Chapter 4: Boundaries
When Marlene wakes up, her face feels crusty and gross from the tears. She gets up and makes her way to the bathroom, locking eyes with her reflection in the mirror. To be blunt, Marlene looks as rough as she feels. Marlene's eyes are puffy and red from rubbing them too hard. Her typically dirty blonde bangs take on a nearly brown appearance as they stick to her sweaty forehead in clumped strands.
Pulling the faucet lever up, Marlene wets a towel and gently cleans her face. She winces as the cool cloth makes contact but relaxes into the sensation. Once Marlene deems her face acceptable, she pats it dry. Marlene then opens her drawer full of hair accessories, brushes, and combs. It had been too long since she had organized it last so she had to dig around before finally pulling out a headband which she slipped on. Glancing once more at the mirror, she smiled and finger guns her reflection.
The frustration and sadness hadn't fully disappeared but her lips no longer wobbled and Marlene was pretty sure she wasn't going to burst into tears the next time she made eye contact with anyone.
'Progress is progress,' she thinks to herself as she takes a deep breath, 'Now to find Sun.'
Taking long strides so she couldn't chicken out, Marlene seeks out the jester - a task not terribly hard to do since they lived together.
Marlene first checks the kitchen, a decision admittedly guided by her stomach. 'What time was it?' Marlene wonders, glancing at her phone which reads 6:00 P.M.
When she looked up, food went to the sidelines again.
A stack of plain papers sat on the round table accompanied by crayons and markers. Marlene walks over to the table, gently touching the box of crayons. The box was old and Marlene knew that all of the crayons except the white one inside were either broken or worn down. Perhaps it was time to get a new box.
These certainly hadn't been out earlier. Sun must have set them out.
At the sound of bells behind her, Marlene turns to see the robot holding a fuzzy blanket.
"Hello." Sun greets, lingering at the entrance. He fidgets, swaying in place. The chiming of the bells hanging off echoes in the background, albeit a bit muffled by the blanket.
"Hey, Sun." Marlene waves him over as she takes a seat at the table. "Why don't you take a seat?"
The brightly colored animatronic nods and rushes into the room like a gust of wind, trying to wrap the blanket around her shoulders. Except he misses a little, the top of the blanket landing on her head instead of her shoulders. The fuzz hits her face and tickles her nose.
Sun's hands rush to pull the blanket back and Marlene's hair frizzes up, some loose strands floating up. As Sun goes to smooth it back down they both get a static shock. The robot yelps, startled.
Meanwhile, Marlene could only laugh at the dumbfounded robot. Had he meant to comfort her? It sure seemed like it. How long had it been since she had someone to look after her in such a way?
The robot joins in, though his laugh sounded very different from hers. Her laugh was quiet but sounded more like a wheeze. It wasn't a laugh she was particularly proud of. When he laughed, it was loud and without restraint. Marlene was pleasantly surprised by how nice his laugh sounded. Coming from Fazbear Entertainment, she simply assumed his laugh - if he could laugh - would sound fake.
As the laughter dies down, Marlene curls the edges of the blanket around her hands, adjusting the fabric to fit better around her shoulders. "You didn't have to do all this," She said, still smiling as she gestures to the drawing supplies, "but thank you for doing it anyway. This is nice."
"You really think so!?" Sun asks, his head giving a little spin, "I hoped you would. I… I didn't mean to upset you."
Marlene fumbles with her words for a moment, lowering her gaze. "It wasn't your fault, not really. I was upset before you came in…" Marlene finally says, rubbing her thumb against the blanket to soothe her nerves, "For uh… future reference though, please don't barge into my room like that anymore."
"But I ran out of stuff to do. What should I do then?"
"You don't have to do anything." Marlene furrows her brows, unsure as to why the animatronic did the things he did. "You're not my maid, Sun. You're my roommate. Sure, it's good that you keep the space clean, but you don't need to worry too much about it. That's a job for both of us."
"But there must be something that needs to get done!" Sun insists, shifting forward in his seat. He seemed antsy, unable to remain still. Marlene had a feeling that this obsession of his was deeply rooted in his programming - not something she could easily solve.
"Sun, why do you feel like you need to take on so much?"
Sun paused, scratching his face as though he never really put too much thought into it before. Then again, perhaps he never had a reason to.
"At the daycare, there was always a person to tend to," Sun replies, moving to fidget with one of his orange spikes, "Then afterward, there was always something I could clean. Glue stuck in the carpet, stickers on the wall… You name it, I've probably had to clean it. I guess… I guess I'm not used to having so much free time."
The puzzle pieces click together. Marlene felt a little silly for not thinking before about how the environment change would affect the robot. Sure, he was smart but if all he knew was the busy chaos, how would Sun know what to do during the slow, peaceful hours?
"Okay, I think I get it." Marlene smiles as she leans forward a little, grabbing the robot's attention. "Normally, when humans have downtime, we practice our hobbies. Maybe we can find something you enjoy doing in your free time."
"That sounds like fun!" Sun agrees before putting his finger to his lip in thought, "But where to start?"
Marlene tugs a piece of paper off the pile on the table and begins opening the crayons. "Well, why not start with drawing?"
She slips a broken blue crayon and begins. Marlene wasn't the best of artists, but drawing with crayons brought back good memories and she finds herself smiling as she works. The drawing itself wasn't cohesive. In one corner there was a drawing of a cartoon character while in another was a flower. Some of her drawings were just swirls, Marlene simply enjoying the feeling of the crayon moving on the paper.
When she glances up, Marlene notices that Sun had yet to draw on his piece of paper. He seemed ready, with a pink marker in hand, but he just hovered above the page idly. She could hear his fans kick in, like a computer on the verge of overheating, and Marlene began to worry.
"Sun? Is something wrong?"
"Huh? No, I just…" Sun scratches the top of his head with his free hand, "I don't know what to draw."
Marlene lets out a relieved sigh, thankful it wasn't anything serious. "Well, take your time. There's no rush, after all. We have all the time in the world."
Sun nods, his fans seeming to slow down a little before falling quiet again and focusing back on the paper once more. Satisfied, Marlene continues to doodle idly on her paper. She could have sworn hearing Sun muttering something about glitter glue and Marlene makes a mental note to grab some the next time she was out.
Her stomach grumbles and Marlene stands up and takes some strides to the pantry, plucking out a box of mac and cheese. The water had just begun to boil when Sun tapped her on the shoulder. She pours the noodles in and glances back to Sun, who proudly held up a picture.
It was a picture of the both of them if she had to guess. Sun was easy to tell in the picture, with the spikes poking from his character's head. On the other half was a character with yellow hair and blue eyes, who she could only assume was herself judging by the "New Friend! :D" labeled by the character. The lines were messy, reminding her of her art from kindergarten, but Marlene finds herself grinning at the robot's artwork.
"Wow! That's a really great picture, Sun!" Marlene praises as she stirs the noodles. A few noodles got stuck to the bottom and she used the wooden spoon in her hand to chisel them off. "I think that one is fridge-worthy."
The robot gives her a quick nod before rushing over to put his drawing on the fridge. Marlene turns the timer on before turning to Sun, who was bouncing a little in place.
"About the whole room thing," Marlene says, feeling a little bad when the robot flinches a little, "would it help if I put up a dry erase board outside of my room? I could write 'busy' on it when I don't want to be disturbed."
"Yes! I would appreciate that very much." The robot nods before walking over to watch the boiling water with mild curiosity.
"Okay, I'll grab one the next time I go shopping."
They then fell into a pattern. Sun would chatter about jokes he had heard or stories from his time in the daycare while Marlene listened. Sometimes, she would respond to the enthusiastic robot with a "yeah," or a "really?" to encourage him to go on.
When she had her fill of dinner, Marlene suddenly felt a bit sleepy again and bid Sun, who had taken to drawing more at the table again, goodnight.
Marlene slipped on some fuzzy pants with spaceships on them and a large black t-shirt before pulling the bedsheets open. Walking over to the light switch, she flicks off the lights and walks back to the bed, narrowly avoiding stubbing her toe on the table next to it.
As Marlene lays on her side, slowly drifting off, she thinks about the day. It started rough, but the end left her feeling warm and fuzzy. Knowing the jester was responsible, Marlene smiles.
It wasn't so bad having a roommate.