"Hey, where's Vinnie?"
Dollface had been called to Freddy's along with other employees to help make up for lost time now that there were less people to cover more shifts. William especially said he needed to talk to her, but for the life of her, Dollface couldn't think of why. Had she done something wrong?
Michael's usual anxieties insisted on something much more sinister, considering how on-edge William had become since coming to Elmore.
"None of your damn business!" Maggie snapped at Dollface.
"So, ya don't know either?" Dollface recoiled in her platform boots, worn over blue jeans, scratching her leg and dissatisfied because her acid washed jeans wouldn't let her satiate the itch.
"No! I! don't!" Maggie shouted, voice cracking. Dollface wasn't used to hearing that in Maggie. "Just because he left and went back to California without telling me doesn't mean I know where he went! I'm not his girlfriend! I wouldn't know!"
Maggie shoved Dollface, whipping her glasses off, "And why would I care about some asshole like him!"
Dollface stood in Maggie's wake and batted a fly, watching the angry bleach-blonde storm off towards the bathroom.
"Jeez, what'd I say?"
"That's weird." Dolli Mae muttered from the empty Pirate Cove platform in front of the laser arena. She leaned on the 'Out of Order' sign and batted at a few flies as well. They seemed to be getting worse as of late. There'd been a mild fly problem when the building was dubbed 'Friendly's', as any other restaurant had, but not to this level.
Every restaurant had a fly/bug problem, even grunkle Barney's pride and joy, Daisy's. Hell, when she was still working there, Dollface spent quiet hours swatting at flies in the kitchen.
And then cleaning everything afterwards.
Then restocking condiments.
Condiments always needed restocking.
"Afton said Vinnie was goin' back t'LA an' he'd call, but I haven't gotten a call'r anythang fer almost a week now." Dolli Mae said, then added, "Shoulda known not t'trust a boy from a city like LA."
Dollface furrowed her brow. Strange, he didn't seem like that kind of guy, but there wasn't anything anyone could do now. He was gone.
Dollface didn't need to be here in the restaurant today, but she wanted to help with rehearsals.
Besides, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to be today.
"Okay, let's try that again Dolli." Henry quietly commanded.
Dolli Mae released the sign from her lean, thigh highs looking strange riding over her jeans. She stepped back, allowing the automated curtain to fall around her like stardust. It opened, revealing her standing, one brown boot on a prop treasure chest.
"Ahoy me mateys, and welcome to me ship!" She said proudly, chest puffed out with pure confidence. "Welcome t'me cove, where we find treasure and play games! Tonight we be stealin' the treasure from me friend Freddy, and win tickets fer all!"
After she finished the speech, about three lines later, Henry gave her a small critique.
"I'm glad that you are more comfortable with your lines and the accent, but you're a little fast now. Dollface," Henry looked to her, "Great job on coaching the accent."
Dollface smiled, talent recognized, and watched them restart slower, then moved away, leaving them to their practice session.
"Okay Wolfie, just pop on out when the lid opens."
Wolfie hopped into the blue box at Afton's command, lid closing on its automated hinge.
"And the music box..." He muttered, slapping a button on the prize counter. The tinkling toy box played its merry melody, and the lid opened like a jaw.
Wolfie rose from its gaping depths.
"Have ya been a good kid today?" She said, hitting something that made a lump rise nervously in Dollface's throat. "Why not trade in your tokens?"
Wolfie turned her face side to side, as if looking for somethone, then dove back into the box and grabbed a stuffed bear. "Where's th'birthday boy? I have a present for ya!"
"Wolfie, you're sounding a little dead and condescending." Afton said, then suggested, "Maybe play around with your voice?"
"Yeah, okay."
Dollface smiled and gave a thumbs up, quickly returned by Wolfie.
"Oh! Dollface!" Afton turned, following Wolfie's gaze, "Wonderful to see you!"
"Yeah, wasn;'t expectin' t'be here t'day, but I had an unexpected day off!"
"Oh, I hope you don't mind." William said, eyeing her with a grin, "Henry and I decided you needed more time with… us. Especially since we got you girls booked for a new venue! Isn't that exciting?"
"Yeah, just wished ya'd given a warnin' first." Dollface laughed nervously, "Was kinda… weird, y'know? Anyway, I was thinkin' 'bout havin' a day off soon t'spend some time with family and help around the house. Grampa has another job this weekend out in Clockton he could always use some help with."
"Well, I get excited, y'know." He said. Wolfie watched him, carefully, blue eyes narrowing. "If it weren't for Henry, I'd walk out the door without my head. You understand, right Dollface? And I think it would be best for you girls to stay here late tomorrow. The new set for Branson is going to need a lot of work to pull off, it's our big debut, y'know?"
"Sir, I thought we were workin' on m'routines?"
"Oh, oh yes, sorry Wolfie, I let myself get distracted!" William turned, and said with vigor, "Okay, let's run it one more time!"
Dollface scurried onwards and into the parts and service room.
A place she wasn't allowed to be in, usually, even as an employee. It was Henry and William's domain. It was full of hanging suits, delicate machinery, and dangerous equipment that could injure anyone not paying attention.
A spare Marionette suit made of vinyl and shiny PVC hung from the ceiling next to the shelf of spare suit heads. Curious, she looked inside a random head, then gagged. A spider's nest had been built inside the interlocking grates of springlocks. She set the rabbit head back, avoiding the latex costume of the puppet that hung like dead skin on a finger. She didn't want to hurt the occupants, as nasty as they were.
They might help with the fly problem. Maybe even the roach she'd seen in the kitchen last weekend that crawled under the sink while Foxx was washing dishes.
Well, the part of the week before William loudly fired him for seemingly no reason.
Dollface continued to sneak around the backroom, fascinated by the machines surrounding her.
It may not have been ChuckECheese or The RAE Band, but it sure was amazing!
Then again, neither Aaron Fletcher OR Nolan Bushnell had offered her a position as the next teen idol (According to Afton and the recent magazine photoshoots, as well as recruitment posters, and audio recordings for local radio stations. Not to mention Afton mentioning a potential record deal of original songs if this initial campaign went well… He'd initially called her over to discuss how that could come to fruition before telling the other members of the band.)
The other major difference?
It kinda smelled.
Especially in this room. She absently waved away a fly, finding that this back storage room full of spare suits was much more fragrant than expected, even for Freddy's.
She turned, hearing something like scratching behind her.
A toy dog, one of Henry's toys made for Charlie lay discarded on the floor, and Dollface accidentally kicked it with a boot as she turned. She picked it up, turning it in her pale hands. She set it on the work table, next to an endoskeleton, feeling as dissonant as the forlorn looking robot.
Was that a roach on the wall or was the natural light filtering in from the skylight overhead messing with her black, empty eyes?
She looked at all the activated springlocks in sheer wonder at its mysteries laid bare.
Dollface left the room, feeling unaccountably watched, wanting to find String Bean so she wouldn't be alone.
String Bean was found in the next room, swatting at flies and filling balloons with air in her new Balloon Boy inspired uniform for a couple extra bucks since Afton liked seeing his employees in uniform during non-working hours. She was saving up for Thorne's birthday present. It wasn't that weird, since William and Henry both liked seeing the few male employees left in uniform too.
"Can I help?"
"Eh, 'fraid not kiddo." String Bean lifted a large hand and ruffled Dollface's thick, blonde locks.
"I only have one tank, and even though it would be appreciated for tomorrow's scheduled party…" She trailed off.
Dollface nodded, realizing how tired she was.
Michael had been nagging about getting a vacation sometime soon, even having her over for breakfast to tell her that.
"Dollface! Just the gal I wanted to see!" William caught her by the door, "Look, I asked you to come so we could talk something over."
He waved for her to follow him outside the building, beaming.
"Thank you for joining me out here, Dollface." William took a drag from his cigarette once outside, releasing the smoke serendipitously into the clear, cloudless blue sky. Dollface winced, the cloud a gunky grey against the clear air.
Many people in Elmore smoked, even Old Man Krueger could be found on occasions with a stolen pack of Camels, stinking with his rotting nephew under a bridge or by the remains of Joey Drews.
On an especially good day, he might chase an entire pack with a sundae from Daisy's, usually made by the fry cook instead of Dollface, because the fry cook said it wasn't safe to be alone with him.
Afton took another long drag, addicted to the thing that would kill him and seemingly ignoring Dollface.
After watching him pull a few more puffs, Dollface stifled her annoyance and asked, "What did you need me for?"
"Oh! Yes, you should've said something sooner, dear." Afton chuckled. His beer gut bounced.
Dollface tried to disguise her cringing expression and looked away. She picked at her nails, tempted to peel the black polish off. She'd done her nails the other day in the Liminal, and even got a chance to do Michael's. It was rare for him to sit down and let her, but she'd been happy to do it.
"I would like to give you a raise. What's your price?"
"Well, Izzy would like t'build a new coop, an'Dolli Mae has surgery next summer so she should prol'ly start savin' no-"
"No, you."
"What?"
"How much of a pay increase would you like?" William asked.
Dollface searched her hands, confused.
The confusion clearly showed on her face, enough for William to notice.
"How much more money would you like to receive every week? You've been working the hardest out of everyone, and it's time you get recognized for it."
"Well, um…" Dollface's heart skipped a beat.
Dollface? Dollface, ya have t'leave, somethin' isn't right.
Dollface stepped back against the glass door, "Not sure. I think I should talk t'Mr. Emily about that. I don't feel right earnin' more than m'friends. Hell, even m'sister has been workin' her ass off."
"Well, alright then, Henry and I just wanted t'know that you were appreciated, especially since you lost your old job just to help us out."
"Yeah." Dollface said, turning red at the reminder.
It hadn't been a simple, "Letting Go" but a shameful, "You're Fired".
Which was followed up with disappointed looks from Grampa and glares from Grunkle Barney who'd come back from the lake to visit for the weekend.
In fact, he was sitting outside of Daisy's when she rushed in, thirty minutes late during a lunch rush, and had fired her personally.
In front of customers before she could even clock in.
He'd handed her a final paycheck and told her she was no longer needed.
Asshole. Michael said when she was reminded of that humiliating day.
"How about this? Instead of a raise for you, how about Henry and I paying for little work-related luxuries, like arcade time or-" William's eyebrows rose in boyish excitement, "A pizza party!"
"A what now?" Dollface blurted, not seeing the line of logic. The light behind her eyes shone a little more fiercely.
What does a pay raise have to do with a pizza party or video games?
Dollface slowly pulled away from the man who was now stomping out his cigarette with a clunky dad-shoe.
The kind her grandpa would mow the lawn in.
"C'mon, let's go!" William swung the glass door open, grinning widely as Dollface reflexively winced, "Break's over, Dollie-Girl!"
Dollface's brow furrowed, eyes darting to the cigarette.
That's what I call you.
"How about you get an extra pizza heated up for the set of videos I called everyone here for while I get dressed, 'kay Dollie?" William ruffled Dollface's hair with a large, outstretched hand.
She winced and clenched her fists, Michael's annoyance coloring her grumble, "M'name's not Dollie."
"C'mon, it'll just be a few extra minutes."
Dollface followed behind him, pavement burning through her socks.
She padded onto the cool tiles, burning skin relieved by AC.
"Get an extra pizza- pepperoni, darling, and I'll even help get things running faster. You wanna make this a party?" William winked, marching to the main dining hall past the front counter, "It's only right to get a treat, you're going national! Every location from California to New York will be playing these videos, so we have to get them just right!"
"Great," Dollface said, a knot forming in her stomach.
"Thank you for helping design the new waitress uniforms! Never thought of using that ugly ol' balloon dispenser from Friendly's. Such a good idea!" He batted at a few flies as he babbled.
Dollface peeled away from William, passing the walls covered in rotating pizza and into the kitchen.
The kitchen was empty of all employees now that Duke and Foxx had been fired.
When she'd asked, her bosses didn't have an answer as to why.
Dollface, not happy with that answer, had snuck into the office at Michael's prodding and found the timetable book.
Fewer shifts, more money for the Fazbear Band.
Figures, they were cheapasses.
Dollface passed the metal table and the sink full of dirty dishes William said he'd clean last Friday.
The fact that Grampa, one of the strictest health inspectors in the county had seen the place and not had it shut down was wild to Dollface.
That guy had the only MacDonald's in town shut down three years ago for stale fryer grease!
Dollface looked at the obligatory pizza paddle that had clearly never been used and grabbed the walk-in freezer's handle.
Shit.
Locked.
Who the hell even locked those things?
She turned, swatting at a fly and tapping her socked toes on the tiles.
Maybe check the hook by the paddle?
Dollface turned to the sets of keys hanging on a set of hooks at Michael's prodding.
She giggled, "Silly me!"
She grabbed a set of keys and searched through them.
She stiffened.
I heard something.
Dollface turned, suspicious.
Nothing.
She gritted her teeth, feeling watched as she shoved the key into the walk-in's lock.
Dollface opened the walk-in and shivered as delicious cold air rolled onto her. She stepped on the icy floor of the freezer, skin covering itself in goosebumps.
She twitched, silly enough to think something was behind her.
Dollface then noticed something scuttling from the corner of her eye.
She knelt to inspect what appeared to be an ice spike that had been there longer than Friendly's had. What had caught her attention, however, had been a cockroach. The roach had scurried too quickly for her to catch and kill it.
She poked the spike, then scratched at it's speckled base, disgusted.
Luckily, everything was either sealed in a box or in a can of some kind.
Someone is with us.
Dollface's head flicked up.
She shivered.
Someone was.
Glaring, she stood and grabbed whatever pizza within reach and turned. She absently pulled on her blue and brown dress hem. She noticed now that it was a bit shorter than she remembered.
That was fine, she liked her skirts on the shorter side anyway.
She tiptoed out of the freezer, slamming her back into the door just to get it closed. The door was sticky and didn't quite fit, much like the one at Daisy's had been.
She flipped the oven onto standby and set the pizza inside.
Dollface sat back onto the metal table and sighed, swinging her legs.
Things had been weird since the first photoshoot. William seemed to put more compliments and nicknames into conversations with the girls, especially with Dollface.
Even when she complained.
And again, with random employees just up and…
Leaving.
She felt something loom over her.
A paw grabbed her shoulder.
In an explosion of speed, Dollface jumped to the pizza paddle and armed herself. She swung it, slamming the wooden paddle into the torso of a furry yellow rabbit.
"OOF!" It stumbled and fell against the metal table, loudly rattling unused pots and pans in its wake.
"What th'hell Dollface!"
Dollface stepped back, paddle lowering as the suit head was pulled off.
Wolfie glared at her, "It's me, ya dumb whore!"
"Sorry, jeez, ya scared me!" Dollface snarled.
"Ugh, you suck! You're lucky I made sure t'wind th'locks extra tight this time, too." Wolfie stumbled to her feet. "How much longer?"
"Not much." Dollface said, checking the oven.
"C'mon, let's go back t'party room. William says he has an announcement 'r whatever."
Dollface dropped the paddle with a clang onto the table, still pissed.
She followed the waddling Wolfie into the dining hall and sat in her usual place.
Dollface looked up at the stage, missing Friendly's Band.
"Everyone!" William clapped his hands, "I have a great announcement!"
Henry joined him by the stage, smiling like he always quietly did. He had that kind of eyes, the ones that laughed.
"Everyone is getting another pay raise!"
"Really?" Izzy jumped to her feet, "This is th'third one already!"
Henry nodded, messing with his hands.
"That's not all!" William said, causing the girls to hush themselves, "After our big Branson performance, we'll be hosting a lock-in just for you girls, right here!"
"Wait-" Henry was silenced by William.
"A payraise AND a party?" Dolli Mae squealed, "Right after our- Wait, are we goin' t'Branson?"
"We are. You're officially famous." Henry smiled proudly.
Michael told Dollface not to trust that smile.
"Of course, we'll need parental consent, but how does spending a night at Freddy's sound? You can eat whatever's in the kitchen and bring board games, arcade tokens, anything you'd want for the perfect night in!"
Izzy raised her hand.
"Yes, Chica?" William winked.
"Will there be any supervision?"
"No one but you, security cameras, and the animatronics to keep you company! Oh, and Mike, of course." William glanced at where Mike dozed in the corner, an almost unseen trace of venom hidden in his peek.
"Really?!" Princess blurted, completely taken by surprise, "Are you for real?!"
"Yes! Completely!" William laughed.
"Not even Mike or Jeremy on the night shift?" Wolfie said, nearly jumping from the costume she was currently attempting to get out of without activating.
"Why should we? The robots won't walk away!"
"Oh m'God., we're gettin' paid…" Izzy quickly counted in her head, "Over twelve dollars now! That's adult wages!"
"Wrong!" William clapped, "Fifteen even an hour!"
"William we didn't agree on tha-" Henry was loudly interrupted by Dolli Mae.
"Oh m'fuckin'God!" Dolli Mae exclaimed, "We'll be rich by August!"
"Watch your mouth, bumpkin!" Regina snapped, "What are we? A whore house?"
"With you here, yeah!" Dollface snapped, the need to one up her sister stronger than her cautious conversation with Michael.
"Well I never!" Regina lunged at Dollface.
He looked at Dollface and winked, then turned to Henry, "We'll figure out the details later, go print some waivers."