NOTES
Alright, so, I have a number of notes and observations I want to say share about this chapter.
However, I don't want to summarize the entire chapter here in the notes. SO!
Notes are gonna be at the bottom of this chapter for a change. Pretty exciting, huh.
Anyway.
Enjoy.
Holiday
"It's a bit early for this, isn't it?"
"You're here, and I'm not busy. Sit still." Roxanne shrugs off.
"You don't think anyone will notice me walking out of here a completely different color than when I walked in here?"
"No one saw us walk in here."
"There are still a few customers in the building, as well as all the day staff."
"It's fine, Mike."
"Alright."
I guess I don't really care. I'm asking for her sake, but if she doesn't care either, then I don't have much reason to be concerned.
...
"Why 'are' you here so early?" Roxanne asks, somehow only now comprehending how odd the scenario is.
"Well, if you would let me explain to you what I'm doing here instead of immediately grabbing and dragging me to your room the moment you see me, you wouldn't be so left in the dark."
"Forget I asked then, asshole."
I huff in amusement.
"Arin and Cooper needed help setting up the Christmas decorations. Most of the day crew is sticking around to help as well."
Rox raises an eyebrow.
"What are the day people's thoughts on being kept late?"
"They aren't forced too. People just like working here, and like those two."
She immediately seems to lose interest.
"Mm. I thought the answer would be more interesting."
"Not this time."
...
"Oh, I talked to Arin yesterday."
"Alright?"
"About the tree chomper."
The 'tree chomper' is the unofficial name given to the device I hoisted in a few nights ago, dubbed by the day crew that have stumbled upon it. It's a reasonable name in both function and.. Appearance.. It does it's job well, but it still doesn't seem very conventional. Cooper argues that instead of having other companies cut trees to the specific lengths we need every single year, we could do it ourselves if we had a machine like the tree chomper. I understand his point, but.. It's just weird. Coop has a lot of penny pinching habits despite the abhorrent amount of money this place generates, and how generously the staff gets paid.
I tried talking to him about just using plastic trees, like everyone else on the damn planet. Cooper is too much of a traditional Christmas man, apparently. It's gotta be the real thing.
"Oh." Roxanne's ears raise a bit, signaling that I must have captured her attention. "They shut you down?"
"Arin talked to Cooper, and they said we could move it anywhere we'd like after we finish setting up the Christmas decorations."
"..Really?"
"Of course. After tonight we won't really need it again until next Christmas."
It's.. Really weird how she finds it so hard to believe that Arin and Cooper care about what she thinks..
"Oh.. I guess that makes sense.."
Roxy slows her pace with the brush as she stops to think about what I've said. I have decided to make use of this opportunity.
"You're WELCOME." I say with the most cocky, punch-able tone of voice I could muster.
"Thank you." She responds absent mindedly,
..I admit I wasn't expecting that.
"..Nah, it's no big deal. All I did was talk to Arin for a couple minutes." I awkwardly mumble out, trying to seem like less of an asshole... I don't think I've EVER said 'nah' before.
"It is a big deal."
"..It is?"
"I don't think they would've listened to me, so fine, 'thank you for fixing my problems'. Happy?" Roxanne continues, trying to thank me properly, but having a difficult time with her contradicting personality.
"They would have listened to you. Why wouldn't they have?"
"..Nothing, Mike, just shut up and hold still."
I don't want to dismiss this topic so easily, but I decide to give her a break. I did enough prodding into her personal life last night.
...
"Is this going to be your first Christmas?" I ask, for no other reason than to make conversation. I even know the answer to that question already, since I know they've never seen snow before.
"Yes, but we're closed on Christmas day." She responds with little excitement.
"Looking forward to it?"
"I'll enjoy the break, or whatever."
"...Are you guys going to do anything on Christmas day? Just between you and the gang?"
She scoffs.
"Like what? Give presents? We can't just go Christmas shopping, idiot. It's just gonna be a day off, and nothing more."
"...Huh..."
"...What?"
"Maybe I'll drop by Christmas day, 'n bring some food."
"You have Christmas off, Mike."
"Probably."
"Not 'probably', you do. Close your eyes."
"How do you know?"
I'm surprised she's so confident about her conclusion, I find it hard to believe she could know this for a fact without asking either Coop or Arin.
She takes a while to respond..
"...I just...Everyone else has that day off, too.."
She totally asked one of them.
"Even so, maybe I'll drop by. I'm sure Cooper wouldn't mind."
"You don't need too."
"I want too."
"I don-.. WE don't need your pity, Mike."
"It isn't pity, I don't have anyone else to enjoy Christmas with either."
"Are you lying to me again?"
"Nope. I'm serious."
"Mmm.. Not sure if I believe.. You.."
Roxanne's sentence randomly starts to drag off near the end of it. At the same time, the brushes on my cheek seems to stop altogether.
I'm about to ask her what she's doing, but I'm interrupted by the feeling of her paw cupping my cheek.
Fighting the urge to open my eyes, I try and figure out what she's doing without calling her out on it..
That's when the feeling of her thumb brushes over a sensitive part of my cheek, then again, then again.
Oh.
"Mike, did-, um... Did I..?" Roxanne stutters out, with a considerably weaker tone.
That's the cheek she scratched forever ago, way back when her and I still couldn't get along for the life of us.
I've had a patch on the cut for ages, long enough that I kind of forgot that it wasn't just a part of me. I realized at home that I've probably healed by now, and took it off before I came to work
I was right, for the most part.. Back when the scratch occurred, I was a little concerned that it might scar.
It did. Just barely, but it still did.
The whole scratch took up a good portion of my cheek when it happened, but the scar itself is very small and hard to notice. Only the parts of the cut that reached the very deepest ended up scarring.
Funnily enough, it kind of looks cool. It looks like one of those action-hero beast scars, only mine was smaller than a penny.
Roxanne might act egotistical and self absorbed, but I've seen time and time again that she genuinely is altruistic and empathetic when she needs to be.. So I think she's taking this a bit harder than she needs to be.
"Oh right, I took off the patch. Look, It barely scarred at all." I point out, trying to sound happy with the outcome of events in hopes that she would start feeling the same.
"Mike.."
"It's alright. It doesn't hurt at all."
"Mike..."
"I think it looks pretty cool, actually. Maybe I can tell people I fought off a bear." I joke, maybe a little desperate.
"I'm-.. Mike..."
"Rox."
"..."
"Rox, it's alright."
"No, it isn't..." Roxanne scoots her chair back with a discontented sigh.
"I've already forgiven you, and don't hate you for it at all. We've talked about it before, right?"
"I know, and I'm happy that you feel that way, I just.." Rox averts her eyes and crosses her arms, but the regret in her expression betrays whatever front she's trying to put up. " I'M not okay with how that turned out."
"It was an accident."
"I don't, um.. I don't know if it was anymore.."
"Huh?"
Roxanne's getting visibly uncomfortable. She isn't the type to tell anyone of any incriminating evidence against her, so this must have been eating at her for a while if she's this willing to get it off her chest.
"You told me it was an accident, so I believed you!" She explains in a random burst of defensiveness, though it quickly fades. "But, like.. I meant to hit you, that was on purpose."
"Right, but you still didn't mean to actually hurt m-"
"I-I did!" She barks, cutting me off. "I've had these claws my entire life! Of course I wouldn't just-!.. So of course I wouldn't just 'forget' about them, idiot!"
Oh.. I guess that makes some sense.
"Well. You've never attacked anyone else before, have you? Maybe you just weren't expecting it to do any damage due to inexperience."
"T-That doesn't make me feel better!"
"Why?"
"Ugh-! Because I 'hit' you!"
"...Alright?"
She tenses up and rises from her chair in response to my last statement. If she wasn't looking at me like an idiot before, she certainly is now.
"You-! Mike, I've never 'hit' anyone before! So how do you think it feels when I remember that you-!" Rox chokes on her words, forcing herself to calm down afterwards. "...When I remember that you were trying to help me?"
"I wasn't thinking, either. I should have known you wouldn't have wanted to see me."
"But you were still trying to help me. Y-You were trying to make me feel better..! I know you didn't like me very much back then, but you still tried to make things better for me! You understand why that makes me so damn upset?"
...Not...Entirely?
"I understand why you'd think it would make 'me' upset, but.. I'm not. And obviously, you feel bad about it, so I also don't think you'd ever do it again. So why does it still eat at you?"
"Because.." She pauses for a second and grimaces, looking more pained than before. "Because every time I look at you, I have to look at that scar now, and it's just.. Ugh- It's not fair.."
"Not fair?"
"Don't make me, fuckin', Spell it out for you.." Roxy's finger is suddenly thrust a few inches from my face, feigning frustration. "I-I like being friends with you, alright!? I like 'hanging out' with you, I like talking with you, I like it when you make the things I'm frustrated with seem like a big deal to you, y'know?"
"A-Alright."
Jesus, Rox. You can't just hit me with one of those and keep going without giving me a second to recover.
"So it hurts seeing that bastard scar of yours! It reminds me that I hurt someone I care about, and now they have a permanent reminder of it for the rest of their lives!" Roxanne stops, then inhales. "It's just, not fair how I got away with it without any kind of fuckin' consequence.."
Without any consequence..
...
"Rox, come here a sec."
"..What?"
"Come here."
She looks down at me with skepticism.
"What are you, gonna 'hug it out' with me?"
"No, just c'mere."
She stares at me for a few seconds more, wanting to protest. But eventually, she takes a couple seconds closer and bends down to about face level.
In a quick and fluid motion, I take the purple pen in my shirt pocket and draw a small diagonal line across Roxanne's cheek. About the size of a penny.
Naturally, she recoils.
"Ow-, Mike?"
"There."
She finally gets a good look at what I'm holding, then turns around the look in the mirror.
"Mike, what the hell did you just..?"
"Now you have a scar. We're even."
"..What?"
"So you don't have to be upset about this anymore."
The wolf looks down at where I'm sitting with a mix of emotions. Among the strongest of them seems to be an expression that screams 'you're an idiot'.
"No-, Mike, I can just wash this off next time I clean myself up."
"Then I'll put it back on, maybe every time we do makeup."
"But-!"
"Nope. I couldn't make any 'but's about my scar, so you don't get to make any about yours."
"Mike, you don't need to-!"
"Yes, I do. How else am I supposed to relieve all the rage I've felt towards you since giving me this scar?"
Obviously, I'm not serious. She knows I'm not serious. But we both understand the point I'm making.
Roxy stares at me with a blank gaze, looking like I flashbanged her.
I decide to not poke at her any further, and just look back at her until she comprehends everything that went on.
...
"Mmnnnn, Mike..." The defeated wolf grumbles after a few moments, falling back into her chair.
"Feeling alright now?"
"Dunno' how the hell I'm 'supposed' to be feeling.."
"Still feel bad about the scar?"
"A little."
"That's progress, but I'm sure you'll feel better as time goes on."
She huffs in amusement.
"How?"
"I'll annoy you until you don't feel any remorse for me anymore."
Finally, a genuine chuckle escapes her silver snout. It feels good to hear that again.
"You're on the right track then, douchebag."
"Alright, then let's get the makeup finished so I can go help the day-crew like I promised."
"Fine."
Roxanne and I now stand behind the small crowd of crew, all discussing their plans for setting all the decorations up.
The soft murmurs of the crowd as they prepare is a comforting sound, one that makes you feel productive by just being in their vicinity.
Roxy's tail sways slowly behind her as the two of us stand side by side, not really doing much ourselves. Rox is the first one to speak up about it.
"You gonna go in and figure out what the plan is at some point?" She lightly chides, pointing at the very obvious crowd in front of us.
"Cooper told me he had a job for me, so I'm waiting for him to finish talking with whoever he's talking with over there."
"Mm.. Wouldn't hurt for him to hurry the hell up.."
"Might want to keep your voice down with all the day crew around."
"Don't lecture me on how I speak, Mike."
"As you wish."
She gives me a side-eyed glare in response to my sarcasm, but continues to look forward with her arms crossed.
...
Roxanne's tail swishes around a couple more times before it suddenly raises upright in front of me and stays there, obscuring part of my view.
...
...?
Is she trying to get me to pet it?
"...What are you doing?"
Not moving her head, her eyes trail back to me, and then to the tail in front of me.
Rox seems to recognize how weird she's being, and brings her tail back down behind her, continuing to swish it back and forth; Trying to pretend like she isn't embarrassed with her typical stoic glare forwards. The new tinge of red spreading across her face does little to support that, though.
I try not to laugh and cause her more embarrassment, but that was pretty funny. I'm afraid I can't be toying with your tail every time we stop moving for more than a couple minutes.
"Michael."
A voice from in front of me disrupts my train of thought. Arin.
He makes his way over and stops a few feet in front of me.
"Hello." I greet, which might or might not be necessary for this man in particular.
"Good evening. Cooper told me to relay the plan with you."
"Sounds good."
The two of us talk for little more than a minute or two. I get a general gist of what I'm going to be helping with, and I look to Roxanne to confirm that she heard what he said as well, expecting that this many-person job would be left with me and her..
Though apparently, Arin has other plans.
"And you, Roxanne. Good evening."
Rox takes a moment to register that Arin's now addressing her in specific.
"Hello.."
"If you're willing, could you help those few over there?" Arin points behind himself towards a small group of younger day-crew, who seem to be untangling Christmas lights.
Roxanne gets a good look at them, then looks back at Arin as if to ask what she'd be helping them do.
"They just need your height to reach some of the higher places that need lights hung up. Is that alright?"
Roxy looks back to the kids, then at Arin again. She looks a little disappointed, but nods in understanding.
I chime in.
"I'm not sure if I'll be able to do my job alone, Arin."
"You won't be alone, those logs are entirely too heavy for one person. He'll be accompanying you."
Arin points behind me, as if I know who he's talking about. I don't, of course, so I look over my shoulder and-
"Heya Mike!"
Jesus.
Monty is positioned right behind me, pounding his fist into his palm. He's clearly been psyching himself up quite a bit for this job. Monty does make a reasonable choice for what we'll be doing in particular, though.
I've been tasked with moving the Christmas trees from out of a storage area into a new room where the 'tree chomper' was set.
While explaining, Arin did make it sound like there would only be me and one other person for this job, which I thought was odd. It would usually take a crew of at least 6 people to move something like a damn tree.
This does change things, though. Monty's strength is pretty incredible compared to anyone or anyTHING else, including the rest of the animatronics. I bet 'I'm' the one tagging along with 'him', since all I bet I'll be doing is add a little stability while we carry the trees. I'd bet Monty can lift the logs himself, but I'm not sure if he's the best at balancing things.. I might just be there to make sure the trees don't tip off to one side and obliterate whatever they fall on.
"Hey Monty."
"MikeIam SO. fricken. ready."
"No time to lose, I guess."
"Right!"
And he rockets away, springing towards wherever the trees are being kept. I turn around to see Arin's also gone off and started doing whatever it is he needs to do, leaving only Roxanne and I still standing there.
"How come Arin doesn't get any of your sarcasm?" She asks, glancing at me from the side.
"His responses aren't funny enough."
"And Monty?" She raises an eyebrow.
"If he finds anything I say even remotely funny, he might not stop howling until the next day."
Sorry, Rox. You're the only one I ever really speak casually too, so you're the one who has to deal with my casual BS.
"Mm. Whatever."
"I'm gonna go make sure Monty doesn't break something, have fun with whatever you're doing."
"Thanks."
With that, the two of us head in our separate directions.
"Hroooaaaghh!" Monty roars for the fourth time as he hoists an entire friggen tree on his shoulder.
"Don't.. Hurt yourself.."
I just get a laugh in response.
"Aw this is 'nothing'! Check this out- I bet I can carry two of 'em!"
"No! No, please don't.." I respond a little wearily. Hell, he may actually be strong enough to carry two of them at the same time, and it sure would make this job faster.. But the weight of Monty, a tree, and then a second friggen tree all going to one spot as he takes a step may actually permanently damage the floor.
"Alriiight, fine, but you're carrying the next one! This shoulder's gettin' tired."
"I cannot carry an entire tree on my shoulder."
"Nahhh, sure you can! You just gotta get the right posture, then it's easy." He explains while beginning to walk to our destination.
"..Monty, how much do you weigh?" I ask, which sounds like an inappropriate question, but I just cannot fathom that this guy can carry something so heavy without weighing as much as a tank himself.
"Cooper says I shouldn't tell people that."
"Interesting."
While carrying one of the logs through the animatronic corridor, I spot Roxy and her merry little gang of followers hanging lights above each of the gang's rooms.
More specifically, one of the day-crew is on a ladder, the other two are holding the ladder still, and Roxanne is standing to the side with arms crossed, watching boredly.
Monty and I make it most of the way through the room before Monty calls out to them with a simple greeting. As 'simple' as one of Monty's greetings can get, I guess.
They all look in our direction, and the day crew all respond with chipper tones and energetic waves. I settle for a small wave towards Roxanne, which she returns in kind. Then, at almost the exact same time, they all finish their greetings and just stare at the two of us carrying the log through the room.
...
They're all looking at 'me'.. Why? If anything, I'd expect the interesting one of us to be the one carrying an entire log on their shoulder.
...Oh, wait.
Thinking about it, Monty and I are both carrying the log the same way, resting it's weight on our shoulder. Of course, Monty is doing just about all of the carrying, but from an outside perspective, I bet it looks like the two of us are doing equal parts.
I try not to chuckle at the thought. Maybe they think I'm some sort of super-human now. That'd be an entertaining rumor to spread.
Even Rox is looking at me with slightly-widened eyes. Though soon after, she seems to turn that confusion into motivation, and turns around to tell everyone to keep working. This time, she's helping too, using her height to string the lights on parts of the wall that the others can't reach without use of the ladder.
Welp, I'll take the credit for motivating her to work harder. That might end up being the only actually worthwhile thing I manage to pull off during my time here.
Somehow, Trudge and Chica managed to find us in this little room with the remaining logs we need to carry.
"How many didja' do so far?" Chica chirps next to me.
"Monty and I have carried most of them out by now, maybe around 10 of them?"
"..You were carrying these things?" Trudge tries to confirm, looking down at the weighty trees.
"I like to think I was helping, but Monty's been doing just about all the work."
"D'awwww, that's not true!" Monty comes out of nowhere and slaps my back, walking past me and towards the next log. "You're stronger than you think, I betcha! Here.."
Monty pulls a log away from the pile of what remains.
"Try pickin' this one up! I reeeally think you can do it!"
I know for an absolute fact that I can't, but I'll try, if for no other reason than to make you stop asking me to carry one myself.
I crouch next to the log and slide a hand under it as far as it can go, then huzzah! Like magic, the tree raises with my hand with ease! I can even carry the rest of them in one go if I stack the remaining three on both my shoulders! I carry the logs through the building with Chica, Trudge, and Monty sitting atop them like queens!
Just kidding.
The log doesn't budge, obviously.
Well, I can move it. Like, rolling it doesn't take all that much effort, but I can't even get the thing off the ground.
"Mm, yep. That's not happening."
"Aww, you're almost there!" Monty tries to tell me.
Not 'almost'. Not even close.
I'm about to take my hands out when Trudge slides in next to me.
"...Trudge, I don't think-"
"No shuddup! we got it!"
Trudge has apparently decided that this looks fun. Predictably, Chica bounces in excitement and runs to the other side of the log to try lifting as well.
"Arrrright, on 'go'. Three-!" Monty coaches us from the sidelines.
Sigh.
He counts down, and despite my better judgement, I lift with everything I got.
To our credit, the log does lift off the ground, but just barely.
We keep it lifted for a few seconds, but despite Monty's incredibly loud encouragement, we all decide to let it down easy with our remaining strength.
Upon putting the tree down, Trudge and Chica actually start jumping around excitedly. Apparently, they're pretty proud they could even get as far as we did.
I look down at the log in front of me.
...
Whew...
...
I should start working out..
Before we even know it, Monty and I are finished.
There's a whole system set up in the tree chomping room, like one of those things you'd see in a sawmill. Thankfully, it automates most of the actual 'chomping' process.
We're saving that part for a little later, however. As more and more people finish their jobs, we all return to the auditorium.
Cooper was evidently very grateful that so many people came out to help, when none of them needed too. So as thanks, he spend the entire time we were working going out and informally catered enough food to feed everyone that helped tonight.
I couldn't help but smirk at Coop as he explained where he's been all this time. He's got an awfully creative mind for getting out of work and avoiding responsibility for it. Fine with me, a bite from these sandwiches is enough to forget all about his transgressions.
Everyone spends the time socializing, and generally having a good time. Trudge and Chica's antics were contagious, leading to a lot of the younger day crew running around and playing with whatever they could find. Someone managed to find a football, and now there's a whole game happening on the far side of the auditorium.
Think I'll stay away from there for now.. That's a bit too high-energy for my taste.
They compliment the energy of the place, though. Despite it being only a few days from holiday season, it feels like I'm at a thanksgiving get-together.
Monty's run off to go play whatever they're playing over there, which I'm sure won't cause a scene. Chica's playing too, which looks weird at first with how girly she is, but you gotta remember that she's still the 'athletic' one of the gang.
Freddy and I found more comfort chatting and eating off our Faz-brand paper plates. We talk about whatever comes to mind, which is something I've never really been able to casually enjoy with someone before. Look at me go, being all social and such.
Freddy is still Freddy, however, and it isn't all that long before someone needs/wants him for something, and god forbid Freddy ever says 'no' to anything.
I press what remains on my plate into my mouth, and spin the plate on my fingertips a few times.
...Those sandwiches are seriously friggen delicious, I've got to ask Cooper where he got them.
I waltz back to the table with all the food, eventually decide that I've had enough for one night, and toss my plate in the trash.
On my way back to where I was standing, I catch a glimpse of some silver fur swishing around. Stopping awkwardly in my tracks, It doesn't take long to spot Roxanne. She's sitting on the ground and eating, making up part of a circle of day-crew who I believe Roxy was helping earlier.
They all seem to be happily chatting among themselves. Even with Roxanne, which is a bit unusual, but pleasing to see. Rox has never been very social with people outside of random visitors whom she knows she won't see very often.
Understanding my options are to either go mess with Roxy or stand around alone in the spot I was in earlier, I choose the former.
Before I can reach them, however, Roxanne rises from her spot with her plate and makes a motion to her crew that suggested she'd be back in a second. Watching her wander towards the tables with all the food, I look back at the group she was sitting with, who seem to have spotted me standing around like an idiot.
Thankfully, they all seem to still have that chipper innocence of being recently employed, and are quick to beckon me over for what I assume to be a chat.
With no excuse to do anything else, I join their little circle.
Like I did with Freddy, we talk about whatever nonsense comes to anyone's mind. I'm not incredibly extroverted, so I mostly just enjoy listening to their interactions, and only talk when responding to a question directed at me.
"Oh my god, right! You!" A girl of the group suddenly addresses me with a mouth full of.. Something..
"Mhm?"
Realizing that they should probably maintain some sense of decency, they swallow their food before continuing.
"You and Monty! Woooooaaahh!"
A couple of affirmative hums sound from a couple of the surrounding employees. I probably should've expected this conversation to come up at some point.
"Were those trees hollow or something?" One of the more mellow employees next to me asks.
"No, but even if they were, I wouldn't be able to carry one without Monty's help."
"So that was a whole friggen tree on your shoulder?" He chuckles.
"Yeah. I did little more than prevent the thing from tilting, though."
He turns around to talk to address his friend, but intentionally talks loud enough for me and everyone listening to hear.
"I probably couldn't even do 'that', could you?"
His friend only responds with hum to the tone of 'probably not', since his face is currently stuffed with noodles.
..There was pasta up there?
The topic fades out pretty quickly, without giving me enough time to stress the point that I really hardly did anything at all. Whatever. There are worse fates than being rumored to have superhuman strength.
Conversation between themselves resumes in full throttle, spirits higher than ever. It isn't until I hear the sound of ruffling fur next to me that things suddenly change.
Tilting a little to get a look, I find Roxanne in the middle of the process of sitting down next to me.. I was expecting that, though. What I wasn't expecting was for the chatter around us to suddenly die down quite a bit.
Trying to stay inconspicuous, I take a glance at the employees scattered around nearby.
...They're looking in our direction..And look pale..Like they're about to witness something horrible happen.
I'm.. not really sure what's going on.. This didn't happen in response to either Roxanne or I coming down to sit individually. Roxy still doesn't seem to have noticed while she shimmies to get comfortable.
I'm about to cross it off as 'they see something I don't' when I finally realize what the day crew considers the relationship between Rox and I to be.
The last time the majority of them had heard ANYTHING about Roxy and I interacting was when she scratched my face; and everything before then pointed to the two of us being enemies.
They must still think we hate each other.
It feels like so long ago that Roxy and I were on bad terms that I hadn't even considered that people might think we still have conflict..
It shouldn't be all that hard to prove otherwise. Maybe all it'll take is some conversation.
"How'd your job go?" I ask the now cross-legged wolf next to me.
"Fine. It was boring, but it got better." She responds quickly before scooping a fork-full of food into her maw.
"Did it get better once you started actually working?" I chide, earning an equally playful scoff from her.
"Shut up, Mike. It couldn't have been much worse than you 'pretending' to help Monty."
"Dunno what you're talking about, I did almost all of the work."
"Uh-huh."
I suppress a chuckle as she puts another bite of food in her mouth.
...
That did 'something', I think. Evidently not very much.. I was hoping to just show them that her and I are friends just through talking, but I can understand how actions can speak louder than words when the 'action' was physically injuring me.
They appear to be looking at us out of curiosity instead of terror, which is progress. Though a lot of them still seem to believe they're watching a time-bomb ticking down second by second.
Alright, clearly I need to be more obvious about it. Hm..
"Rox."
"What?"
"Can I see your tail?"
'That' gets her attention.
"You want-?...Why?" She looks up at me skeptically from her plate.
"Just wanna see it."
"Hell no."
"Why not?"
" 'Just wanna see it' is pretty damn suspicious, Mike."
"Alright, fine. I'm cold."
"..You're 'cold'?"
"Yeah."
"You want my tail because you're 'cold'..?" Disbelief evident in her tone.
"Mhm."
"..."
Rox stares up at me with distrust, but eventually scoffs and slams her tail in my lap.
"You're like a child sometimes, you know that?"
"A warm child."
"Uh-huh. Keep talking and this tail might 'accidentally' flip this plate in your direction."
"Whatever you say."
...
I might've overdone it that time.. They're looking at me like that was the most adorable thing they've ever seen..
Freddy, Monty, and I are all standing side by side in this new room that seems to have been dedicated specifically for the 'tree chomper'.
I don't really remember this room very well, which makes me think it was built recently. That would suggest that the building's had some construction done on the Pizzaplex, though, which you think would be hard to miss..
Maybe this room was just repurposed, and looks different because of it. Perhaps it was a storage room or something. I dunno.
All the trees have been loaded onto these rack-looking things, which automates a good portion of this process. The only thing that's done manually is the actual 'chomping'. About 25 feet above the machine is a metal-grate platform that was built with all the controls on it, located up against the wall the platform was built on. There are also controls for moving the racks that have the trees on them, in case the automation doesn't work properly. It's a shoddy system, but at least it's one that doesn't have to be done by hand.
The reason the 'chomping' isn't automated is because it's.. Understandably dangerous.. If the metal teeth of the chomper get activated, there's very little that'll prevent it from severing whatever's in it's maw. The way we're doing it ensures that there's no careless injuries that occur, since verbal confirmation is required by whoever's watching the chomper for the person controlling it to actually chomp.
In other words, no accidents can happen, because someone has to actually physically activate the chomper each time they need to chomp. Reduces the risk for glitches or malfunctions to basically 0.
The three of us watch as the first tree is slowly inserted to the length desired, and then:
- CHOMP -
Whoof.. That's.. Incredibly loud..
Grinding can be heard from the machine as it shreds the wood it chomped off into mulch.
As the tree slides away from the machine, we see that it worked shockingly well. The cut was clean, and the tree is ready to be set up just about wherever. A few of the crew scattered around even start clapping.
"WHOOOO!"
Monty appears to be thoroughly impressed with such raw power from a machine that was able to be carried in with only a couple people. He starts running up to the stairs that lead to the control platform, and a couple panicked day-crew try to convince him to stay down here.
Out of the corner of my eye I can see Roxanne enter the room to see what all the commotion is about, and stop a dozen feet in front of the door.
I look up at Freddy next to me.
"Did Cooper ever say how much this thing costs?"
Freddy sighs, more focused and exasperated with the gator's behaivor.
"The tree cutter or Monty?" He responds, half-joking.
I chuckle.
"The tree cutter, but I bet Monty would have been able to do this himself if he was given the chance."
Freddy chuckles. Good interacting, Mike.
"He might have been, who knows.. But no, I don't think I was ever informed of the price."
"With a machine as small as that, and with results as clean as those, that thing might be worth it's weight in gold."
"Cooper did tell me you carried it in, though. Nicely done."
"I didn't do it alone, the truck driver who delivered it helped me carry the thing inside."
"Mm.. I suppose that make sense.." Freddy rubs his chin. "Though I have heard feats of your strength, Michael. I'm thoroughly impressed."
"Feats of my strength..?"
"A fellow staff member told me you were seen carrying an entire tree on your shoulder."
Now that's not even remotely true.
"As much as I'd like to take credit, Monty was the one doing most of the lifting. I was just there to stop him from getting distracted.. I think.."
Freddy nods. Did he really believe I carried one of those logs on my shoulder all by myself?
After a few seconds, Freddy snickers and looks back down at me.
"Are you sure? I was more than willing to believe them." He tells me, obviously joking.
"I mean-. Yeah, I did carry one. In fact, I carried three of them at once, with Monty sitting atop them."
I do a body-builder flex to stress my point.
Freddy heartily laughs, which instinctively causes me to laugh with him.
As we calm down, I turn back to continue watching the tree chomper. While I do so, however, I catch Roxanne standing in the same spot she was in earlier, pretending like she isn't looking longingly in our direction.
I want to beckon her over and invite her to have friendly conversation with us, but Rox must have her reasons for not doing so in the first place, so I leave it be for now and turn my attention to the machine at work.
Near the end of the chomping process, Trudge and Chica find me standing where I was before. Freddy had something he had to do, or something like that, so he took off. I expected Roxy to approach as soon as Fred left, but she stayed standing where she was.
"Cooper came back with cookies a few minutes ago, if ya hadn't had some already." Chica states plainly as the two approach. She must be bushed from playing whatever's going on in the auditorium.
"I've already eaten plenty. Thanks, though."
"You did not, you had like 3 total things." Trudge speaks for Chica. These two talk to others like they're one entity..
"Two of those three things were meals by themselves."
"Well then you should go play with the guys! That'll get ya hungry!" Chica adds for Trudge, who now appears to have his hands on his knees and is breathing heavily.. I hope they don't make a huge mess out there. If they leave late enough, it might end up becoming my problem.
"I don't 'want' to keep eating."
"Eating is fun!"
"I don't exercise enough to eat everything in front of me, like you two."
Trudge makes a 'heh' through one of his gasps for air.
"You 'callin me fat?" He says in between inhales.
"No, you guys make up for it by sprinting wherever you go."
"That's what I thought." Trudge finishes, standing back upright with a stretch.
"Mikey, did you see how-"
- CHOMP -
The both of them jump and cover their ears. I didn't flinch, but I also think I've gotten used to the noise by now.
"..What whussat?" Chica asks in a panic, looking around the room frantically.
I point to the incredibly obvious machine on the far end of the room.
"Why'd it do that?"
"It's cutting the trees."
"Why?"
"So the trees can fit where we need them too."
"Where?"
"..Wherever we want them..?"
"Oh." Chica finally stands back upright and completely removes her hands from her ears.
"They're the Christmas trees we'll be using."
"Ooooo. Can I have one in my room?"
"You'd have to ask Coop."
"Pleeease?"
"..You'd still have to ask Coop."
"Can't you do it?"
"I thought you saw firsthand that I couldn't lift the logs?"
"But Monty said you were almost there!"
"I was not."
"But one of the day guys said they saw you-!"
"I did not carry an entire tree by myself."
"Aww! How do you know?" She asks, frustrated with my uncooperative-ness.
...What?
"...You think I could convince someone to let me try the chompy?" Trudge asks no one in particular, moreso just stating his thoughts into the air in front of him.
"No. You'd have to beat Monty to it anyway."
"Monty wants to try?"
"Yep."
"Sounds bad."
"Yep."
"But I'd do good."
Sigh.
"I'm sure you would.."
Chica perks next to me.
"We can always ask though! Right?"
"Yeah! You never know." Trudge responds, shrugging hopefully. Danger is brewing.
"It's not me you have to convince."
"Then who?" He asks, putting his hand above his eyes as if he's blocking the sunlight to look around for the person he needs to talk too.
"Cooper, probably."
"Aw.. Do we have to ask him 'everything'?" Chica whines behind me.
"No, just the important stuff. Such as getting a tree into your room, or operating a death machine."
" 's alright, I got an idea on how to convince him." Trudge mischievously claims, rubbing the underside of his nose.
"Really? Can we go?" Chica hops in place a couple times.
"Yep! Follow me, I know where he is."
The two of them sprint back out of the room just as fast as they came in. Which is curious, since Cooper is currently in this room, maybe 50 feet in front of me.
Welp, I'm not gonna correct them. Things are probably better off this way.
...
She's still standing over there. Roxy, I mean.. She hasn't done very much besides stand cross-armed and stare at the machine. Whenever I'm talking with someone else, though, I can see her sneak glances in my direction during the more engaging parts of my conversation.
Her pride and her desire to socialize must be conflicted with each other.
I'll try and let her figure it out on her own, but if she stays there for much longer, I'm dragging her over here whether she likes it or not
Things are finally starting to wrap up. Most of the day crew has left, with only a few stragglers making their way out as we speak. I'm still in the chomping room, helping wrap things up.
All the logs ended up getting used, so now I'm just getting the racks out of the way. Monty's helping move the heavier things, which reduces the amount of people that still need to be here.
"Mike!"
"Yeah?"
"Where do these go?" The green gator yells at me across the room, holding a rack in each hand, which is a feat in itself.
"I'm lining them up against the wall." I respond, pointing at the wall I'm talking about.
"Got it!"
...
"So like, where do you want me to put them?"
"..Lined up against the wall?"
"Ohh! Like you're doin'?"
"Yeah.."
He sounded so confident with that 'got it'..
We keep moving things aside, and as I'm moving the last couple racks away, I catch a glimpse of Monty looking around suspiciously before jogging out of my sight.
I leave him to do whatever the hell he's found himself to do. I'm only a couple racks away from being done with this place.
- CHOMP -
Jesus.. I was like 10 feet away from it..
A couple of Monty-sized footsteps can be heard above me before he peers down at me from the balcony.
"Hah! Did I getcha!?" He asks hopefully.
"It got a jump out of me, yeah.."
"Hhhah! Hahahaha!" His laughing fades as he jogs back to the steps.
Despite my better judgement than to encourage this behavior, I let myself chuckle to relieve some stress.
As I look back down to the rack in front of me, I once again catch Roxy in the corner of my eye..
I don't want to call her out on it, but it looks like she's hatching some kind of scheme. She has determination in her eyes, and I can just barely hear her mutter something about 'favorite.'
Before I can ask her what's going on, Monty's footsteps interrupt my thoughts.
"Are we done with the things, Mike?" He calls from behind me.
"I think so, this is the last of the racks. I can handle the rest of what needs to be done."
"Coolio, 's alright if I go get a bite before all the food is put away?"
"Sure. The food might already be gone, though. I think the last of the day-crew just left." I warn, looking at my faz-watch for confirmation. The only lights lit up on the little contacts page are the gang's and Cooper's.
"Nahh, they saved me a bite!"
"They did?"
"Of course they did! Why wouldn't they?"
"...Alright."
"See ya Mike!"
"I'll be around, I still have the night shift."
But before I can finish my sentence, Monty's already out the door, leaving only Roxy and I.
"You alright over there?" I finally ask, apparently breaking her concentration.
"I'm fine."
"You can always come talk, if you want."
"I'm alright, Mike."
..She said that while failing to hide a mischievous grin.. I can't say I'm entirely convinced..
"Alright, I gotta put all of the woodchips somewhere real quick, so you know where to find me."
"Mmmhm." Is all the answer she gives me before starting to walk towards the door. As one last jab at me, she turns some of the lights off as she passes them. Like most of the rooms in the building, one switch didn't control all the lights. It did turn off all of the center lights, leaving little to work with. Smirking, I decide I'll get her back later.
I turn around to face the tree chomper. My final task of the 'day'.
I purposely waited for everyone to leave before doing this next part, but all the woodchips need to be removed from the chomper, as well as the grindy bits that mulch the wood that gets chopped off.
Even so, it's still intimidating.. Being close to this thing screams danger, but thankfully the process of doing both of my tasks aren't that dangerous.
All the woodchips fall into a container separate from all the moving bits. All I have to do is slide the container out.
...
...
Maybe we were supposed to do this after every other tree, cause this thing ain't moving... The sheer amount of wood is jamming the drawer.
I stand up and sigh, this might be a bigger pain than I thought.
..Welp, might as well bite the bullet..
I slooowly insert my arm into the maw of the machine. It has literally no reason or ability to chomp at the moment with all the safety features we've applied, but I can't help but be cautious.
My arm enters and exits the machine a couple times, eliminating any thought that it might, for some reason, go off automatically.
I reach down to disconnect the grindy parts on the bottom of the chomper. There was a better way to do this, but I need to reach in here anyway, so I might as well eliminate any apprehension or irrational fear of this thing as soon as I can.
The first one disconnects smoothly.
...
Wow, that is a lot of wood. I understand why the drawer won't come out..
...
The second and last grinder piece disconnects without a hitch
Alright, I think I'm over it.
Finally coming to terms that this machine doesn't have a mind of its own, I freely insert my upper body to look around.
An annoying, but easy fix. I might just have to scoop out a bunch of wood bit by bit.. Sigh..
Grabbing a nearby bucket and rolling up my sleeves, I kneel down and get to work scooping out wood handful-by-handful.
...I hope Roxy's alright..The way she was peeking over at me while I talked to the gang was disheartening. I don't want to assume, but she looked 'jelous', for lack of a better word. Roxanne's desire to uphold her solitary reputation made her reluctant to waltz over to me whenever she had the chance, but it's clear she wanted to interact a little bit.
She said something about needing help with one of her carts last night, so I think I'll try using that as an excuse to give her the 'special attention' that she needs to function some days.
What an odd creature.
I was trying to be nice when I told Rox I'd help tonight, and meant every word, but I'm not sure how much help I'll actually be.
Well, whatever. Maybe she just needs someone to curse at when something goes wrong. I'm pretty good at getting cursed at, if I do say so myself. I should put that in my resume.
Oop, something just 'chunked'.
...
Hey, the drawer moves. Victory.
Thank god, I didn't like having my arm in that thing.. You get used to it, but the thought is always in the back of your mind.
I slide it from under the chomper and dump as much as I can into the bucket.
Mm.. Actually, here..
I put the drawer back into the chomper for just a moment, just enough to sweep the straggling woodchips on the bottom of the chomper into the container.
My arm's getting tired.. Thankfully the bandage on my hand prevents any of the wood from poking or splintering me. I'm perfect for this job.
Shaking my hand a little bit to wake it up for it's last task, I reach in until I can feel the bottom of the machine, and the last couple wood scraps scattered in the-
- CHO-
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
-.-.-.-.y ears.. What just...?
The ringing in my ears takes a few seconds to fade, and even now it still hasn't vanished completely.
My face was less than a foot away from this thing, that felt like 'actually' getting flashbanged. Or what I imagine getting flashbanged would feel like.
I need to snap out of it and figure out what the hell just happened. Did it bug after all? That almost took my..
...
My.. My arm..
My right arm, right above the elbow, has been completely severed.
Shit. Bad. Bad bad bad.
It hurts, but as you can expect at this point, it doesn't hurt not nearly as bad as it should. It's looking at the wound that's getting me. I've seen worse, obviously, but.. I needed that thing. That was my damn arm! I doubt whatever's keeping me alive is gonna be able to grow me an entirely new arm!
Come on-! This was a good day until twenty seconds ago! What the hell?
Instinctively, I stand up and back up a couple steps. What do I do? What do I do first? I can hide/get away with a hand injury, but I can't just shrug off an entire arm. People are going to notice extremely quickly, and I won't have an answer for them. Not one I want to give them, anyway.
...
Deep breaths, alright..
First things first, get my-
"Did I getcha?"
My heart spikes, and I throw what remains of my arm behind my back. The lights being off around me helps obscure my condition, but what was..?
...
Roxanne. Roxanne is on the balcony, staring at me with a cocky grin.
The machine can't go off on its own, someone has to activate it manually.
I don't think she knows what she just did.
"R..Rox?"
She takes my stutter as confirmation that she 'scared' me with the tree chomper, like Monty did, and laughs.
Like Monty did.
Like..
Roxy just wanted to interact with me the way the others do.
She was watching me and the others and mentally taking notes. She just wanted to talk with me like I talk with them.
No. No no no no.
We just fuckin' had a conversation about how she felt terrible about hurting me. We JUST talked about how Roxy was beating herself up over injuring me.
Over how she gave me a tiny scar, no bigger than a penny.
I cannot let Roxanne see my arm.
I cannot let Roxanne see my arm.
I. Cannot. Let. Her. See.-
"You shoulda seen your face. You're as white as a ghost." Roxy playfully jabs from across the room, coming down from the stairs.
"R-Rox, I don't think you should-"
"Ready to work on the cart? I got all my shit set up last night." She explains, continuing to approach.
I instinctively backed up near the door, so she's getting closer with every step she takes.
"U-Um.."
"..Jeez, Mike. You're fine, it was just a loud noise." Roxy lectures me like a child crying about a small scratch.
"..It.."
"...Are you okay? I didn't mean to scare you 'that' badly."
Roxy stops a couple steps in front of me, both looking down at me with both concern and annoyance.
"..I'm fine, sorry." I finally manage to get a coherent sentence out
She narrows her eyes at me, before suddenly making a 180.
"Good, then come here and grab the bucket. I'll carry the drawer you were pokin' at earl-"
Out of nowhere, Roxy's leg suddenly loses all traction and goes farther than she wanted, resulting in her tripping pretty hard.
"Ow- Fuck!"
To some relief, she catches herself before her head comes into contact with the floor. Instinctively, part of me wants to poke fun at her for slipping.
However, when I look down to see the reason she tripped, I'm met with a horrible realization.
The lights being off in this area obscured the floor, and more importantly, everything on it.
Both of us notice that she's currently in a small puddle, which likely caused her to slip. I recognize it immediately.
It's where I was standing a moment ago, now surrounded by a puddle of blood. Blood that's now coating the clothes and fur on her arms and legs, including what splashed onto her face as a result of tripping.
It takes her a moment to recognize what it is, and she slowly moves her head to trace the trail of puddles to the tree chomper at the back of the room.
Not long after does she track the blood the other way, but by the time she looks over, I'm already out the door.
Shit. Shit. Shit... Shit!
I cannot imagine a scenario worse than this one. I thought by running, I'd be able to prevent her from seeing what happened for a little bit longer, but obviously she doesn't NEED to look at me to figure this out anymore.
I ran quite a bit, until I made it to a secluded employee area. It's here that I'm gathering my bearings and deciding my next course of action.
Thankfully my sleeves were rolled up when the arm was severed, so I was able to make a crude 'fake arm' with my sleeve that makes it look like I just have my hand in my back pocket. It also prevents anymore blood from spilling at the moment.
So that's cool.
...
Fuck, what do I do?
I cannot recover from this, all the damage has already been done, and there's nothing I can do about it. No excuses, no lies, no misdirection.. Damn it!
For the time being, I decide that I need to get out of the building before anyone else sees me. All the day crew has left, so I shouldn't have to worry about bumping into anyone but the gang..
...
Well, shit, here we go..
I've made it to the auditorium. There's not much further to go, but I have NO idea where anyone is or what they're doing.
Or what Roxanne's doing.
Rox... Mmmnnn...
It feels horrible. I can't possibly imagine how she feels right now.
I want to be able to tell her that I'm alright, the wound won't be fatal due to my 'condition', and that I'll recover. But I 'know' I can't.
Sticking to the sides, I make it partway through the auditorium before the second-worse noise I hear today plays. My phone is ringing.
It's Cooper.. I have to answer.. What are the chances he knows what happened?
- click -
"...Michael?"
Oh right. I'm the one obligated to say something first, aren't I.
"Sorry, hello."
"There you are. Where are you right now?"
"I'm.. Busy, why?"
"Roxanne wants to know, apparently."
My heart sinks through the floor.
"What?"
"I was trying to call your FazWatch to let you know- Oh hey! By the way, I'm leaving you some leftovers from tonight. I heard you liked the sandwhiches." He laughs on the other end of the phone. I wish I could laugh with him, but I'm having a crisis at the moment.
"Why does Roxanne..?"
"Right: I tried calling you on your FazWatch to let you know about the leftovers thing, but Roxy picked up."
Just as I thought my heart couldn't sink any lower, I inhale as I figure out what that means.
Stupidly, I try to look at my FazWatch, which I wear on my right arm. As you might have heard, I no longer have the latter, which means I no longer have the former.
Which means Roxanne found my severed arm in the chomper, with my FazWatch still attached.
"..Roxanne picked up?"
"Yyyeah.. Are you two alright? I thought she was about to explode on the other end."
"Y-Yeah, we're fine."
"She isn't harassing you again, is she?"
"No, not at all."
"Welp." He nervously chuckles on the other end. "Whatever you did, Roxanne is on the brink of losing her damn mind. She told me to find out where you were. Many times, actually."
"...O-Oh, well. I'll go find her in a minute, I'm a little busy right now-"
"That's weird, actually.." His tone suddenly shifts.
"Huh?"
"You're not wearing your FazWatch right now, right? So how come your name is still lit up on the contac-?"
I ended the call.
...
I want to cry.
...
I'm right there, only a little more..
My footsteps ring across the lobby as I start making my way down the stairs.
I've started developing a plan in my head, so by extension I've also started to calm down a little.
A couple ideas of where to go start popping up, and one of them begrudgingly sound much more realistic than the others.
Assuming I don't die while trying to drive with one hand, that is..
I reach the bottom of the stairs and waste no time with the turnstile. How I plan to explain this to Cooper and everyone else is something I can come up with over the next hour or two. Obviously, some portion of honesty is going to have to be present. I don't think I can bullshit my way through convincing people that I did not, in fact, lose an arm.
Worry about that later.
The floor is the only thing in between me and the doors, so I start my run over, taking a breath of relief.
Maybe I'm a coward for running away, but things need to 'look' okay before I can convince anyone that they 'are' okay.
I just need to get to the door, I'll have all the time I need to breathe once I'm out-
- clickclackclickclackclickclackclICK -
I turn my head in the direction of the sound, only moments before being completely tackled to the ground by a tuft of silver.
My instincts kick in, and before we hit the ground I push Roxy with my foot to give my assailant more height than she bargained for, resulting in more time in the air to maintain momentum.
Sure enough, I hit the ground first, and receive the opportunity to get up and recover much sooner than she does.
She brings a hand to her head but stays down a bit longer than I expected, giving me more time to fight back the panic, in addition to the ever creeping purple in the corner of my vision.
Then.. She..
...
She isn't getting up.
Shit, what did I just do?
Roxy must've hit her head when she landed, she's hardly moving.
Damn it.
I give the doors, sitting so tantalizingly close, one last look.
Damn it!
Then run to Roxy's side.
...
"Rox? Roxanne, are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-.." I stop myself, deciding apologizing would be best saved for later.
"Mnnngh.." A pained moan is all I'm able to get at the moment.
She's holding the side of her head with one of her hands. The other.. She's holding MY arm in her other hand.
Pangs of guilt and despair beat through my veins..
...
We can't stay here. If someone sees me over a beaten and bloodied wolf who's holding my severed right arm in her hand, bad things are gonna happen.
"We need to move, alright? I'll get you to your green room, somewhere with a bed and pillow."
"Nnnh.. Wh.?"
Deciding that was enough confirmation for me, I manage to position myself in a way to carry her with only one arm. Not the most elegant solution, but.. Nothing about this situation is elegant..
...
Sigh.. Alright, so..
I've been sitting with Roxy in her room for a while.. She actually lost consciousness when I was taking her over, but thankfully that was the worst that happened. I was able to get a better look at both of our injuries.
Roxy isn't seriously injured, just dazed from hitting the tiled floor so hard. That thought makes me feel better until I remember that I'm the reason she lost control in the air at all.
I just.. Finished a difficult conversation with Cooper over the phone.. I decided to bite the bullet, and tell him just about everything that happened (aside from Roxy activating the tree chomper). Thankfully, as soon as he read my tone, he listened quietly and clearly. Coop told me he'd be back in about twenty minutes.
The gist of everything that I know so far is that we're closing for tomorrow, and however long it takes to get the situation cleaned up. Cooper promised to keep the details between us until I decide how I want to explain where the hell my arm went to the rest of.. everyone..
I appreciate how cooperative he can be sometimes.. Heh, COOPERative..
For the time being, I did what little I could with Roxanne's injury. All that might really come of it is some bruising, but thankfully that part of her head is covered in hair and fur anyway, so no one would notice.
Her green room's back door had an emergency med kit, so I did my best to properly wrap up my arm. In addition, my severed arm was completely wrapped in whatever spare bandage I could find.
I also tied up my sleeve right under where my arm was cut, kinda making it look like one of those sausage things.
...
Today was such a good day.. How could it go so poorly in so little time?
Right now I'm doing my best to clean any exposed fur that got blood on it. I don't think I really need to be doing this, but if I don't keep myself busy at the moment, I might go insane.
Not that I'm achieving much.. Tap water, soap, and a rag is all that I could find nearby. Blood and fur are.. Peculiarly annoying when combined..
...
Is this an invasion of privacy? All I'm doing is scrubbing her arm, but something about her being knocked unconscious makes me feel scummy.. Maybe it's 'cause 'I' knocked her unconscious.
...
- bonk -
'Twas the sound of my head hitting the side of her bed.
What the hell am I going to say? How do I make this better? I can't explain around-... sigh...
Part of me wants to fall asleep right here, but I know my thoughts would never allow it, even with how exhausted I feel.
There's probably a lot of blood in the tree chomping room.. I'm also probably the only one who's gonna be willing to clean it up.
Maybe this was for the best as well.. If I had run out and left Roxanne alone to deal with what happened all by herself, who knows what might have happened.
What would have happened if I just stayed put in the chomping room? I'm sure Rox would've freaked out for a moment, but at least I'd have been able to talk to her before she starts making any panicked decisions..
..Such as, y'know, tackling me instead of letting me leave the building.
One way or another, this situation is going to get resolved. I just don't know how, or how 'well'.
What will Roxy think when she wakes up? Will she be scared?.. Probably not, she isn't one to get scared easy.. Maybe something closer to overwhelmed. Lord knows I sure am.
...
I might need to get my hands on the security footage.. If anyone sees that Roxy was the one who activated the machine, there's absolutely no telling what will happen.
Maybe I should go do that now.. I don't know what Cooper plans to do when he gets here, but I should use the time that Roxy's sleeping to-
"Mike?"
I freeze for a second, then pop my head up from the side of her bed.
"Rox?"
That was ridiculously fast, she hasn't even been out for 15 minutes.. She's looking at me with dazed and confused eyes, like she just woke up from a nap.
...
We stare at each other for a few more seconds.
All at once, the memory of what happens floods her mind. Roxy glances at my arm, now all bandaged and cleaned to a mediocre degree.
Her gaze returns to mine once more, with much more emotion than before. I can't tell what emotion it is that she's feeling, but it's not a good one. Instinctively, I start trying to gently babble out comforts.
"Rox, wait. I'm fine, everything's been taken care of. Listen, you don't need to feel bad for-"
I'm unable to finish my sentence on account of receiving a powerful slap across my face.
Thankfully, Roxy seemed to remember that she had claws this time, and made sure they never contacted my face, but that hit wasn't just for 'effect' like the last one was. She slapped me with all the force she could muster in that arm.
Admittedly, I was more worried that she'd wallow in despair upon seeing that she severely injured me. I wasn't expecting this reaction at all.
Recoiling from the unexpected force behind the slap, I try to use my right arm to catch myself from falling backwards.
Y'know, my right arm. The one that's currently sitting wrapped up all nice and tidy in Roxy's desk over there.
So anyway, I fall straight backward from the small crate I was sitting on a moment before, landing on my back.
Berating myself for trying to catch myself with my non-existent arm, I use my other one to prop myself up from the ground and look up at the wolf.
She's stood up from the bed, towering over me. Absolutely furious.
Absolutely. Furious.
The wolf's face has gone red from rage, bearing her fangs and staring down at me with the most chilling, hate-filled glare I've seen out of her yet. If she squeezes her hands any harder, they might actually start bleeding.
"Roxanne, I'm-"
"Are you FUCKING insane!?" She screams down at me at the top of her lungs.
I push myself back up to standing as fast as I can.
"I-, Rox I'm-"
"SHUT UP!" She punches the wall, causing a few things hanging from it to fall. "Mike, what the FUCK were you thinking!? When you left, I thought I was gonna fucking die on the spot!"
"I-"
"I was SO. FUCKING. SCARED, Michael! How the hell do you think I felt when you, fuckin-..!" She has trouble getting all the words out. Choking on both her words and the tears forming in her furious eyes.
"I thought I KILLED you, Mike! When you ran away and I couldn't find you, I thought you ran off to hide somewhere and fucking 'die'!"
"That wouldn't have killed me, I'm not-"
"I found. Your FUCKING ARM. In the machine! I ripped your ENTIRE arm off, and you chose to run away! And leave me in a puddle of your. Fucking. Blood!"
Every time she raises her voice she takes a step closer, and I take a step backward. And every time her foot comes into contact with the ground, it's like the world shakes under my feet.
"Please, just let me explai-!"
"Explain WHAT!? You left me ALONE! And I thought you- *hic* fucking-!"
I'm have no control over the situation, and there's nothing I can do. Watching Roxy deteriorate with every word she speaks is killing me. A few drops of water have fallen from her eyes and are coursing down her face, but I'm not sure she even notices.
"I-I didn't want you to see my arm, I thought if you did, it would only make things worse."
"Mike, I DID see your arm! Severed! Bleeding *hic* and rotting inside the fucking machine!"
"I know, I wasn't thinking clearly. I should've-"
"If you were *hic* thinking at all, you'd have fucking *hic* talked to me! Instead of leaving me there and just-..!" She chokes on her words again, feeding her growing fury.
"Rox, I-"
"nngaaHH! MICHAEL!"
It gets to be too much for her, and her body flies towards me like it did back in the lobby.
Roxy crashes into my chest, sending us both falling backwards. My back crashes hard into the desk behind me, preventing the both of us from falling all the way onto the floor.
In a moment of panic and uncertainty, I start to shuffle my legs to try and position myself to stand back up, but I find it difficult with the arms wrapped around my torso.
I stop moving in hopes to prepare for whatever she does next, but I'm left sitting there with nothing to react to.
...
She isn't fighting anymore. The wolf is hardly even moving at all. Her arms are wrapped around me tight, and her face is tucked into my chest facing downward away from me.
...
*hic*
...
My tension starts to fade away.
...
*hic*
...
*hic*
...
So many emotions are conflicting with each other that it makes it hard to decide what to do.
..If that's how I feel, I can't even imagine what Rox is thinking right now..
...
Against my better judgement, I wrap my remaining arm around Roxy's back, and rest my head on the desk behind me.
...
*hic*
I think I'll wait a little bit before trying to talk with her again. We both need a moment.
...
*hic*
...
*hic*
A few minutes pass, and the frequency of her chokes start to diminish. The wet patch originating from Roxy's face on my uniform continues to grow larger and larger, however.
"Rox?"
"Shut up.." A muffled and trembling voice responds to me from my chest.
"Alright."
...
...
"What, Mike?" Her meek voice calls up to me this time.
"Does your head still hurt?"
Her arms reflexively tighten.
"I'm fine."
"Alright."
...
...
I hear a large sniffle originate from under me, indicating she's about to say something.
This uniform is gonna need.. More than 'cleaning'..
"Mike.."
"Mhm?"
"Don't, friggen-.." She sniffles again. "Don't do that. Don't run away."
"..I'm sorry."
"I thought you were dying. I really thought you died."
"I'm sorry."
...
...
"Mike, I was-.."
"Mhm?"
Another sniffle.
"I was scared. You scared me."
"I'm sorry."
"I was really, really fuckin' scared, Mike."
"I'm sorry."
...
...
Unexpectedly, the chokes seem to increase in frequency. Roxy must've though of something.
...
"I-I'm.. I didn't mean to, like.. I'm.."
"Take a deep breath, it's alright."
"Ugh.. You do it so easily.."
"..?"
"I'm sorry, Mike."
"Oh, it's-"
"No! don't say.." Sniffle. "Don't you fuckin' dare say it's alright! It's not! I.."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I dunno! Just, be angry or something!"
"I'm not angry."
"Mike, I-!"
She takes a hand out from behind my back and very lightly punches my chest.
"You don't have an arm anymore! I took your damn arm! You're supposed to be mad! Get mad or something!"
"Sorry, I'm not very good at pretending to be mad."
"You shouldn't have to pretend!"
...
"I'm not mad at you."
"Fuckin..!"
Her frustration is hard to take seriously after being muffled in my shirt. Eventually she just groans and calms herself down over the course of a minute or two.
...
"I didn't mean to hurt you, you know.."
"I know, Rox. I'd be mad if you 'were' trying to hurt me, but you weren't."
"Mnngh.. I was just trying to-.."
She cuts herself off. Eventually, she tries to lower her voice enough so that I can't hear her.
"I was just.. Trying to be your favorite again.."
Obviously, I could hear her, and this catches my attention pretty hard.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Rox, 'again'?"
"Nothing!"
"Rox."
"What!?"
"You haven't stopped being my favorite, Roxanne."
"That's not true!"
Suddenly, she raises her head up to meet mine as if to confront me.
It's stained red with tears, but the actual waterworks seem to have stopped. The makeup doesn't seem to be holding up too well though..
"Chica wouldn't stop talking about you a couple days ago! And Freddy told me you and him spent the entire day together when you hurt your hand!"
"Well, yeah. I had a talk with Chica about a problem she's been having, and Freddy and I were trying to figure some things out."
"Yeah!"
"..Why does that mean you stopped being my favorite?"
"Because you were, like..! You..!"
"Rox. I like hanging out with everyone else too sometimes, but you're still my favorite."
Realizing that she didn't have as much evidence as she thought she did, Roxy just glares at me with skepticism.
"Why is that so hard to believe?" I chuckle, lightly chiding her for her logic.
"Ugh.."
Roxy groans and unexpectedly dives her head back into my chest, causing my heart to flutter for a moment. I admit that I wasn't prepared for that.
"I'm still your favorite? Even after cutting your damn arm off?" She asks, once again muffled from my chest.
"Yep."
"Fuck, Mike. You're weird."
"We're all weird."
I relish in the annoyed groan I get in response to my comment, and rest my head on the desk behind me again.
Even for just a little while longer, the two of us telepathically agree to just sit there in this position for a few more minutes.
...
...
It's already passed by the time I can cognitively recognize it, but for a second.. For just the briefest moment, I felt like I belonged here.
I felt like this was where my purpose was, and that I wasn't out of place in the world.
I felt like my existence wasn't unnatural, and that I wasn't doing anything wrong by continuing to breathe.
...
It was only a moment, but that moment might give me the drive I need to keep going for however long it takes before I get to feel that feeling again.
Cooper arrived a few minutes later. I met him in the animatronic corridor, and told him what happened with Roxanne, who was currently washing the blood off of herself.
Despite knowing I'm going against Roxy's advice, I lie, and say that the cameras in the tree chomping room weren't ever fully set up, so there's no recording of what happened tonight.
Cooper acknowledged me without hesitation, and the two of us talk through a couple plans.
The Pizzaplex will be shut down for a couple days, and the staff will be told simply that there was a malfunction with the tree chomper, resulting in my injury. Cooper hired a couple special guys to clean up whatever mess was made as a result of losing my arm, and I told him I greatly appreciated it.
I don't know how the other members of the gang are going to react when they see me, but I feel like I can rest easy now.
I step outside into the cool winter air, and take the deepest breath I've ever taken.
Alright.. First things first, my arm needs attention.
'I need that arm back' kind of attention, but I know that I'm not gonna be able to just tape it back on and hope it heals.
So, I have to get a prosthetic.
They're expensive, though. And I've never liked the idea of wearing a prosthetic, since I know I'd only have extremely limited movement with it.
...Sigh...If I'm 'lucky', though, I might have a solution to both of those problems.
For the kind of free movement I need, the prosthetic would need to be made by none other than a genius.. And, well.
I doubt William is gonna need that prosthetic down in the basement anymore.
What luck..
NOTES (bottom edition (don't pretend like you're not impressed))
Alright so, my qualms with this chapter don't actually have to do with this chapter at all, instead the positioning of previous chapters. I'll get right into it.
This chapter obviously gives Roxanne a lot of special attention. Now, I wouldn't have even the slightest problem with that, if the last chapter wasn't ENTIRELY focused on Roxanne as well. So I really apologize if you started to get sick of the last 20,000 words being dedicated to that one character.
Second thing comes from Mike's whole being 'injured' thing.
So I've had this chapter floating in my mind forever, and have been waiting to put it down in writing ever since like, chapter 11. As you can tell, Mike sustained an injury in this chapter, which is all fine and good, but it makes me feel dumb for putting chapter 17 where it is.
If you need a refresher, chapter 17 was the one where Mike and Freddy toyed around with the small machines, and Mike accidentally shredded his hand. (I think.)
If I had put that chapter somewhere closer to like, chapter 14, I would have no issues with it. But since it's chapter 17, I feel like I put it way too close to this chapter, so Mike quickly received 2 injuries in quick succession.
Of course, I'm just kinda whining about it, and don't have any plans to make changes, but I thought I'd at least acknowledge it. I'm not the biggest fan when the main character receives injury after injury after injury for the sake of plot, so I guess I just help hypocritical.
ANYWAY
Thanks for reading, my writing schedule might be a little unpredictable, but there shouldn't be any comically long breaks in between chapters if I can help it.
Despite my shining characteristic trait of bitching about everything I see, I thought this chapter turned out pretty decent. I'll have to re-read it in a couple days to make sure, though, since now I'm just about ready to get off of my damn keyboard and go do literally anything else.
Alright, see you in a bit.