Chapter 10:
Coping Mechanism
It was quiet, utterly quiet.
Not really though, for Sun could still hear the daycare theme song repetitively looping in the background. Having listened to the tedious melody for such a long time, his sound processing system had automatically filtered the sound as it considered the unholy noise as an "unnecessary background ambience" to save up data to optimize other systems. He didn't know when that happened as it occurred without his acknowledgement. Perhaps, it was his mainframe trying to adapt itself to the surroundings. Yet, for some reason, he thought he ought to be the one having total control over the system instead of letting it do the job without his consent.
Odd.
Maybe, it was Moon who did it? The guy was literally the mirrored version of him – dark and mysterious, sometimes even deadly and dangerous. Whenever Moon took his place, he felt as if all of his sense of the environment ceased the function; he felt as if he had no longer belonged to the material world. In that moment of being taken over, his mind went blank, for he could only see pitch darkness and hear the sound of absolute nothingness. Occasionally, if he tried hard enough to rise and regain control, he would be able to see flashing images being produced by the Moon's perspective showing the children's being petrified by his terrifying presence and the faint and distorted sound of their desperate screams calling out to their parents. It was something rather unpleasant to behold.
It was quiet, utterly quiet.
No children arrived yesterday, he was confused at first until the security guard informed him that the building was closed for that day. Talking about yesterday, he was also informed that there had been a breach in the security, that the entire place had gone on a rampage and utter chaos thanks to a kid called Gregory. The name might not sound familiar, but it reminded him of a child whom he had encountered on that same night when the breach happened. At first, he found it unusual for a child to appear in the daycare after midnight, he instinctively concluded that the boy was going to have a slumber party. And since it was the first time he had had one, he couldn't help but feel excited and hyped for many activities he and the boy could do during that time.
Well, the party would have gone well had it not been for the boy's stubbornness. The Gregory boy kept making him distracted by intentionally knocking down cake towers every time he tried to keep the little guy in one spot. As much as he hated letting the playground turn into a warzone, he tried to hold his boiling sensation back and clean up the mess in endurance. But everything had its limit, having cleaned mess after mess, he began feeling the Moon's presence slowly rose up, barely trying to curse in utter irritation. Oh, he wouldn't want to let Moon take his place when he was having a slumber party. Was it even a slumber party? Even himself wasn't sure. But there was something he was definitely sure of: the boy was clearly pissing him off.
Just when he thought the "cleaning activity" was done for, the boy decided to be an absolute jerk as he straightforwardly stepped into the off-limit area. He tried to lure him out, only to be retorted back when the boy did something to turn off the lights. Well, things happened after that. Fortunately, the boy managed to turn the lights back on, but that wasn't worth a speck of an excuse to not kick the boy out of the daycare, banning him from ever returning. The boy didn't return, which was expected. What he didn't expect was hearing Freddy go missing later that night.
Just… What had been going on?
It was quiet, utterly quiet.
No children arrived today, and he hadn't been informed as to why. So, he just sat there silently, waiting for someone to come and give him an explanation.
"Welp, looks like today you're making friends with yourself again.", Sun joked to himself. "Nobody has come yet, so… let's do something to kill the time!"
He then stood up, head spinning around to look for something to distract himself from the mind-numbing boredom. He gazed to the left, there were chairs perfectly arranged around the round tables, next to them was a medium-sized colourful empty dollhouse and a kitchen area with appliances put in their respective places. He gazed to the right, there were flawlessly aligned cake towers firmly stood as still as pillars, besides them was a giant ball pit with balls that came in all kinds of colours and a huge fortress playground with slides that came in all kinds of shapes and lengths. With so many options and activities, he didn't know where to even start.
He could roleplay cooking in the kitchen or hanging out in the dollhouse with his imaginary puppet friends. Or, he could try to build the tallest cake tower ever using all the carton boxes and see how high it could get. Or, he could go on an expedition inside the fortress and enjoy the fun slides. Or, he could swim in the ball pit and submerge down to the bottom in relaxation.
"Let's go and play in the kitchen, we will make some omelettes!", said a voice, it came from his left hand, which was actually a hand puppet that seemingly resembled him with its orange and tan exteriors.
"Good idea Sunny!", agreed Sun excitedly.
"I say we stack cake towers and see who can build the tallest one!", argued another voice, it came from his right hand, which was actually a hand puppet that seemingly resembled Moon with its silver and marine blue exteriors.
"Fantastic idea Moon Moon!", exclaimed Sun enthusiastically.
The two puppets turned their eyes locked at each other, both giving an intimidating glare to the other sides
"Uh-oh! Looks like the two of you have come up with ideas that I couldn't even decide which is better! Both activities sounded so fun and stimulating!"
"What do we do, then?", asked Sunny the hand puppet. "We can't do both things together at the same time, right?"
"Yeah, yeah!", nodded Moon Moon the hand puppet intensely. "It's either him or me. And I know you would pick me because I'm your best friend!"
"Not so fast, Moon Moon!", snapped Sunny. "It is clear to both of us that Sun likes me more! Why? Because I literally look like him that is!"
"Guys, guys! Calm down, both of you!", intervened Sun. "You all know that I do not favour any of you and that I treat you guys the same as any children."
"Well, that sounds relieving.", remarked Moon Moon. "But still, you have got to make a decision."
Sun hummed playfully while thinking of an idea to resolve his imaginary friends' quarrel. It was then he gasped in enlightenment. "Oh! I have an idea!"
"What is it?", asked Sunny.
"Let us decide with rock paper scissors!"
There was silence for a few moments before one decided to break it.
"How are we supposed to play that? We don't have any hands!", reasoned Moon Moon.
"He's right!", added Sunny. "Can we play something else?"
"Oh well, I guess we only have one final option left.", mused Sun, then he loudly exclaimed. "Fight!"
Without hesitation, the two puppets start crashing and slashing each other as if their lives depended on it. Sun mimicked the wince made by the puppets while clashing them forcefully until he felt his arms begin to heat up from the excessive movement. It was then he made a sound similar to that of an explosion before letting his metallic body fall onto the cushioned floor. In the end, he still didn't know where to even begin. Perhaps, he was too fatigued. But robots don't get tired, right? Perhaps, he was too low on spirit, which explained why he didn't feel like doing anything at the moment. But wasn't he programmed to be a joyful and enthusiastic animatronic whose task was to play and take care of the children?
Sun sighed. Right now, his sense of the flowing time seemed to stop. He felt as if time had stopped, for time only made sense when there were changes in the world, like a sound or a movement perhaps. He lied there, waiting for something to happen, waiting for someone to come. He felt so lonely.
It was quiet, utterly quiet.
"Where is… everybody?", he pondered in whispers.
Within the Daycare section, he was the only beating circuit, the only being with self-awareness and a sense of the environment. The walls around him used to deliver a heart-warming sensation of being at home, yet now it was like an unfamiliar maze to him. The light fell on the words that spoke to nobody, unaware that their audience had vanished. It was as if an invisible entity had stopped time, removed all the distractions so he could see it for real, see how it really was, what it really was. And at that moment, all he wished for was another individual in this deserted daycare, capable of listening and talking, one more pair of boots to walk next to his, albeit a robot or something not human.
After what seemed to be an eternity, a knock on the door was heard. He guessed it was the security guard who was going to inform him why nobody came today, but he didn't expect the person to have a robotic voice.
"Um… Sun?", the voice called out, it sounded feminine. "Are you there?"
Sun blinked. "I… Y-Yes. May I ask who is this?"
The voice took a few seconds before replying to him. "It's Chica."
Chica? Glamrock Chica? What is she doing here? He wondered. "O-Oh… Is there something I can help with?"
"I just wanted to talk.", she replied. "Is that okay?"
Companion came. Damn, never before had he felt this desperate for a companion. He needed some fun, someone to play with. At first, he thought that an unspoken wish was no different than a daydreaming desire, that it was just an ordinary thought about the world. But oh, how wrong he was, for the invisible entity had actually granted that wish of his: companion came. He wondered whether he should be thankful or not, as he questioned the probability of this unbelievable happenstance. Nonetheless, he decided not to probe further and proceed to embrace the accepted gift.
It was boring, dead boring.
Boredom expanded like nothing as if one could reach out into the world and the hand would return empty. It was a painful disconnect, a stalling of passions that needed their time on the outside. It was that invitation for the brain to play, to let the self soak into a moment and see the richness in the minute subtlety life offered. So, Chica let it in, allowing her thoughts to float without direction, and soon enough they would find paths to run down, new paths rather than the same old worries that could play over and over each day. That was when ideas came... and that was when boredom ended.
But it never ended.
Apparently, the company might have been a bit too prideful and overconfident when they claimed to only need a day to get everything patched up. Well, guess what? Freddy was still missing, and they hadn't come up with a plan yet. Oh, how much she wanted to laugh at them, but she couldn't, for the company was her only chance to have her friend returned to the building. Though she feared that the bear wouldn't be the same before after being brought back. Who knew what he had seen and experienced in the outside world? These factors could cause an animatronic's stress level to exceed past the limit, and she dared not to witness her friend being in that uncanny state of emotional distress.
When that happened, either the company would attempt to completely wipe out the bear's memory database, or… just straight up scrapped him for good.
Anyhow, since one day wasn't enough, the company decided to close the building for an entire week, which she and her friends still have six days left until reopening. Well, six days wasn't short, but not really long either compared to how she had never had a day off. But did robots really need a day off in the first place, anyway? As Parts and Services had said, robots, unlike humans, don't get tired. They were right, but partially: she did get tired, not physically, but rather mentally. Having fed up with the tiresome screams of the children, the distant chattering from nearby groups of people as well as the repeating songs they had been performing from weeks to weeks, becoming mentally tired was something she didn't surprise.
It was boring, dead boring.
She had been separating herself from the world behind the pink curtains for more than an hour straight or so doing nothing but tediously munching the pizza slices bit by bit. Sometimes, it took her roughly twenty minutes in order to fully eat a single slice. She cared not if they caused her inner components to malfunction as long as they satisfied her desires. Meanwhile, they also prevented her from doing any work so that she could stay behind for maintenance – sounding like a win-win to her. Though, something told her that if she kept on doing this, Parts and Services would reprogram her entire coding to fully annihilate those gluttonous cravings of her sooner or later.
As if that would do any help in encouraging her to stop munching those delicious pizza slices…
After what seemed to be another thirty minutes, another slice was chomped, and so was her sinful desires. But then, it was still eight in the morning, which there was still sixteen hours left until the beginning of another day. Never had she felt this bored when time seemed to stop pacing forward, even the pizzas had no longer pleased her appeals. Everything became so meaningless, the world ceased to make sense. All she need was something or someone to distract her from these tedious and wearisome moments. It was when an idea popped up from her mainframe.
Chica stood up, there was a faint fabric-on-fabric rubbing sound as she reached out for the light switch; then the faintest snap as the switch changed poles. The fluorescent fixtures buzzed momentarily as the lights flittered on as the lamps hung the ceiling flashed into life, sending the shadows all astray, overwhelming the smothering darkness within a billionth of a second. Her eyes narrowed upon the sudden changes, just like a human would react whenever the lights were turned on after being in the dark's embrace for too long. Then, she proceeded to lie down in the middle of the room, eyes staring at the fluorescent lamps above.
Just that.
Just like what a Freddy Fazbear would do in a situation such as this.
"Um… What are you doing, Freddy?"
"O-Oh! Apologies if I looked awkward to you. As you can see, I am lying down on the floor while staring at the fluorescent lamps above."
"Sure, I can see that. But why, though?"
"I do not know why nor how, but the humming sound of the lamps sounded oddly relaxing to me... Would you like to join? Perhaps, we can-"
Chica immediately rose up, she couldn't… she just couldn't. What was she even thinking? She wasn't even the bear himself, she wasn't Freddy, she was Chica, for Fazbear's sake. Of course, it wasn't going to work. The outcome was expectable. Then why did she do it anyway? Why?
"Freddy… just… where are you?"
Mourning as much as she ever could, for robots cannot and can never be able to drop a single tear of pain and sorrow. Even if she was built with the capability of crying, the fact that she needed it in the first place was the sole reason why it made her become even more flustered and distraught. Sadness came as a painful cleanse. It was a chance to detox and reassess what was helping and what was hurting, a chance to make new choices and inform others that she had boundaries, needs and vulnerabilities. There were times that her emotions felt bruised, and the same way as with a physical bruise of a human person, they took time to come up and really showed themselves. Yet in this time she never had a chance to mitigate them, reduce them, render them more manageable.
Then again, she could not let those unbearable thoughts take over her processor. Perhaps, she really needed somebody to exchange confidence with. Vanessa was just going to put her on maintenance for obvious reason. Monty was definitely not the type of person who would listen to your thoughts. Roxy, well… she used to do that with her all the time. But after that… difficulties, she wanted to give the wolf some moments to regain composure. Just when she thought there was no one left, her circuit sparkled as another idea had popped up.
She had never met this person directly before, but having heard about their energetic and enthusiastic nature, she hoped that they were able to be her companion just for today.
"G-Golly! This is my first ever time seeing one of the members of the Glamrock band in person!", exclaimed Sun excitedly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Chica!"
"Please, just call me Chica.", she replied, somewhat fluttered upon being called a Miss. "And it is my first time talking to you as well! I was told that you're the animatronic in charge of this section of the building, yes?"
"W-Why, yes!", said the attendant. "It is I, the Daycare attendant, the animatronic who plays with the children and takes good care of them while their parents are away. To what do I owe the pleasure of such a visit from an animatronic lady like you?"
She giggled at the humorous take of the attendant in trying to be formal, the children were right about the guy being highly spirited and overexcited. "Well, you know, the building got closed for an entire week. So, I thought I could pay you a visit."
Sun twitched his head a bit. "O-Oh, that would explain why nobody came this morning."
"Haven't you been informed about it?", she asked, eyes widened.
"N-No… The security guard didn't say anything about the Pizzaplex being closed for this week. No wonder nobody has arrived yet."
Chica thought about it, Vanessa seemed to be in a hurry this morning when she came to inform them. The woman still probably had headaches after that chaotic night, she couldn't blame her for having forgotten to tell Sun, even she had "headaches" as well.
"What about the others?", asked Sun. "Why didn't they come with you?"
"Oh, they're just busy doing their things. As for me, I don't have anything to do, I might as well as come here by myself.", she replied. "Also, since this is my first time in the daycare, I don't get used to moving around here. I was thinking if you could give me a quick tour around the place?"
Upon hearing that, the attendant started hopping up and down in excitement. "Golly! It is my greatest pleasure! Come, come! There is a lot of things that I can show you. Oh! I can't wait! This is so exciting!"
With jiggling hands, he hastily pulled her into the playground and closed the door before beginning to show her sections of the daycare. First, he showed her the playground fortress.
"This is the fortress, where adventurers from around the world challenged themselves in an extreme quest in order to save the kingdom from dark creatures!", said the attendant. "They will venture through narrowed space and dangerous dungeons, but the slides are what they cannot miss, for how fun and thrilling they are!"
"Sounds fun!", she remarked. "Do you think we could play there?"
"I can fit in there. Since some children decide to be stubborn and not listen to their parents, that is when I would go inside and retrieve them. But as for you, I'm not really sure.", he mused. "Maybe, you should go a see if you could fit inside as well. Like people have said, how could one ever know if they never tried?"
Chica looked at the fortress in awe, it was huge and enormous, perhaps three times bigger than her room. She imagined her friends running and chasing around while playing tag, or pretending to be a prince save his princess from the monster king that ruled the fortress. Oh, yeah, that would be fun. Though she suspected that with the size that was bigger than an average adult and a weight of a few hundred pounds, the idea seemingly sounded impractical as the likelihood of them collapsing the entire structure was warily high.
"Um… Yeah, I don't think it is safe to even try.", she said, somewhat eager, somewhat nervous.
"Golly! How unfortunate! We could have had so much fun playing in the fortress. Nonetheless, there are still many things left for me to show you. Maybe they're even more fun than the fortress! Oh, how exciting!"
After saying that, the attendant quickly tugged the chicken away, too immediate to let her have the time to fully grasp the current situation. He then showed her the kitchen area, the dollhouse, the cake towers and the ball pits. And the more areas he showed her, the more she could see how he became more animated and dynamic. As if the sun had the ability to radiate and share his passionate enthusiasm, to give joy to those who were feeling blue and to give care to those whose who were in need of it… For she could feel it, she could sense the cheerful aura being emitted by him, she could sense the jovial optimism within every word spoken by him, she could feel it. And no doubt, those positive feelings, those encouraging sensations, they were exactly the same as Freddy.
For some reason, Sun's characteristic awfully reminded her of him. Damn it, why did the bear have to appear everywhere she looked at and couldn't just leave her alone? Was there some kind of invisible string which bound her and the bear that she saw not? Was there some kind of enigmatic connection which linked her and the bear that she knew not? Was there some kind of unfathomable force which affected her and the bear that she sensed not? Perhaps, she would never be able to understand why, for the explanation itself had already not existed in the first place. And that she would continue living on with that empty gap for an answer leaving unfulfilled, forever surrounded by endless confusion and interminable uncertainty.
"C-Chica? Are you okay?"
"Are you alright, Chica?"
For a few moments, she was in oblivion. Seconds later, she was pulled back to reality, as the inexpressive yet worrying face of the sun covered her vision. "Oh! Sorry about that, I got dragged away for a bit.", she said, dryly laughing.
"You looked bumped out. Is something bothering you?", asked Sun, sounding nervous.
"I can see that you are unhappy. Would you like to tell me the reason why?"
"I-I am fine, really! Do you have any games so that we can play together?", she asked, trying to divert the subject.
"Oh, yes! There are lots of activities that you and I can do together!", responded the attendant, who was joyfully skipping left and right. "We can fingerpaint, tell stories, make delicious meals in the kitchen, build cake towers that reach sky-high, swimming and diving in the ball pits and so much more! Golly! I guarantee that you will be back to your happy self in no time! I cannot let my friend leave the place feeling blue, for where Sun is, so is your happiness!"
"Care to join me in the mood? I will be here listening to you and cheer you up whenever I can."
There was a time she was angry at the world, to introduce her only to take her friend far away, yet she had found her peace with it. For in these days of missing the bear, she could not entertain the idea of another. In this, she had become as close to independent as it was for an animatronic such as herself to achieve. For this, though it was a challenge, she could have only gratitude. The thoughts had become stronger over the hours and so at times she had pushed them back, sought even to extinguish them. Yet this was only a reaction to the pain of his absence. In truth, she wished the bear were here, for better or worse.
Such as this, the feeling of missing someone.
"Have you ever wondered what the outside world looked like? For I have been pondering and contemplating about such a world where the humans live, where plants and animals alike exist together in harmony, where fields of greens seemingly stretch forever along the high mountains, where planes of blue water outwardly extended continually into the horizon… and this so-called 'space' up high above the endless sky…"
In thinking of the bear, there was the affirmation each day, that the bond between her and him was real no mattered the miles between. In thinking of the bear, there was a steady sense of affection, an enduring hope that he was thriving where he was. For both were built of their thoughts, the good and the bad, and so these thoughts of feeling for each other, for the bond they shared, were an important part of what had built her these past few years. Once again, she wished the bear were here, for the bear had been an important part of forming her coping mechanism for the better in his absence.
"What about you, Chica? What do you think the world outside look like?"
A moment of silence, the attendant remained dancing in concern, the chicken remained quiet. Even if she decided to hang out with the guy every day, in the end, when she returned to her room, the feeling of missing someone would regain their regal throne, nonetheless. Oh, how she hated it, how she despised it with utter passion. It was something that would linger within her memory database till the end of time, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. If exchanging confidence wasn't going to work since she already knew how the outcome would take place, what would she do, then?
Fortunately, hope had not yet given her up. How could they do so when the chicken had so many hopes and dreams within her?
"Hey, Sun,", she called out in whispers, "I don't think there's anything that can cheer me up at the moment."
"H-Hey, don't be so blue!", said Sun while trying his best to reassure her. "You can't just say that. Look around you! There are so many things we can do! I promise you're going to have your best time at the daycare. So fun that you would even forget what time it was! Y-Yeah!"
Then, he grabbed her hand. "Come, come! Let's play in the kitchen. I will be the chef, and you will be the customer! I will make omelettes… O-Oh, wait, you're a chicken, you can't just eat your own kind. That'd be weird... W-Well, then, I will think of something to make later. Anyways, let's go! After that, we will try stacking cake towers and see who can build a taller one!"
Instead of an image of the daycare attendant using all his might to drag a hundred pounds animatronic chicken, it was an image of the animatronic chicken effortlessly dragging the daycare attendant. She pulled the guy until both stopped in front of the entrance.
"L-Leaving so soon, friend?", asked Sun anxiously. "W-We haven't done anything yet…"
"Don't you want to see the outside world, too?"
"Nobody arrived yesterday because the building was closed.", said the chicken darkly. "Now, it is closed for the rest of the week. Tell me, Sun, do you feel lonely?"
Sun flinched a bit, seemingly taken by surprise upon being asked a sensitive question, but he tried to remain his optimistic composure. "I… G-Golly, I did, but only just a bit. Now, I don't feel lonely anymore. Why? Because you're here now! We are friends, right? And what do friends do when they hang out together? Lots of things, of course! S-So… W-Why are you leaving already?"
She didn't answer, instead, she continued asking. "You're only able to move around inside the daycare, right? If so, do you feel… confined?"
There was silence, indicating that there was no answer. Instead, she could feel Sun's hand tightly gripped hers, and the fact that it was trembling... With that part of curiosity filled, she pressed the button next to the entrance, causing the door to open. Then, she turned around, face to face with the attendant. With hopeful eyes and an encouraging beam, her next sentence sent him into oblivion.
"Let me show you what the Pizzaplex looks like."
Sun looked up, although one could not see what his emotion was, for his face's feature was merely a fixed and unchanging wide smile, but she was sure that bright smile of his was honest and sincere. It was true happiness.
"W-What?!", he exclaimed in pure shock. "G-Golly! I was supposed to watch over the daycare. I… I'm not sure if I was able to leave the place unsupervised. A-Are you sure the security guard would let me leave?"
She giggled. "Well, the building got closed, so nobody can get in or out. Let the STAFF bot do their job watching this place. Besides, it wouldn't hurt if it's just a tour. I doubt that Vanessa would get mad at you. If she did, then I'll take the blame."
"I-I can't let you do that!"
"It will be okay, I promise!", she reassured, then she raised her little finger. "Pinky promise!"
The attendant hesitated for a while. Soon, he raised his little finger as well.
"Pinky promise!", they both said in union.
Just right after that, he immediately bounced uncontrollably around her while still holding both of her hands. "Golly! How exciting! This is the best day ever! This is my first time leaving the daycare! I can't wait to see what the rest of the Pizzaplex look like! Where should we go first?"
Seeing her friend in such euphoria, she couldn't help but dance along as well. It was then realization hit: Six days. Six fateful days until the bear returned or the company decided to give up and think of another solution. If she could not make herself happy, then she would make others happy. Just like what a Freddy Fazbear would do.
It was her new coping mechanism.
Chica's core instability: 31% ~ 36%
END OF ARC I
"By becoming you, I was able to feel you closer."
A/N:
Another chapter about the Pizzaplex because:
1. Side characters deserve attention.
2. Character development. (very crucial)
3. Why not?