An absolute. Fucking. Mess.
God your hair was messy. Lazily and groggly you stepped into the shower and carried out your morning routine of cleaning up and recovering from your dreamless sleep. It was probably about four hours, you think you went to bed around 1am. Whatever, brushing your teeth and still not quite understanding how not to get toothpaste foam everywhere, dripping out the sides of your mouth. Finishing up you wiped off your face, shuffled to your comfy little computer desk, and got to work looking for jobs.
Mimi jumped into your lap, the fuzzball. A sweet little black cat you've had for years. Granted to you by a neighbor who found her as a stray when you were about 17. She's about 5 years old so. Gosh yea, It's been a bit huh. Fresh out of college, having quit your previous job out of boredom working at a manufacturing plant creating automated robots to assemble cars in an assembly line. You didn't usually work at the plant. Mostly from home. Writing the code, freshening up the clusterfuck that other programmers made sometimes. Only occasionally you'd be at the plant about twenty miles away.
You lived in a somewhat smaller town. Fuck it, it was tiny. It was boring. It was horrible. You hated it there. You hated the boredom. There was nothing to do. The rain was the only thing you looked forward to while you worked, looking outside your window above your monitor, making sure the window was open and the curtains gave you a clear view of when it rarely was raining. Pretty. The commute you had memorized. The comatose scenery. You were tired of it. Your friends you had here were expendable. You weren't really yourself yet in High School, and that's the only place you made friends that lived in the same town as you. They weren't.. you didn't know how to explain it, but it didn't seem like you were really ever attached to them, nor they to you. Just people that you had fun with here and there in school.. and the person you were in school, wasn't the person you were today. A lot had changed, and you'd like to think in college it would've been different. You never really kept any friends there either though in the few times you did have to actually attend physically instead of virtually.
Something did catch your eye. Off and on, you did hear about the Fazbear Corporation. Rumors usually, bad, good. You took it with a grain of salt. But as of now, jobless with bills piling up and rent due, approaching rapidly, refusing to dig its heels in even the slightest. You needed to do something. And it was interesting.
You were more than qualified. Yea, you were kinda fucked right now, literally quitting your old job out of boredom of all things. It paid well, had good benefits, and you could work from fucking home. Dumbass. It was just so repetitive, and you knew you could do something better. So when falling down the rabbit hole of Fazbear Animatronics, the job listings just appealed to you more and more with each word you scanned over.
Forums were usually ad ridden and hard to navigate, but there weren't any shortages of videos a bit deep down under of the animatronics there at the Plex. Fucking. Fascinating. They were so lifelike. How? Freddy you learned his name was, his voice that was indistinguishable from a loving father figure you never had. Chica, a bit loud and obnoxious, Roxy low and calculating, and Monty, brash and boisterous. All the sneakily held phone cameras in their rough little angles didn't do much for analyzing the anatomy of these robots, but that only piqued your interest even more, naturally.
Shit. It was a couple states away. The plex you mean. God dammit. Your heart fluttered however, the opportunity to pluck apart these fascinating machines and see what made them click. You had all the skills necessary to aswell. Learning about coding in college.. Class structure, hierarchy, data structure, and control flow. You dabbled in many of the languages, but mainly stuck to C++. Shit you were beginning to sound like a nerd. Whatever, you were. Your robotics engineering degree was nothing to laugh at either. Bachelor's degree and all that jazz. You could easily build a robot from scratch, programming it, picking its brain you birthed through your keyboard and wits alone. Shit, you have. Not only the little arm-like robots in the manufacturing line, but computer software and the bodies to match. Sometimes not the bodies, but it was fun to actually see the makeshift roomba you build zoom around your house with an "Ow" anytime it would bump into something.
You would have to move. You didn't have the funds yet. Surely you could get a job and save up with the hope of working at the Plex as your long-term goal. But gosh if it wasn't burning you up inside. You wanted this job. Ugh. Okay, okay.
Sent.
Your application was sent. Your portfolio was expertly crafted by yours truly, and you're absolutely sure that you qualified. Hopefully they wouldn't mind giving you a few months to find some basic contracting jobs to work on. Building up websites, creating antivirus software for companies, programs to organize files and virtual spreadsheets, user interfaces. You had a bit of graphics design in you, knowing a bit of Photoshop and drawing in your free time, I mean, you kinda had to if you were creating blueprints, and gosh did you love drawing the mechanical little robots. You could do this.
"Ow". The robot expressed itself in a monotonous voice as it bounced into the wall and back in the opposite direction. Tea in hand, Mimi on your lap as you sat in the old plump and fuzzy reclining chair you found at a garage sale for a good $119.99. You've been scrolling through articles detailing the Fazbear Corporation and their animatronics. Events, history, incidents. "Over 100 acres of Plex, the Fazbear MegaPlex has broken records for the amount of food courts, indoor attractions, general games, and amount of Arcade Machines inside of their 80's themed walls. Namely the attractions inside the plex include, 'Monty Golf, Fazer Blast, Bonnie Bowling, Roxy Raceway, The Superstar Dayc-"
You were interrupted from your reading under the yellow light of the only lamp in your living room by a generic ringtone and an unknown caller ID. Hesitantly, you picked up, muttering a shaky "Uh, hello" before muting yourself until you're ready to speak again or hang up out of habit.
"Hello!" The excited, maybe too energetic saleswoman sounding voice at the end of the line greeted. "My name is Wendy, I'm calling you regarding your application to the Fazbear PizzaPlex!"
It was literally the next morning. What?
"Would this be Y/N?" She asked, waiting for you to unmute and give your response. "Oh, uh yeah that's me. I wasn't.. really expecting to be contacted so soon." letting out a short mock giggle to ease the tension you couldn't help but imagine was there.
"Oh great! Well, your application went through perfectly and you seem more than qualified for us, however I do have a few questions.. It does seem you're applying from a few states away. Is that a mistake by any chance?"
Ah, yeah of course. You made a fool of yourself, realizing how silly of an idea it was to expect them to hold your application until you could move. "Uhm.. Yea. Yea. I wasn't really expecting to be contacted so soon, and was kinda wondering if it would be okay to wait a few months until I could gather the funds to relocate closer to the Plex... I-If not, that's completely okay! I was- I just. I thought the job was really interesting."
"Oh that's absolutely no problem at all!" She expressed excitedly. "As I said, we've already processed your request and can grant you the funds for a place to get your bearings and transportation plus assistance with the moving to travel there. The apartment will be paid for along with all other expenses for 2 months after you move in, and from that point on, I'm sure the $48.77 an hour will keep ya going until then!"
There was at least five or ten seconds of silence after that before scrambling out of your head from the shock of her offer. "O-Oh! Yea-Yeah, that'd.. that'd be perfect! Uhm, when do I start? I'd need maybe a week or so I guess to.. to get all my things and move out.." You were anxiously patting Mimi as she nuzzled into your tummy. It helped.
"Oh yea, take all the time you need. We'll work out the starting date and all once the contract is signed and everything is set up and in place! Your things will be picked up by movers we've got at the ready and shipped to your new apartment, which should be flown there and be waiting once you land."
What the fuck? Were you dreaming? What was the catch? Shit. You couldn't think.
"Okay, now if you do accept the offer, we would need to do a video interview in which we send you virtual contracts in which you'll need to sign. NDAs, safety forms, all that good stuff. You will be working with animatronics afterall, which I'm sure you can more than handle given that robotic little voice in the background occasionally letting out an 'Ow" here and there~" Oh- and of course not to mention your previous work." She giggles.
Jesus Christ why is it so warm in here. "Uh, yea. Aha, uh, when is the virtual interview?"
It went well. Literally this afternoon. Digging out your old webcam and making sure your hair was cleaned up and cute. You stayed comfy in your oversized T-shirts, but it was enough to look professional you guess. Just basic questions, personality assessment. They sent you the forms via email and holy shit it came to a collective 2GB, which, given text documents, was a fucking lot. There was an autosign at the bottom integrated into the file, so one click away and acting like you read the whole thing while Wendy and another unnamed man occasionally explained in the background the given NDA, safety agreement, whatever, and they were eventually all signed. One by one. Done.
The interview ended with a wave, Wendy repeating that she'd "Cya next Friday!" The movers were coming on Wedndesday, and you moved into the new apartment on Friday. It was Monday. You were starting next Friday. She persuaded you into moving literally ASAP and you just let it happen. Jesus fucking Christ. Your head hit the keyboard opening all kinds of Windows help programs and stuff you didn't bother looking at and closed whenever you'd accidentally open it. You dragged yourself up and over to your bed and fell into it. Picking up the watter bottle on your black, two shelf nightstand next to it, you groggly struggled to heave your head up to take a sip. "Fucking hell I hope Mimi isn't too scared on the flight", you muttered after the drink flushed cooly down your throat.
