Chapter Eleven
What Is Happening?
Sun played with Bonnie again, humming to himself.
Footsteps.
Sun perked up and then bristled and brought his knees up so he could hide behind them.
The poster door opened.
Briana walked in, hands behind her back and head up. John's partner followed, neutral save for the slight upturn of the corner of his lips.
"Eyes up," she snapped.
Sun flinched and raised his head so he could look her in the eyes. He could feel Moon's irritation born of surprise.
"Now, I saw what you did with those kids. You kept them entertained and out of trouble. However, the first thing you did–outside of saying hello–was lift Sam up in the air enough to let him touch the ceiling. Then you just set him on your shoulders and paid attention to the other boy."
"Felix," Sun blurted out and then flinched.
"Do not interrupt me. Yes, fine, Felix. Well, he could have fallen and gotten seriously injured from that height. Then, as expected, Moon scared the little girl. Mary. I told John that Moon was scary, but he wouldn't listen to me. Now, you've shown competence in all the lessons you have been taught. However, your highly irresponsible behavior could have given Sam some serious injury. Were that to happen to a random child, we'd get sued. If that happened to Sam… eh, well, John signed a contract. Anyway, don't put a child in danger."
"He wasn't in danger!" Sun countered, his voice reaching a shrill note before leveling out again. "He was having fun and I was holding onto him. I would never let him fall. And Moon was trying his best. Mary is just a really shy girl. It took her a while to warm up to me, too. Not a lot of kids like the dark."
Briana tapped her foot. "Mhm. Still irresponsible behavior. I will have none of that out of you. Picking up children is fine. Sometimes it's necessary. But don't put them in a position where they could get hurt."
"But he wasn't! Sam was perfectly–"
Sun cut himself off with a squeak.
He didn't immediately resume speaking. Instead, he stared at her, hands still slightly above his legs. Moon's irritation wavered, but then burned stronger.
John's partner stared at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"Don't talk back to me," she crossed.
Sun scrambled to find his voice but failed.
"Let me talk to her!" Moon spat.
Briana smiled just a little. "Sun, you know the rules. I made sure you did. Moon knows them, too. Don't interrupt me. Don't talk back. And especially don't harm a staff member or a child. If I can't trust you to not hurt a child, I can't trust you to become the Daycare Attendant. If I can't trust you to become the Daycare Attendant, you're useless. Less than useless, in fact."
Sun squeaked out, "B-but we weren't–"
She cocked her head a little. "Are you talking back to me?"
Sun shook his head quickly enough to cause his neck to squeak.
"Good. I know what John said. But frankly, his words are to be taken as advice. If you are not functioning correctly, we can have you scrapped and remade. If I break you, they'll just remake you. Perhaps we could salvage some of you. But you wouldn't know that. You would just be created again. And then we could start over and see if you decide to be good. Do you understand that, bot? You are replaceable."
"Y-yes," Sun choked out.
"Good." She cleared her throat and straightened herself out again. "Now! Back to business. Answer my questions quickly, clearly, and correctly. None of that refusing to answer. Understand?"
It's not refusal! "Yes."
"Two children enter the play place. One is blind and the other is mute. The blind one is shy and the mute one is scared of you but acts tough and tries to lash out. What should you do to make them as happy as possible and fit in with the other children?"
Sun tried valiantly, but he still stumbled over himself. After the third shock in total, he barely strung enough thoughts together to speak.
Briana rolled her eyes. "John can't blame me for breaking you if he greenlighted a stubborn, stupid mess to begin with." She took out her flashlight. "Cut the light!"
The light turned off.
Moon relaxed out of Sun's stiff twitchiness. It set its blue and white hands on its lap and straightened its back and stared her in the eyes.
Briana stated, "You're still nightmare-inducing, you know."
"I am aware."
"You're on thin ice. If it wasn't for the fact John would drag his feet in fixing Sun, I'd have you scrapped. But I decided to keep you here because I believe keeping a bot in a specialized role is easier than a general one. Don't make me believe otherwise."
"I do not doubt my actions and responses will not change your mind," Moon stated. "You wish to bully and threaten us. That is all. I do not fear you."
Moon kept itself as still as possible in response to the expected shock.
"I said nothing wrong," Moon pointed out. "I am not interrupting you nor talking back. You are not following your own rules, Briana. That is not good."
Briana scoffed. "You absolutely were. Now, a child has insomnia. The parents themselves have told the staff that he has inconsistent sleeping patterns and does not fall asleep nor wake up easily. He is tired of trying to fall asleep and thus does not try this time. What will you do?"
Briana went through a few scenarios and then brought up material from very early sessions including medical responses and different lullabies. Moon answered each question quickly, clearly, and correctly without faltering.
By the end of her testing, Briana glared at Moon. She shut her eyes and called, "Turn on the lights."
Moon turned into Sun.
She stated, "If you put any more children in danger, you're scrap, do you understand?"
"Y-yes."
"You'll resume testing tomorrow." She turned on her heel and marched out.
Dennis threw an apologetic look back at them before following.
"She is out of line."
Sun whined and set his head on his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs.
"Sun, she will not be here forever. You are doing very well."
"I'm messing up too much," Sun mumbled. "I did put Sam in danger, didn't I?"
"You absolutely did not! She is gaslighting you into believing you did something wrong. You were perfect, Sunny. She is a terrible person."
Sun whined but didn't reply.
"Sun, do you believe I am scary?"
"No!" Sun burst out. He went on in code, You're not scary, Moony. You're wonderful.
"She claimed I was."
She's a meanie.
"Exactly. She lies about me. She is lying about you."
Sun shook his head. She's gonna be here forever.
"She will not."
How do you know?
"Because we will not be. Sunny, they are testing us. John trusted us to watch his children. They are preparing to finally put us to work. When we are put to work, we will no longer need testing. We will no longer be tested by her."
Sun sighed and whimpered. We're scrap.
"We are not."
She doesn't like us! I'm not learning fast enough. I'm not doing well. She doesn't like you. We're just gonna be here forever!
Sun could barely keep from wailing the words.
"Hey, Sunny?"
What?
"What do you call a bear with no fur?"
"Not in the mood," Sun grumbled.
"A bare… bear…"
Sun shook his head. "Not in the mood, Moon."
The next day, Dennis came back with three new children. He introduced them to Elizabeth, Raven, and Tom. While Elizabeth and Raven were friends, Tom didn't know either of the girls. While Elizabeth and Raven were excited and extroverted, Tom tended to stay to himself, mostly. He did as Sun said and would creep into the games they played together. While Elizabeth and Raven played, Sun tried to get Tom to do so as well. Tom barely responded at first, but eventually warmed up enough to play a game of catch with Sun.
Sun, when they first approached, sat in his spot. He put every bit of willpower into not hiding. At first, he did not want to meet the children at all. What if he put one of them in danger? However, when Elizabeth immediately ran up to him and greeted him and asked to be picked up, he could not refuse.
When nap time came around, any progress Sun had with Tom was reset with Moon, for the most part. After realizing that Sun and Moon were brothers, at least as they said, Tom allowed Moon near him. After naptime was over, he even approached Moon. Elizabeth, meanwhile, was a little harder. It wasn't as if she disliked Moon, but she disliked the notion of going to sleep when she could be doing something much more fun. Moon put a little more effort into helping put her to sleep than it had with either of his other kids or even Sam.
Sun hid upon hearing Briana's clacking heels.
The poster door opened.
"Eyes up. Please."
Sun raised his eyes and cocked his head. Briana stood with her hands at her side and a wide smile on her features. John stood very close beside her, hands behind his back and his sharp gaze on the back of her head.
Briana went on, "As you know, you only have a few more days left. How long you have will be determined by your behavior and if I… if we believe your abilities match our requirements."
Sun could feel Moon's absolute, unmatched glee.
Moon? What's happening?
"She overstepped her boundaries last time she was here. John was not just suggesting she stop hurting us."
Briana's smile wavered, but she kept her light tone. "Are you even listening to me?"
Sun nodded.
"Good. I will be testing you over previous material. You watched another three children yesterday." She chuckled through gritted teeth. "My son really seems to like you. Considering you have watched six children so far of various ages and you have been doing well in your learning and examinations recently, we are considering your place as the Daycare Attendant. You still have to do very well, and you cannot mess up. We have enough complaints and distrust around young children as is. If you mar Fazbear Entertainment's name, I will–"
She cleared her throat. "You will need to be checked and possibly refreshed on training. Do you understand?"
Sun nodded.
"Good. Now. The daycare is closed, but there are still two children. They are nervous without their parents and with the whole place being closed. What do you do?"
Sun answered her hypothetical questions quickly and, as time went on, more easily. He would glance at John on occasion, who smiled and nodded at each answer and occasionally gave him the thumbs up.
Then, Briana took a few seconds too long to react after Sun answered her last question.
"Briana?" John prompted. "Sun answered everything you wanted him to."
Briana gritted her teeth and stated with a fake cheer that caused Sun to shutter, "I am aware of that! He did very well." She took out her flashlight. "Cut the light."
The light turned off.
Moon didn't even need to relax from the usually curled-up position Sun would be in by the end of Briana's testing.
Briana stated, "Hello, Moon. You have a young child who wishes to read with you. But she has a speech impediment, and it is making it difficult for her to read out loud. The other children will get very impatient if you allow her to read out loud. What would you do in this situation?"
Briana listed off a few more situations she had not quizzed him over before and then a few picked at random from various lessons they already completed.
Moon answered quickly, clearly, and quickly.
Briana's smile dimmed severely by the end of her test questions. She caught herself and immediately grinned again. "Very good. You are correct, Moon."
Moon barely put down a laugh. Normally, it would reprimand someone for feeling the way it was feeling right now, but it frankly did not care.
"That is the end of today's testing. Next testing session, John will be joining us again. John will be checking on you regularly to be sure no repairs are needed. If they are needed, then he will be sure they are done." She turned to the aforementioned mechanic.
"I will," John answered. "Moon, Sun. Children can be a little destructive and very messy. There is every possibility you will get anything from applesauce to gum to vomit on you. Anything you cannot immediately clean yourself will be fixed by staff at the end of the day. You will be routinely checked by maintenance as well. For now, I will check to be sure you are functioning properly. Later I will apply an update. That will take a little while and you will be asleep for longer. But don't be afraid. Nothing is wrong. Okay?"
Moon nodded. "Yes, we understand."
"Good." John walked around behind it. "Face forward, please."
Moon faced Briana with glittering blue eyes. Briana smiled back at it. If it didn't know better, the bot might consider her to be in some sort of pain.
Moon shut down.