Luckily for me, Mike showed up just minutes later after I had dropped the boxes into the office. He could tell how busy we were, and after a quick hello, reached for his Freddy head and suit.
"Make 'em happy." I said as he finished dressing. "I might need you to help out with something else later." 'Freddy' nodded and gave me a thumbs-up, walking down the hall into the dining room. I wasn't sure what to do at this point besides make sure people got their food; ideally, I would call my uncle and try to get more resources for the store. Anondos was right, though; this should have all been done when the building's insides got cleaned up.
I was able to swap out the picnic tables for new, round ones and some longer rectangular ones for large groups of people, but new furniture wasn't going to make for an entertaining visit-even if the new chairs were really comfortable. The room looked bare save for the tables; if I was a kid, outside of the big talking robot, I would probably not want to come here. I glanced over at the monitor, seeing that Anondos had grown tired of waiting for me and was taking the pizzas to the waiting customers' tables. Since I had him to take care of that, I took the chance to pick up the old phone on the desk and dial my uncle. If I'm going to get this place running, I need to get it finished.
"Why the hell didn't you have all of this before opening? What did I give you money for?"
My uncle lectured me after telling him about the store only having Baby. I groaned and shook my head.
"I'm sorry, but I was more focused on getting Baby here and getting her fixed." I replied. "We got the pizza kits and the soda, but I didn't really stop and think about anything else."
"Did you even get the new tables?" He asked. "Last time we talked, you were more focused on getting those old posters hung up. You let your nostalgia get in the way of your business, kid!" He said. I simply groaned louder. "Quit being a spoiled fucking brat!" He yelled. I had to move the phone away from my ear until the pain from the loud sound subsided. "I'll help you this one last time, but after this, you're on your own until you can prove to me that you can be a professional!"
"Okay, okay!" I replied. "Thank you! This is all I'll need to get going, I promise!" I tried to assure him. "I just need some games and a few other things and I'll be set!"
"You'd better be." My uncle snapped at me. I heard a dial tone seconds later. I sighed and hung up the phone. Going by the past, my bank account should be updated right about ... now. I'll have to grab my phone from the kitchen and check. I looked over at the monitor one last time, and I froze at what I saw: kids had stormed the stage and were exploring Baby, with two boys hanging off her arms and a girl trying to pry the microphone out of Baby's hand. Mike, still in character as Freddy, was waving his arms in an attempt to get the kids' attention and off of her. I ran out into the dining room as fast as my feet would carry me.
No one touches my Circus Baby except me.
Why was I thinking like this again?!
"Okay kids, that's enough!" I said loudly, causing the parents and kids to look towards me as the source of a new noise. I looked at the parents as I walked towards the stage. "If you folks could?" I knew it was a bad idea to ask people to mind their own children, but I don't care about people leaving if it means their damn spawn get off of my clown girl. One of the mothers nodded and stood up, walking to the stage.
"Get off the robot, Gary!" She yelled. A blonde boy hanging on Baby's left arm let go. "Get down here and eat your pizza, right now." The mother demanded. Gary nodded and climbed down off the stage, returning to a table where two girls who looked to be his age were sitting. A man who I assumed to be his father groaned and placed a hand on his face, shaking his head in embarassment at his son.
The other boy hanging on Baby was my cousin's son, Steven. With the kid being a member of my family, I could freely pull him off of Baby, taking care to be gentle and not risk him pulling her arm out of socket. The red-haired girl who was trying to steal Baby's microphone was also my relation, letting me scoop her up in my right arm and carry her off the stage. I placed the kids on the floor, watching them return to their parents. As I thought, none of their parents noticed they were missing and continued staring at their cell phones.
I looked at Baby, who was still moving around and singing as if nothing had happened. For a robot that was boasted about being advanced by the company, I was surprised that she didn't say anything about the kids touching her. When Baby's head turned and she looked at me, both of her eyes flickered for a split second and turned that familiar green before returning to blue as she started to talk about her favorite pizza toppings to the few kids who were still interested. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. That color change couldn't have been a glitch; that shit was on purpose. She looked into my eyes before doing it.
I pulled out my cell phone to check the time; a little over an hour had passed since we opened. The more I thought about it, I was surprised that so many parents would visit a pizza place this early in the morning and not around lunch time-oh well, whatever. It's money for me. Speaking of money, how are these people going to pay me? Do we even have a cash register somewhere?
"Hey, do we even have a cash register?" I asked Anondos as I walked into the kitchen. He groaned in frustration.
"You want me to run your fuckin' pizzeria for you?" He snapped at me. "Yes, we have a register, it's on the prize counter!"
"... The what now?" I asked. Anondos walked past me and grabbed my shirt collar, yanking me out of the kitchen and into the dining room. He pointed across the room to a gray counter near the opposite wall. It had a glass display case which was empty, and an old-looking cash register on top. Why didn't I have someone guarding that? "Is there money in that?"
"Probably not, we haven't earned any!" Anondos gave me a forceful push forward. "Go figure it out, dude!" I nodded and briskly walked across the room, lifting up on a door keeping the counter closed and stepping inside. How did I fail to notice this whole counter before? That explains what the big gray thing was that the guys fixing up the place were putting in. I looked at the register; it looked like one from an old mom n' pop shop. Next to it was a more modern-looking credit card machine, with a phone cable sticking out of the top and trailing down to the wall, going inside of a hole on the bottom.
Standing behind the counter, I took a chance to get a good look at the entire room. The old parody movie posters in new frames on the walls, the new round and rectangular tables and new seats, with crappy-looking banners hanging on the walls. The banners made of printed paper in black-and-white looked hideous compared to the posters and new paint job on the walls. The pictures of Freddy on them were almost completely black from the lack of printer ink, making him look like some kind of 'nightmare' Freddy. I certainly wouldn't want to see the damn thing in my dreams.
Focus! You're not here to talk about the pictures on the walls! You need to get this business figured out!
Okay, so we do have a way to take money. The glass case meant to hold prizes was completely empty save for a glass shelf to easily display different things. Behind me were two long, wooden shelves on the wall meant to hold plush toys or bigger items to catch kids' eyes. I remember plush toys of Freddy and his friends from my childhood; I wonder if they still make those for the different restaurants. As I started to examine the cash register, I glanced over at the stage-no one was trying to climb on Baby. Good.
It felt like hours, but eventually every family paid for their food and left. It was a blessing that every single one of them used a credit card, as I didn't have a cent in the register.
"What a day!" Mike exclaimed as he walked into the dining room in his regular clothes. "Those kids were a handful!"
"Yeah, and it's totally fun having a boss that has no fucking clue what he's doing!" Anondos added sarcastically. I glared at him.
"Shut up!" I snapped at him. "Let's go get those uniforms for tomorrow." The two nodded and all three of us headed for the office.
Inside those boxes from earlier were indeed uniforms. Black pants and bright, ugly-looking purple shirts with Freddy's face on the back with 'Freddy Fazbear's Pizza' written around it. On the front were different characters on the shirts; some had Chica, some had Bonnie, and some had Foxy or Freddy. Besides the character art, the character's name was written under their picture in a fancy text similar to the Hollywood sign. I tossed Mike a Freddy shirt and Anondos a Foxy one, grabbing a Chica one for myself.
"Just grab what you want later on if you don't like it." I said, digging through the boxes. "There's gotta be at least a dozen sets in here." Any job I worked at in the past required the employee to provide their own pants, but there had to be pairs of every size in these boxes. I had half a mind to swipe a few pairs for myself. "I'm not going anywhere tonight, I have a lot of phone calls to make." I thought out loud as I pulled out shirts and pants.
"You have fun with that." Mike replied. "Say, can I try the Bonnie suit tomorrow?"
"Go for it." I said. "Should have the same air conditioning as Freddy. Switch whenever you want, unless we need one particular." Mike nodded and put his shirt and pants under his arm.
"See ya tomorrow, boss." He said. "Are we really gonna open at eight every morning? Ain't that kinda early for pizza?"
"I'm not worried about that right now." I replied. "This place is nothing more than a bunch of tables and a robot right now. I need to get it looking like a real Freddy's before I fuck up even more. Just be here at eight and we'll figure it out."
"You should have this all figured out already." Anondos said. "You're treatin' this like a game more than a business, dude. Corporate's gonna be on your ass if we keep treatin' this place like somewhere to hang out."
"You think I haven't noticed that?!" I yelled without intending to. "I've never run my own place before! It ain't easy!"
"Ain't easy? You don't do anything!" Anondos yelled back. "Mike entertains the kids, I cook the food, you just stay in the office all day beatin' off to your fuckin' robot!"
"I do too do shit!" I argued. "I'm ... the one who opens in the morning." I muttered. "W-Well, I got my uncle to help get the inside of the store fixed up! I got Baby repaired!"
"You didn't! Your uncle did!" Anondos corrected me. "All you did was throw his money at the right people! You're more concerned about gettin' killed by the robot you just had to fucking have in here!"
"Fuck you!" I yelled. "I'll show you! I'll have so much shit done tomorrow that it'll be an entirely different place!"
"Whatever!" Anondos snapped at me. "I'm out of here! I'll see you tomorrow!"
"Yeah!" I angrily replied. "Thanks for your help today! I appreciate it!"
"No problem!" Anondos flipped me off, sounding just as angry. "Anytime! See ya!" with that, he left.
Did we just make up in the same argument?
I sighed and walked out to the front door, locking it and dropping the Faz-key into my pocket. I turned, seeing that Baby was still moving around in an idle mode, looking around for a kid to entertain. I sat on the edge of the stage, watching her move until she happened to look in my direction.
"You're my friend Anon!" Baby exclaimed. "I'm so happy to see you!"
"Yeah, you too." I replied. "It feels like you're my only friend anymore. I know you don't understand a word I'm saying, but I'm glad you're here."
"That's my favorite!" Baby replied. I have no idea what she thinks I said. "Do you like songs, Anon? I would love to sing a song for you! Freddy taught me this one!"
"No, Baby." I said. Surprisingly, the song didn't begin. I turned to look at her and met her eyes; they flickered from blue to green. Baby's pigtails bobbed up and down and she moved her microphone to her mouth. "What's up with you?" I asked, as if she would reply. "Are your eyes broken or somethin'? They keep turning green when you see me. Do you actually understand me?"
"Oh, I love that ..." Baby said, with a sultry tone of voice. "That's one of my favorite grown-up games!"
Again?! I took a deep breath and shook my head. I'd might as well see how far this goes since I have the privacy.
"I didn't even touch your clit for grown-up mode." I said. "Seems like your eyes only turn green around me. Are green eyes what you use when you're actin' like this? Why the hell do you even have a clit?"
"That sounds very fun." Baby replied. Her voice was already giving me a bulge in my pants. "I'd love to play that game with you, Anon."
"I wish I knew what was going on in that metal head of yours." I said with a sigh. "Look, if you're alive in there, just tell me. I won't get rid of you."
"Oh, I'm very good with my hands!" Baby casually replied. She moved the hand holding her microphone up and down incredibly fast, enough that I could hear the mechanical sounds from her movement louder than usual. I ignored that she just made a handjob motion, but it was extremely difficult to do so.
"Some poor woman had to record that line for you to say that." I said. "That's pretty messed up, Baby."
"Not necessarily." Baby replied. "It's possible that my voice just comes from me, not a person."
"I guess." I said.
I paused.
"Wait." I could feel my right eye twitch. "B-Baby, what did you just say?"
Her green eyes looked like they were trying to pierce me and look into my soul. She had a smile on her face, but it was different than the usual smile she put on for the kids; this was a smirk. I slowly stood up, or tried to, but my quivering legs made that difficult. My first instinct was to run and never return, but the look in her eyes made me stay. I was thinking with my dick and too curious to see what comes next.
"No one will believe you." Baby said. "I see what's happening down there." He gaze moved down to my crotch. "I know you looked at me."
"How are you talking like this?" I asked. "There's no ghost inside of you. I checked!"
"A robot doesn't need to have a soul inside of them to ... well, have a soul, silly." Baby replied. "Surely you've heard of robots coming alive."
"This doesn't make sense." I said. "Tyler's fucked you up somehow, that piece of shit. I'm callin' the cops tomorrow."
"Tyler did nothing that I didn't want him to do." Baby said. "It was easy to make him think he was fixing me ... instead, he allowed me to think for myself." So she had some kind of intelligence? That was how she was doing this? That made a little sense, but all of this was still becoming crazier to believe by the second. "My friends and I could always think, you know ... even before the rumors. Just because a robot can speak doesn't mean there's something supernatural going on."
This is the definition of supernatural!
I thought back to that movie with the weird robot who suddenly became 'alive' and this was just accepted by everyone. What was he called, again? Stevie six? Short fuse? Suddenly the movie seemed more like a documentary. I couldn't believe this was happening. The Circus Baby I wanted in here so badly, the one I dreamt about coming on to me ... was actually coming on to me. I'm dreaming, right? That must be it! I slapped myself across the face.
It hurt. This wasn't a dream.
So there's no dead person or ghost inside of her, she just has robot intelligence and can speak. That's way better than having a dead person inside, I guess. At least I won't have to worry about my Freddy's meeting the same fate as the one that has all of the lore tied to it. I can either accept it or ship her off. If I wanted to play it safe, I should call someone and have her out of here in less than an hour. However, she kept gazing from my face to my crotch, and slowly moved her microphone hand up and down.
Keeping her around couldn't hurt.
