The Past, Present, And Future
Chapter one: Years ago
Approximately 35 years ago
Bill inconspicuously made his way to the maintenance room, where an advanced piece of technology was waiting for repairs. The thing had shown signs of glitching. Again.
This was why the restaurant they intended to create was still a distant fantasy.
The place—the building that would ultimately become said restaurant—wasn't too busy; most of the employees had already gone home by this hour. That was good—the lower the chances were of people finding out about that thing, the better.
Once he reached the backstage area, he closed the door, locking it after a moment of hesitation. Then he turned to the table.
On the table lay a humanoid with purple skin.
"Let's see," Bill spoke, approaching it and sitting down. "Frequent blinking, a minor jerking movement in the neck…" He grabbed a desk lamp and placed it next to the animatronic's head.
The animatronic's magenta eyes were looking straight into his.
Bill returned its look with a glare. "Well," he hissed. "I think I found the problem. Seems like the same issue we've had to deal with ten thousand times now: shenanigans." His glare darkened. "Bonnie. You do still remember what's going to happen if you and the others keep 'glitching' all the time, right? In case you forgot, it's called being scrapped."
The animatronic just smiled. She got off the table and onto her feet. Her movements were surprisingly silent.
"They don't seem to suspect anything about your sentience," Bill said, "but if you keep going like this, they will end up throwing you into the incinerator. Glitching animatronics aren't worth shit to them." He sighed. "Look, I know you want to talk to me. I like talking to you all too. But pretending to glitch all the time just so you'll get brought to the maintenance room? That's too risky."
"… I know," Bonnie softly said, glancing to the ground. "We all know…but you're the only one we can talk to."
"And what about Foxy? She rarely ever uses that trick of yours, and yet she talks to me every day."
"Because she's in a completely different area—where almost no one ever goes aside from the engineers."
That was true. No one would notice anyone talking to Foxy, as the place she stayed in was a separate room. One only needed to keep their voice down during a conversation with her. Should the animatronics on the stage suddenly start moving and talking when they weren't supposed to… Well, the consequences of that wouldn't exactly be desirable.
"Look," Bill finally said, "the only time I can talk to you all without any risks is during the night. I just gotta remember to wipe the camera feed. Unfortunately, I can't apply for the nightshift, seeing how I already work all day. Meanwhile, constantly feigning glitches can have some pretty bad consequences in the long run." He paused. "I…don't know where that leaves us. I don't know how to arrange these private conversations without risks."
"What do we do?"
Bill shrugged. "I'll have to find another way to talk to you. I'll do some brainstorming. Until then, please stop glitching. I'm starting to get tired of hearing the janitors brag about how sharp their eyes are."