Lea was in her room tinkering with her old music box when Bonnie poked his head in. "Um, Lea?"
"Yeah?" she glanced up at him and his ears folded.
"Oh, are you busy? Sorry."
"It's fine. I just finished anyway. What's up?"
"Er, well, Chica…"
She made a face and followed him to the living room. What could that chicken have gotten into now? Hopefully not something that Alex would be upset about. When they got to the living room Lea gasped and covered her mouth, trying not to bust out laughing.
"Hiii!" Chica sang happily. She was covered in a rainbow of marks from the children's markers they had gotten.
"Oh my gosh," Lea smirked. "Chica! You're supposed to draw on the paper, not yourself!"
"At least she didn't draw on anything else," Bonnie sighed.
"And this is exactly why I was so selective about the markers I got." Lea couldn't help but smile. "I guess Freddy and Foxy aren't the only ones who need baths now."
"Bath!?" Chica flinched.
...
"I don't think that we're supposed to go in water," Bonnie said as he watched from the bathroom doorway.
"Good," Chica said. "I hate baths!"
Lea ignored her remark. "That's why I'm just going to use a damp towel with this soapy water." She gestured to the tub where she had filled it slightly with warm water. "I wasn't sure if it was okay to use regular soap, so I put a little dish soap instead."
Chica sat down with her arms crossed and huffed. "Fine…"
"If you be good I'll give you some gummy worms," Lea said.
She perked up instantly. "Okay!"
As Lea was almost finished, Chica spoke up again. "Do you think we could play outside sometime?"
"Hm?" Lea looked up. "Uh, well…" The hopeful expression on Chica's face was hard to ignore. "Maybe. But not today."
"Okay!"
...
After Lea was finished with Chica, she released her back to the living room with a warning about drawing on anything other than paper then went to locate Freddy. At first, the bear seemed hesitant to enter the small bathroom, and when he did Lea realized just how small the room was (or how big he was). She couldn't get him to sit but maybe that was for the best. Since he was standing it was easier to move around him, though at some point she had to convince him to crouch down a bit so she could reach his head.
Now it was Foxy's turn… Since they had gotten him in the house, the big mechanical fox hadn't left his hiding spot under Alex's bed. Lea thought about this as she walked into the room and crouched near the bed. She glanced under it and quickly jumped back as a hooked arm swung at her. The hook caught the carpet and, with a loud splitting sound, dragged through it and back under the bed. Why would they put such a sharp object on a kid's attraction?
Lea tried to talk to him but was only greeted with a low growl. "Okay," she looked around. "Oh, do you like music?"
From under the bed, Foxy watched as the girl got up and hurried out of the room. Moments later she returned and sat down on the floor with something round in her hands. She twisted something behind it and placed it down on the floor. He hissed as the object's top popped open. From inside, three little figures stood up. Deer; a buck followed by two does, shiny and thin like paper. The deer moved up and down in a circle as a soft tune played. Foxy sniffed and slowly poked his head out to examine the object.
"Isn't it cute?" Lea smiled. She gently scooped up the music box and walked towards the door. "Come on. You can play with it over here."
He crawled out from under the bed and watched curiously as she left. He could still hear the music coming from the hallway. Slowly, he moved towards the open doorway and peered around to see her go into the bathroom. He sniffed and glanced around then, after determining that no one was watching, he darted across the small hallway and poked his head into the bathroom.
"No one's going to hurt you, you know." Lea said as she wound up the box again and placed it on the counter. "Come play in here so I can look at you."
Foxy snorted and walked in awkwardly on all fours, like a child pretending to be a dog or cat. He kept crouched but raised his head up to peer over the counter at the dancing deer. Lea was both amused and bewildered at how much more animal-like Foxy was compared to the others in terms of behavior.
Now that he was out in the open and calm, she could get a good look at the robot's tattered body. His face and head seemed to be in good shape, other than his bottom jaw which was a bit crooked and gaped slightly. There were several holes and tears across his body and arms and a very large gash in his chest, revealing a lot of the interior workings. If they were really ghosts then did the mechanical parts actually work inside? Either way, many of the wires she could see were shredded and popped, but he still moved. There even appeared to be fuses hidden within parts of his body. His left hand was completely exposed, as were his lower legs and feet. She started to wonder if they could feel pain. Clearly, they knew when something was touching them. Earlier, Chica had commented on how 'soft' her new stuffed kitty was, and Freddy had flinched in surprise when Lea came up behind him and touched his back.
She shook the thought away and wrung out the cloth soaking in the soapy water. Alex was right, there was a strange smell emitting from him. It felt like she should know the smell, but it was strange to her. Lea made sure he could see her before she touched the cloth to his back. He glanced at what she was doing then turned back to the music box.
Lea wasn't sure just how long it took to clean up Foxy. She had to stop several times to rewind the music box, and luckily, he never seemed to get bored with it. She had tried to clean his tail as well, but every time she tried to grab it he would lash it away and snort at her. Eventually, she gave up on it and started using a flashlight to look inside the tears in his body. She thought she could probably fix some of it, but for now it didn't seem to cause much of an issue.
"Okay," Lea sighed and sat back. "All done." She closed the music box as it finished its tune and exited the bathroom. "I guess Alex's room is your room now," she said as Foxy stood up and followed.
To be continued…
You waited so long for this tiny chapter. Sorry. I've been super busy and I got sick.