"Rise up, gather round, rock this place to the ground!"
Blocked by Vinnie, Afton fumed as the squeaky clean girl group he'd put together in order to pull Fazbear's Pizza out of the red and into the black thrash to live music he hadn't chosen down to the last C#.
Oh God, he was ruined, RUINED!
A man who thought the sugary twee of Amy Grant or Debbie Gibson wantonly scandalous compared to class acts like Pat Boone and Johnny Mathis; Afton had convinced Henry that anything with a beat would bring back the highly profitable yet rapidly disappearing teen demographic to their video arcade. The Fazbear Girls were supposed to be their cash cow, selling pizza to whiny toddlers and grubby tweens while luring back their rapidly disappearing big brothers and sisters.
(Oh, and their fathers. Afton was no fool: he saw how they looked at his little flock of chickens: not that he blamed them...)
Only… now, of all the bad timing, the little bitches had chosen to rebel in front of an audience of expensive marketing consultants, potential investors and young families by playing live music instead of lip synching the safe canned pizza-centric tunes he'd commissioned... "Who the hell's paying for all that glitter?" Afton screamed, sure he was going to go into coronary arrest any second now. "It's expensive!"
God, not that teens these days had any taste - they'd flail around to anything so hard their parent's money would fall out of their pockets and into Afton's offshore accounts - Henry's stupid old fashioned animatronics were out of style - why not an all girl band that no parent would object to with Afton openly drooling over their teensy skirts? If Idol groups worked in Japan, they would work in the U.S.!
"Vinnie, shut it down, shut it down!" Afton screamed, face purple. "Disco balls cost MONEY!"
"Burn it up, let's go for broke!"
Why? Why now of all times? All they had to do was what they were told, and they'd get paid (with him pocketing most of what they brought in right under Henry's nose), even as he charged them full price for every last crumb they ate and cheap rainbow punch they drank while on the clock - not to mention their stage costumes!
"Watch the night go up in smoke!"
Which it was… no, wait… William Afton squinted at the audience, anger at having lost control over his brilliant idea fading as the cold mechanics of his brain began clicking like an adding machine: the consultants were whispering to each other, nodding, writing things down.
The potential investors didn't look as bored as they had before the curtain rose.
Well, now, lookie there: the parents weren't dragging their profitable brats out of his and Henry's improvised little dinner theatre. Their brainless teens were actually ENJOYING themselves as Dollface rolled her hips behind the white bass, Wolfie twirling her striped drumsticks overhead before crashing down in a fresh riff.
Well then… to quote Iago, "Put money in thy purse."
Once again, the best character in the boring shitshow known as Othello was right on the mark.
Henry was old fashioned, believing interest in his silly toys would last forever.
Henry was wrong. Now they were in the red.
"Put money in thy purse."
Oh yes, indeed. Let Henry and his dirty fingernails keep his mechanical animals all greasy and smeared with cheap pizza sauce. William had been right: real people were more profitable than a blabbering robot bear with a tinny voice or a one-eyed fox whose upkeep was nothing but a drain.
"Put money in thy purse!"
Oh yes, indeed.
"And now, a song about ice cream parties!" Dolli Mae giggle-shouted into her microphone over the enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Scalp gleaming through his thinning comb-over, William Afton serenely folded his hands over his little pot belly, eyes fixed upon his sweet doll.
God, she was beautiful.
"Don't wanna wait 'till ya know me better!"
This town didn't deserve Dollface.
"Let's just be glad fer th'time together!"
Afton started, pulled out of his thoughts. This song wasn't on the menu— a slow grin spread across his moon face, hooded eyes watching the audience's growing enthusiasm, howeverrrrrrr...
"Life's a treat and it's time ya taste it!" Princess joyfully slammed into the KISS anthem to partying like a singing chainsaw. "There ain't a reason on Earth t'waste it!"
"It ain't a crime to be good to yourSELF-" they exclaimed as one, "Lick it up!"
Lick it up, indeed! Afton smirked, satisfied at having picked out the right song for the right audience.
The music itself was pure shit, but shit could be turned into gold.
And gold?
Well, gold was easily pocketed.
While Afton gloated in the wings over his idea of creating an all girl house-band playing hit songs he'd personally selected coming to glorious life, Henry watched the revolt on Fazbear's Pizzaria's main stage on a closed circuit monitor set up among the tools and animatronic parts on his cluttered workbench, gnawing his already ragged nails bloody, mumbling, "This isn't in the program. This isn't how it was supposed to be!" Blood dribbled down his chin, splatting unheeded upon his greasy sneakers in time to his nervous rocking, "This music is horrible, this isn't how it was supposed to be, we're ruined!" as William, the partner who'd betrayed him, lit a cigarette, gloating over the shining stars he'd personally created.
"Lick it up!" Dollface yelled over the guitar into her new mic, "Lick it up!"
"Lick it up!" Wolfie shouted behind her drums as backup -
"WOO!-" Dolli Mae shouted over Wolfie's second kick drum.
"Lick it up!" Izzy finished, "Lick it up-"
"Oh-oh-oh!
Knee-deep in artificial fog and another blast of confetti, William grinned, a few more nights like this and he could ditch Henry and his stupid animatronics.
"It's only right now!"
Leaving the girls to William and the real reason he'd hired them.
"Don't need t'wait fer an invitation!" Dolli Mae howled, head bobbing in time as the girls on stage choroused behind her, "Lick it up! Lick it up!"
"Ya gotta live like yer on vacation!" Dollface shouted, dancing to the rhythm they'd created together, the aces up their sleeves. She bounded forward, passing William where he lurked in the wings, "It's somethin' sweet you can't buy with money!" she rasp-trilled
William lit a second coffin nail from the smoldering butt of the first, wishing that he could reach out and touch his latest true love in a long line of true loves. He ground the butt out absently underfoot, mind clicking like an adding machine.
"Lick it up! Lick it up!"
Control yourself, William. You aren't finished yet.
"It's all ya need, so believe me honey!" Princess crooned, getting into Dollface's face, Izzy and Dolli Mae backing up with trills of 'Oh oh, oh!'
"All in good time. All in good time." William paused, pale tongue flickering along his bottom lip. This little interaction between the two girls was irresistible. He took a deep drag, releasing a stream of acrid, blue smoke towards the bare rafters overhead, "I am a genius."
"IT AIN'T A CRIME TO BE GOOD TO YOUR-SELF!"
"WOO!"
Time to have a real light and speaker array installed, instead of those cheap fixed party lights… put that stupid kid Vinnie back in the kitchen washing dishes... he knew a guy who ran the lights at some big St. Louis stripper joint… worked cheap, had his own equipment… a tax write-off if he played his cards right… How much was an auditorium in Branson? Yeah, Branson was hillbilly heaven, but not everybody wants to watch some hick in a Nudie suit twanging on a banjo… there was money to be made...
Dollface rattled off a loud bass riff and slammed one platformed foot down hard along with a final scream of, "Lick it up! Lick it up!" arm raised high as teen boys swarmed the stage, younger siblings and parents forgotten in the rush forward.