Corporate was thrilled that I planned to use Circus Baby in my restaurant. After going on and on about how advanced she was, and even had the ability to make ice cream and balloons on-command for kids, they made her sound pretty great. After I told them about how I found her in a broken heap in the alley, they sounded even happier for some odd reason.
As soon as I said I planned to get her looking like she was fresh out of the factory, the excitement of whomever I had spoken to on the phone died down just a bit. That bothered me a little. I was paying for Baby to be fixed and remain ghost-free, so what's the problem? In the end, I was told they would overnight me the instruction and maintenance guides for Baby, so I should be able to have her up and running the same day she arrives from repair.
When the hauling truck arrived to take Baby away, the two men that were sent to pick her up looked very uncomfortable-probably because of her giant claw. I leaned against the alley wall, watching as they slowly loaded her up onto a cart and pushed her into the back of a truck.
"You know where she's going, right?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah." One of the men replied. "This here's an entertainer animatronic going to a robotics repair garage. Izzat right?"
"You got it." I nodded. "Any idea how long it'll be?"
"We just haul 'em to the post office, sir." He replied. "You'll have to call your bosses to find that stuff out."
"Can do." I nodded. The two men gave me a wave and hopped into their truck, driving off with Baby in tow. Despite my negativity towards the Freddy Band animatronics, I was almost looking forward to seeing Circus Baby in her restored glory. If I could make sure I just had a cute robot with no violent tendancies, I'd be very happy.
After seeing the truck off, I decided to head back inside and see if my single employee had arrived yet. As if on cue, the Freddy mascot costume walked past me, heading for the dining room. As it walked past, I admired the craftsmanship on it-it looked nothing like a scary robot, instead like a cartoon bear you'd see at a theme park. No creepy smile, no broken jaw, a perfect kid-friendly Freddy Fazbear, complete with the black top hat and bow.
"Hey, Freddy!" I called. Tresnon, expressionless save for a goofy smile, turned around to face me. I gave him a thumbs-up. "Lookin' good! Did you watch those dance routine DVDs?"
'Freddy' nodded at me and gave me a thumbs-up in return. He started to dance a little jig, kicking out his feet and waving his arms around. I wanted to laugh at how funny it looked, but I knew kids would love him.
"Great work, Tresnon." I said. I heard him mutter something through the head.
"...ike." He muttered.
"What now?" I asked.
He pulled the mascot head off, looking at me with an annoyed expression. His black hair and pale face weren't sweating in the slightest, thanks to the air conditioning installed in the suit-that was the only extra equipment I would allow.
"My name is Mike. Michael. You gave me that stupid Tresnon nickname." He snapped at me.
"Oh, that's right. I'm sorry." I apologized, only having known him for about a week. "Say, what's your last name? It wouldn't start with a S, would it?"
"Jameson." He replied. "Not every person named 'Mike' has something to do with this goddamn place."
"Good point. My bad." I replied. "Anyway, your dance routine is great. How's the AC working in there?"
"I feel totally cool, but don't even see anything in here." He looked into the head. "Is it hidden or something?"
"Should be, so you don't hurt yourself." I nodded. "I paid for perfect, it'd better be perfect. It should be installed inside the top of the mouth, that's why you don't have any way to open it."
"Neat." Mike said, reaching down to straight his massive black tie. "So we're opening as soon as you get the robot back, right?" The two of us walked into the dining room after he picked the head back up to carry it.
"Yeah, I have to make sure I have all of Baby's show DVDs and get her working." I explained as we sat down. "They were supposed to send me the birthday show along with the instruction books, but it wasn't there. All I have right now is the intro show, and it only lasts a few minutes."
"DVDs? I thought all of that stuff was just programmed in." Mike asked. I shook my head.
"Nah, even back in the 80's they used VHS tapes for those." I continued. "Animatronics from Freddy's are just robots that get moved by air, at least back then. The DVDs tell everything when to move, what to move, all that stuff. They have the character audio, too."
"Boy, you're really pretending to know what you're talking about, huh?" Mike teased. I smirked, flipping him off. "How much of that is actually right?"
"Hell if I know, I just watched a few videos online." I shrugged. "Anondos is supposed to be making a pizza, let's go see if it's done."
As we walked into the kitchen, the smell of a freshly-baked pizza overpowered me. The scent of cooked, crispy pepperoni was music to my senses.
"That smells amazing!" I exclaimed as Mike and I walked in. Anondos, wearing an apron with sauce stains and flour all over it, smiled at the compliment.
"Thanks, man." He said, cutting the pizza. "The instructions they gave you were really easy to follow. Go wait out in the other room and I'll bring us all some. Did the soda get here yet?"
"Yeah, I already put it in the machine." I pointed to a fountain soda despenser setting on a counter attached to the wall. Multiple stacks of differently-sized cups were next to it. "Get whatever you want. Should be cold by now. I'm gonna go grab Baby's instruction book and read it while we wait."
The three of us ate some of the tastiest pizza I could ever remember eating as I thumbed through Baby's guide. I had it on the center of the table so we could all see it.
"She has a song database in her head." Mike pointed out. "She can take 'song requests from children to reduce the need to rely on show discs.'" He read aloud. "Huh, that's pretty neat."
"I wonder if she knows any thrash metal." Anondos laughed. "I'll have to ask her."
"Kind of cool of them to include blueprints for a consumer model." I commented. "I don't see that huge claw anywhere. The ice cream dispenser's in her chest, that explains the tits-"
Anondos and Mike gave me a strange look. I silenced myself.
"I mean, that explains what corporate was talking about." I tried to save myself, but both of them knew what I meant. I sighed. "There's an emergency stop ... on her leg? I'll have to remember that." There was something called an "air hose attachment" on her right hand. So that free hand could grip something, right?
Maybe it wouldn't have to be a hose. Or maybe it could a ... human hose?
Oh, wait, no, that's a hole in her palm, probably for blowing up balloons. Damn. Anondos told me not to fuck the robot, and I should listen. I closed the book before pizza cheese fell on it-I'd finish reading once Baby actually got here.
"Hey, shouldn't you have at least one video game here?" Anondos asked as he bit into another slice of pizza. "Like Fruity Maze? They had a tabletop one'a them at the Chinese place my mom eats at a lot."
"Or Midnight Motorist!" Mike piped up. "There's a console port of that now, so you'd have all of the retro lovers coming in just to say they played it."
"Eh, maybe I could afford one of them after I make a little income." I said, opening my wallet. "I only have like 20 bucks left. I had to almost beg my uncle for the extra money to get Baby fixed." I stood up from the table, dusting off my pants. "Corporate did mention something about a catalog that all the different stores can use for attractions, though. I'll check it out tonight."
After finishing the pizza, the three of us decided to leave for the day. I told Mike and Anondos to meet me first thing in the morning, as we still had some more planning to do before Baby's arrival the next day. How in the world someone could make such major repairs in the span of three days was beyond me, but I'm not going to complain.
