with the card suits, but what was most noticeable was was the excessively decorated top hat that sat on top of his ebony hair. The character to his right wore a long dark trench coat with a purple scarf that had pieces of wheat sticking out from under it. This character had long wavy orange hair with matching rabbit ears. The next two were obviously twins, one wearing red and the other blue. Compared to the others these two seemed to be children, but what was most noticeable were the two scythes they held. Finally, the last character, who seemed to be most similar to Aria's age, wore a green, ornate, jacket with a long furry tail coming from beneath it. On top of his light orange hair was a mouse ear, the other hidden by a small black hat.
'The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, Tweedle Twins, and the Dormouse.' Aria recognized. The blonde wondered why the twins were carrying fake -or so she thought- scythes, but Gowland interrupted her before she could ask.
"Over here we have Queen Vivaldi," he said pointing to the woman. "Peter White" he indicated toward the white rabbit. "and Ace." He dubbed the final character. "Be careful with them. Vivaldi and Peter can have a short temper, and Ace… well, Ace is just trouble in general."
"Alright." Aria said, going along with the older man. She was learning to just simply go along with whatever he said or did and not question the logic behind it.
"And over here we have the Hatter crew. First we have Blood Dupre, the nuisance." the manager continued, glaring at the Mad Hatter character. "Elliot March, never call him a rabbit." He continued, pointing to the March Hare. "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Never play their games." He stated gesturing toward the twins. "And lastly Pierce Villers. I doubt you'll have any problems with him." He finished, giving a smile toward the dormouse. Aria was about to ask why the Hatter had a name such as 'Blood', but before she could ask another stage hidden by a curtain caught her attention.
"Mister Gowland?"
"It's just Gowland, Sweet Pea." He said, turning to look at her.
"Oh, ok. Um… what's behind that curtain over there?" She asked, pointing to said curtain. Immediately, Gowland's face fell into a scowl.
"That's the circus stage." He explained, still scowling. "We had to shut down the animatronic, Joker, in there when he became glitchy. Stay as far away from him as you can. For your own safety."
"But it's shut down right? What's the danger?" Aria asked, getting curious, but when she noticed that Gowland was dead serious, she decided not to push it. "Never mind. So when do I start?"
The manager's expression brightened up, glad to be on a different topic. "You start in about…" he trailed off, glancing at his watch, "40 minutes."
"What?!" She asked, not expecting to start so soon. But then again, the soon she started the sooner she'd get paid…. "Ah… Alright!"
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow morning!" He said as he walked out the door. "Just listen to the recording on the phone and do as it says and you'll be fine! Call me if ya need anything!"
"Bye!" She said, waving. The moment he had left and locked the doors she turned to give the animatronics one last glance before heading back toward the office. As she sat down, getting ready to continue her homework, she thought one thing:
'Well, better get ready for a boring night.'