Author's Notes:
So the updating schedule is a little weird at the moment while we try and find a better one. Sorry about that.
Chapter 160
Bad Influence
The next night, the bots woke up to the television set up where it was yesterday, even though Mike had rolled it back on its cart to the staff room before the humans left.
Mangle hopped off the stage (she and Toys decided to stay in the main room today) and circled it, looking for the camera and the wires that connected it, but it was missing.
"Did Hedy take the camera with her?" she asked.
"Jeremy did," Freddy said as Spring wandered into the room chatting with Goldy.
"Ooh great. More traumatizing home movies," Hedy's voice said as she came in with Mike, following seconds behind Ruby.
Jeremy snorted as he came in, a hot cup of coffee in his hands. He held it protectively and eyed Ruby, worried she'd make him spill it. Or steal it. He noticed the setup a moment later. "Where's the camera?"
"You didn't take it?" Mike asked.
Jeremy shook his head.
"The building hid it again," Hedy sighed. "I'll go find it."
Ruby glanced at Hedy.
"Not like it to just hide something it wants to show us. You sure it doesn't want something else first?" she asked since Hedy had the emotional connection to the building.
"It does," Hedy sounded tired and annoyed. "But it's not telling me what unless I go get the thing."
"Good luck!" Ruby told her cheerfully as she settled between Foxy and Bonnie with the tablet. After seeing what they went through the previous night, she was being a little clingy. They didn't really mind though.
Hedy left with a grumble. She went down the hallways, not exactly going to a specific place, but following a small pressure in her head while avoiding where she sensed the ghosts.
She turned the corner and immediately froze, resisting the urge to sneer.
The ghosts froze too as they stared back at her, all sitting in a circle in the middle of a back hallway, apparently chatting.
Benji opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and looked away.
Hedy wasn't sympathetic and just shot him a glare before ignoring him.
They were all quiet for a minute before Hedy huffed. She thought they were on the other side of the building. The building was messing with her senses, and based on their expressions, they hadn't sensed her either.
"Sneaky busybody restaurant," she muttered, pissed now, and the walls shifted a bit. She looked back at the ghosts. "Go to the main room," she bit out.
"Why?" Frederick asked hesitantly. He scooted back at the flare of hostility.
"The building is showing us old videotapes I made when I was little," Hedy said. Her lips were pressed in a thin line. "When we were kids." She didn't see them as 'kids' now. Not anymore.
Ginny flinched at the bite in her tone while the others were confused.
"When you were alive," Hedy clarified. "The last one we watched yesterday had Scott and my dad."
The ghosts looked surprised and shared a glance, though Felix sneered at the mention of Scott.
Hedy growled, catching their attention again. "Let me make something crystal clear," she hissed. "If you hurt the bots or say anything to hurt them, I don't care what the building wants. You're out of there. And I know Ruby's been sneaking you brats TV shows. Those are gone the moment you push me."
The kids couldn't look at her.
Cowards.
"Just don't be idiots," she said, pushing her chair through them as they scrambled out of the way. She heard Cheryl try to say something, but stop. Hedy didn't care. When she looked back, they were gone.
She didn't hear anyone yelling, so she took that as a 'good' sign.
The camera switched location and Hedy groaned as the building led her around.
"I can actually get winded you know," she scolded, stretching out her hands. She was already in a bad mood. She glanced up at a door that appeared.
Parts and Services.
Her office technically.
She rolled her eyes and shoved the door open.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," she spat.
Michael was bent over studying one of the masks, but abruptly stood up straight at her voice, also strangely not having sensed Hedy coming in. Then again, he was shit at this ghost thing.
"Wiggy. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he smirked, confusion in his voice, although he tried to hide it.
"It's my room. Go to hell already," Hedy snarled, but came into the room anyway, snatching the camera sitting innocently on the table before setting it on her lap.
Michael started, not having seen the camera a second ago. "What the hell..."
Hedy ignored him and turned around to leave. The door swung a tiny bit. It didn't close and trap her in the room, but she knew what it wanted.
She glared at the door and grabbed it, forcibly holding it open as she left Michael behind.
The door closed sadly behind her, as if she had yelled at it like it was a well-meaning child.
She felt guilt, both from her and the building as she went back to the main room, camera in tow. She noted the children quietly sitting off to the side but still close enough to see the screen, an arm's reach from where she and Mike were sitting yesterday.
Ginny was tightly gripping Felix's arm with her nails digging in and staring at him warningly as Jeremy ignored the glaring Felix was throwing his way.
Hedy was half surprised Ruby hadn't chased the kids out, but maybe it was just her that didn't want them there. The teen did give Hedy an odd, unreadable look when she returned.
"The building wanted all the ghosts to watch," Hedy hissed, passing Jeremy the camera. "Michael included."
Spring tensed.
Timmy looked up and blinked with a thoughtful frown. He then turned and stared at Ruby with puppy dog eyes.
"Oh come on kid." she groaned. "Really?"
"Please Ruby?"
"Why him? He makes everyone uncomfortable." Her eyes darted to Spring, who was definitely looking anxious.
"Please? There must be a reason the building wants him to?" Timmy kept up the puppy dog eyes.
It took a solid two minutes, but Ruby finally sighed in defeat and stood up with Betty.
"You owe me Timmy." she muttered. "You AND the building."
The building rumbled happily as she stalked out of the room. A few minutes later they heard Michael yelling and a few crashes sounded before she dragged the ghost by one leg into the room. Apparently the ghosts weren't that heavy and she didn't have a problem carrying any of them around. She tossed him in a spot where he could see the TV but was on the other side of the group from Spring and quickly surrounded him in salt, a grimace on her face. She got a little sick when handling salt after her coma, but as long as she didn't get stuck in the middle of a ring, she was fine. Michael, on the other hand, was stuck.
Timmy appeared near him. "Behave." he warned Michael before turning forward again. His tolerance for the adult ghost always amazed the others. Kid had the patience of a saint.
Ruby shot a warning look at the ghost kids as well before sitting between an uncomfortable Foxy and Bonnie again. They knew that she wouldn't hesitate to take action again if the ghosts acted up.
"What the hell is going on?" Michael snapped, glaring at Ruby suspiciously. She hadn't really beat him up this time. More knocked him around before dragging him off. Is this what kidnapping felt like?
Hedy ignored him, resolute in her attention to the screen. Michael was easy to deal with. She knew how she felt about him and wasn't interested in reacting much.
No one answered him and he jumped at the sound of static as Jeremy plugged the camera in and the television automatically turned on.
Michael was struck silent at the sound of his own voice.
"Hey, kid, watcha doing?
"Wiggy, what's…?!" Ginny interrupted, immediately alarmed as the other kids also startled.
"Shut up," Hedy snapped, and they shut their mouths hard enough that some of them heard the click of their teeth. "And don't you dare call me that. You don't get to do that."
Spring glanced at Hedy, a little worried about the cold tone.
Ginny looked down with a wince and hugged her arms as she looked back at the screen.
Ruby flicked a brief look at the older girl, lips tugging down into a brief frown.
"Buzz off, Michael," Jeremy sighed, busy fiddling with the camera. It was showing a rather unflattering angle of the teen's face as he squinted at the damage to the lens.
"That looks like a big crack."
"Wig dropped it..." Jeremy muttered. "I told her to stop taking my stuff." He sounded guilty though.
"Pfft. It's what younger siblings are supposed to do. Get in your crap. Hand it over. Why's it recording?"
"The button keeps getting stuck for some reason. I'll get it. You got to wiggle it right. You have siblings?"
There was an awkward silence. "...Used to."
Jeremy clearly didn't know how to respond to that. "What happened?"
Michael pointedly ignored him as he turned the camera over, inspecting it. "Well, it still works. You can get a new lens. Can't be too hard right?"
"I don't have the money..."
Michael laughed. "You will next week! You're taking over my shift, loser."
"Any tips?" they could practically hear the eye roll.
"Keep the puppet's music box wound up and it won't be a bitch. Other than that, don't die from utter boredom."
"Gee thaaanks..."
The group was very uncomfortable, highly aware of Michael near them. Timmy was the only one who looked remotely relaxed.
Ruby frowned. It was weird to think of the night shift as boring. It was the highlight of her day. Even the more relaxed shifts where Hedy made her catch up on homework.
"What...is..." Michael started asking, weirded out by the clips of himself acting like a sane human.
"The building took the camera and this tape and hid them away," Timmy said. "Hedy wanted to work on Spring's memory, that you messed up when you hurt him, and it wanted to help her so it brought them out. At least that's the theory we've got so far."
"And why am I here?" Michael snapped only to get a salt-infused paintball to the back of the head courtesy of Ruby.
"Shut up and watch." The teen snapped, her temper already short tonight.
The video played again. It bounced around in a way that let them know it was Hedy with the device again. She ran into the main room, expertly weaving through groups of kids in the crowded restaurant.
"Wiggy! Wiggy!"
Hedy stopped for a second and took off running toward the voice. "Hi, Ruby!"
She panned the camera up to focus on Ruby being held by a pretty, black haired woman. She was instantly recognisable to anyone who'd spent even a few minutes with Ruby. How Jeremy hadn't realised who her mother was, was a mystery. She looked so much like her.
The woman smiled at Hedy and laughed before crouching down, Ruby squirming in her arms as she demanded to be let down.
"Hello sweetie, are you Wiggy? Ruby's told me so much about you."
Hedy nodded.
"Uh huh. Are you Ruby's mommy?"
"Chair!" Ruby insisted.
Michael was staring in confusion and with a hint of disbelief, and the ghost children were showing similar emotions.
Ruby, on the other hand, couldn't quite hide the flash of longing and the hitch in her breathing at the sight of the woman.
"What…?" Felix started.
"What the fuck?" Michael demanded, echoing their reactions from the previous night.
The kids were trying their hardest to ignore the man, but it was so hard.
Ginny just wished he wasn't there.
Benji made a strangled noise in confusion without looking away from the screen. "I don't understand…"
"I thought the night guard came later," Felix hissed, finishing Benji's thought.
Hedy opened her move to tell them to be quiet, but decided against it.
"She did!" Frederick insisted.
"You don't remember either?" Mike asked.
Hedy looked annoyed at Mike's casual question to the kids, but didn't stop him.
Felix sneered at the man. "Why the fuck would we?!"
"Maybe Ruby was never with me when they came to visit," Hedy said.
The teen rested her chin on her hand, not commenting for once. She had a feeling that the building wanted the ghosts here for a reason.
"Yes I am." she told Hedy with a warm smile, completely unaffected by the squirming and demanding toddler. She probably knew that Ruby would take off the moment she let go.
The Originals smiled softly. They remembered her well.
She'd always had more of a handle on her daughter than Sergeant Stone did.
Hedy blinked in surprise and looked a little pained. She had said how much she regretted not meeting Ruby's parents. But she had and had forgotten? This wasn't fair…
"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Stone," Hedy said seriously, holding her hand out.
The woman laughed again and shook Hedy's hand. "You too. You can call me Rose, sweetheart. You're very polite."
"Thank you!" Hedy chirped proudly.
"Ah so this is the one who terrorized that group of kids?" another voice said. "This little girl hit a boy twice her size with a chair?"
"Derrick," Rose scolded.
"Chair! Meanies hurt Mags," Ruby said with an adorable scolding look.
Hedy looked red in the face at the reminder as Mike laughed at her again and Jeremy snickered.
Mangle was grinning like an idiot. She didn't condone kids getting hurt, but it was nice to know Hedy always had looked out for her.
The humour was a nice distraction from Michael's presence.
Derrick was a big man, but his intimidating appearance was contrasted by the kind look in his eyes.
"You told me princess." He ruffled Ruby's hair before crouching down in front of Hedy. "A brave thing to do there Wiggy. You're definitely a good friend for my daughter." He said it mock pompously making Rose roll her eyes fondly and Ruby giggle before she argued with his nickname.
"Not princess! Dragon!" she complained. "Rah!"
"Dragon princess." The man immediately corrected, which seemed to appease his daughter.
Ruby didn't even react to the embarrassing nickname. She just stared at the tv, drinking in the images of her parents.
Hedy seemed embarrassed at the praise and ducked a bit. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Daddy wasn't happy with me. I'm not supposed to be mean to customers." She shrugged, wanting to change the subject. "Can me and Ruby go play?"
"While hitting others isn't good, you were just protecting your friend." Derrick was frowning, clearly not liking the idea of Hedy's father's problem being that she wasn't nice to customers instead of the fact that his daughter was upset.
"Try and stay out of trouble alright Ruby?" Rose finally put Ruby down after kissing her cheek. The toddler hugged both her parents before running over to Hedy with a beaming smile.
Hedy nodded at them, "I'll watch her! Come on Ruby." She took the younger girl's hand and dragged her off. "I asked Toy Bonnie if he could show us his guitar."
Toby stiffened. They actually met? He knew it had to happen eventually and Ruby had mentioned glitter in his face but that didn't necessarily mean he really met the little girl. They were just waiting for video proof, but there was an excuse why Spring didn't remember Ruby. With Mangle it could have been damage. With Puppet, maybe it was his age. But him?
On a scale of one to ten, how much of a jerk was he before the murders?
…He didn't really want to know…
"Blue bunny?" Ruby asked curiously and beamed when Hedy nodded. "Blue bunny funny!" She giggled.
"This is so weird." Ruby sighed to herself. "Please tell me that I at least still annoy Barbie Rabbit."
"I think we're about to find out," Hedy said.
Hedy dragged little Ruby across the room.
"Bonnie! Toy Bonnie!" Hedy called, waving the camera and making a couple of the viewers nauseous.
"Oh hey Wiggy! What's up? Hi, Ruby," Toby said, hopping off the stage, guitar in tow.
"Bunny!"
"Last I checked!" Toby snickered.
"Glitter in face!"
"Oh no," Toy Bonnie suddenly seemed worried. "Not again." He began quickly checking around for any signs someone had glitter, including Ruby.
"You still have glitter on your face," Wiggy pointed out.
Toby, or Toy Bonnie really, blinked. "What? Where?"
Hedy booped his nose.
"Aw," she sounded disappointed. "Yours doesn't squeak like Freddy's."
"Squeak?" the toddler asked curiously, standing on her tip-toes to boop his nose too. Well, the toddler more smacked his nose, since she didn't understand not to do that yet.
Ruby immediately spun around and poked Freddy's nose, getting a squeak. He sighed in exasperation. She always did that when it came up.
"Teddy's squeaks too?" she asked, eyeing the younger bear.
Teddy covered his nose. "No."
"Yes," Hedy said and immediately bopped him on the nose. She laughed, startling the ghosts who just looked pained.
Ruby got an evil look on her face that just screamed that she was plotting to boop him at some point.
"There's no point in fighting it. It's inevitable." Freddy sighed.
Teddy moaned a bit and the mood was ruined by Michael talking. It probably wasn't going to be the last time either.
"Never guessed you kiddos actually knew each other. Small world," Michael said. He tried to sound mocking but it just came out shocked.
Instead of pausing like it did when the rest commented, the video actually turned up the volume and kept going. Gotta love a petty building.
Toy Bonnie looked a little taken aback and rubbed his nose in response to getting smacked on the face.
"My nose doesn't squeak!" he said petulantly. "Go hit Toy Freddy in the face!"
"We're going to do that too," Hedy said with a smile.
Teddy glared at Toby who sheepishly shrugged.
It wouldn't have been the first time he'd said that to a kid.
"No squeak?" Ruby was looking up at Toy Bonnie with mournful eyes.
The Originals were instantly glaring at Toby for making Ruby unhappy.
"I'm starting to see why they're so overprotective." Chi mumbled to Teddy. Those sad little eyes were hard to ignore.
"Starting?" Mangle snickered. "Ruby's always adorable."
The Toys glared at her.
"For a teenage menace," Mangle added with a smirk.
"I'm taking that as a compliment," Ruby decided, flicking a rogue strand of hair back out of her face.
"N-no," Toy Bonnie said, immediately dropping his ears at that look. "No squeak, Ruby."
"Aw you made her sad," Hedy complained.
"I didn't mean to," Toy Bonnie insisted, a little frightened to be faced with an upset child. "Here Ruby, I have a better sound." He held out his guitar and plucked a few strings.
The little girl immediately perked up again and looked delighted.
"Pretty sound!"
"I miss my guitar..." Toby murmured quietly, not realising he had said that out loud. It was lost when they were put in storage. He mostly sang on stage with the others now instead of playing.
Ruby blinked in surprise, along with most of the Originals.
"What happened to it?" she asked.
Toby jumped, embarrassed she had heard him. He crossed his arms and looked away bitterly.
"I dunno. They didn't pack it with us."
Ruby frowned, not liking the sound of that. Sure she and Toby still butted heads, but she knew how much Bonnie loved his guitar. It made sense for Toby to be the same. She glanced at Hedy, wondering if she knew any more since she'd been to the place where they'd been stored.
Hedy caught her eyes and shook her head in a small no. She never found it at the warehouse though their inventory had included it when she hacked the system. She suspected some idiot fan or ex-employee had stolen it during transport as a collectible, thinking it would be worth something someday.
Ruby's frown darkened and Hedy knew that she'd be looking into it. The warehouse might be receiving an unexpected visit from a pissed off night guard…
"Can I try?" Hedy asked Toy Bonnie, who hesitated for a moment.
"I'm not supposed to let kids hold it," he said with a frown.
"Can I just touch it?" Hedy asked.
"If you're super careful."
"I will be!" she reached out and plucked a few of the strings, giggling at the sound. "Can Ruby try?"
Toy Bonnie looked even more nervous, especially with how Ruby smacked his nose. "Very carefully..."
Surprisingly (to everyone but Bonnie who'd gone through something similar) Ruby very carefully plucked at the strings, little tongue poking out as she concentrated.
"Pretty!" she beamed up at Toby.
"Hey Wiggy!" someone shouted, seconds before tackling Hedy in a hug and startling Ruby and Toy Bonnie.
Well…that theory that the kids never met Ruby just went out the window.
Everyone just stared at the next scene.
Thankfully, Hedy had set the camera down.
Hedy shrieked as she was bowled over. "OW! Felix! Get off!" She didn't sound hurt though.
"Dogpile!" they heard Ginny shout.
"OW! No! NO! No dogpile!" Hedy squealed.
Little Ruby snatched the camera up when a leg came a little too close to hitting it. The way she held it made it clear she didn't really know what it was for but she knew that Hedy was always careful not to damage it. The wildly moving camera made them all a little sick though.
"Bunny bunny!" they heard Ruby say, sounding a bit distressed. "Wiggy hurt?"
"Hey, come on kids," Toy Bonnie said, "Wiggy said no."
But the kids weren't listening.
"OW! Benji! You stepped on my hand!" Ginny shouted.
Suddenly there was a dull slap and Benji started crying.
"Oh! Sorry Benji," Hedy said, still struggling to get out from underneath Felix and him. "I didn't mean to hit you! OW! oW ow owowowow! Get OFF! You're hurting my leg!"
Toy Bonnie seemed to be getting a little flustered.
"H-hey, guys that's enough roughhous-" he was suddenly cut off as a pair of black and white striped legs came into view.
"Mari!" Ruby cheered.
Puppet ignored her for a moment. "Alright. Stop," he said sternly, but didn't break the rule of not yelling at customer's children. "Get up right now or I'll take you to your parents," he said as he physically started pulling the children apart. He set Benji to the side beside him as the teary eyed boy held a bleeding lip.
Felix complained as Puppet held him away from Ginny as Hedy sat up and winced, "We're just playing."
"You just twisted Hedy's ankle and she told you to stop and get off," Puppet scolded.
Ginny winced. "Sorry, Wiggy."
The camera, which had briefly been held still while Ruby watched, went swinging wildly as the toddler ran over to Hedy.
"Wiggy hurt?" she asked in concern, the camera turned to face Puppet scolding the others. "Meanies!" the last bit was clearly directed at the group of kids.
Foxy couldn't help a soft chuckle. "Already protective there lass?"
Ruby was actually blushing and determinedly ignoring the fox.
Hedy was a bit busy glancing at the kids for their reactions.
They all were wearing various levels of dull shock on their faces, disturbed to see their living selves. Flesh and blood. And Ruby.
"Jerk," Ginny said to Felix after an awkward silence as the video paused, the building reacting to them wanting to say something.
"You're the one who yelled dogpile! I was just hugging Wiggy," Felix defended.
"You twisted my arm," Benji added. "And stepped on Hedy's ankle."
"Hedy punched you," Felix said.
Frederick and Cheryl stayed quiet, just staring at the screen.
"I think I was aiming for you," Hedy muttered at Felix, without looking at him. Her tone was cold and for a moment made Felix wonder if she wished she could punch him again.
Probably…She was still particularly mad at him…
"Probably." Ruby mumbled. "Felix seemed very 'punchable', living or dead."
"Ruby!" Chica scolded, but the teen ignored the reprimand. There wasn't a huge amount of weight behind the scold either, but hitting children was still a bad thing in her eyes.
Felix shrunk a little and crossed his arms, switching between glaring at Ruby and the floor.
"Where were we?" Frederick asked, tilting his head. He didn't see himself or Cheryl.
In response, the video played because right at that moment they caught a glimpse of them running up to the group.
"What happened?" Frederick asked.
"Wiggy punched me in the face!" Benji cried.
"I'm sorry!" Hedy apologised, clearly distressed she hurt him, despite being in a little bit of pain herself.
Cheryl scolded Felix in that cute little way only a small child could. "Felix, were you being mean again?"
Felix actually ducked at Cheryl and Puppet's looks. "...sorry..." he mumbled.
"No roughhousing," Puppet said emphatically. He glanced at Toy Bonnie. "You're supposed to break up fights."
Toby seemed a bit embarrassed. "Okay...sorry, Puppet. I didn't know how...and I wasn't sure they were fighting..."
"If they start protesting and someone gets hurt, physically or emotionally, and the others don't immediately stop and try to make up on their own, you need to make them stop and do just that," Puppet said as if he was teaching Toby.
Puppet had done that sort of thing a lot, teaching them how to behave and such. And sometimes just…how to be a person.
Mike could kinda see why the Toys were so willing to listen to Puppet telling them to kill people. Sort of.
Toy Bonnie clearly trusted the older animatronic completely.
Ruby was handing the camera back over to Hedy in the meantime, making the picture spin wildly again.
"Bite meanie." the toddler suggested to Hedy, catching Puppet's attention immediately.
"Oh no, no biting. We went over this already Ruby. No biting the other children." he lectured her sternly.
Ruby scoffed. "Yeah right, I never learnt that lesson. I bit the salesperson who was pestering Alice at the door the other day."
"You're sixteen, Ruby!" Hedy scolded. "Stop biting people!"
Ruby flashed her teeth at Hedy and clicked them together with a grin.
Mike pointedly scooted further from Ruby.
Ruby smirked at him. "Don't worry Mike. I know Hedy's the only one who's allowed to bite you." There was a definite teasing note in her voice.
The bots all looked a little confused, while Jeremy looked very unhappy at the reminder that his baby sister was dating.
Hedy made a strange squeak at the sudden butterflies in her stomach as she and Mike both went very red in the face. They were not used to Ruby dropping innuendos out of the blue like that.
Timmy and the other ghosts looked uncomfortable. They may have been kids (sort of) but it's hard not to pick up things over years of overhearing parents who think no one can hear them flirt over pizza while their kids run around playing.
For a similar reason, it finally clicked for the bots too.
"Ew," Bonnie said.
Mangle imitated a gagging sound with her voicebox while the other Toys whined.
Spring actually laughed, which was a bit surprising. They weren't sure where he would have learned that stuff if he didn't remember being taught about it when he and Goldy were younger.
Michael looked surprised for a moment before he actually cracked up laughing and Timmy glared at him scoldingly.
Ruby just looked very smug, ignored Michael and went back to watching the tv.
Hedy could feel the building's amusement.
"Ruby!" Freddy scolded, it taking him a second longer to get the joke.
"I mean…" Foxy muttered, glancing at Mike. "We don't exactly know what they get up to."
Jeremy squawked and Mike looked redder.
"Not that we want to know," Foxy said quickly.
Hedy just had her head in her hands. "Oh please stop…" she whined.
"This is payback for explaining milk," Foxy decided with a nod.
Goldy collapsed into a fit of giggles at the reminder.
"You asked and it's a basic biological function!" Hedy retorted.
Ruby blinked. "Wait…what happened?"
Goldy cracked up laughing harder, and even Puppet was struggling not to snort at the reminder of that lovely restaurant experience.
"Who's that?" Ginny asked, finally noticing the youngest girl.
"This is Ruby! She's my new friend," Hedy said proudly, seemingly forgetting the roughhousing already.
"Hi, Ruby!" Ginny said brightly.
"You're friends with a baby," Felix said, "Eew. Babies stink."
The glare that little Ruby pulled off was very much similar to the kind teen Ruby gave someone before Betty appeared.
"Meanie!" She pointed at Felix with a scowl. "Big meanie, hurt Wiggy!"
She didn't seem intimidated by the bigger kids at all and stuck her tongue out at him in childish dislike.
"I didn't mean to!" Felix said, crossing his arms and glaring at the much younger child. It looked a bit ridiculous.
Puppet sighed. "Felix..."
Ruby was firm in her opinion, though.
"Meanie!" she repeated, matching his glare. The way her hand twitched told everyone that knew her that she'd hit him if she wasn't so much smaller than him. And if Puppet and Toy Bonnie weren't there.
Honestly, she might have hit him anyway.
Felix in the present shot Ruby a glare while Hedy scoffed at the interaction and Ruby's insistence.
"Goodness, you never liked him," she said.
Ruby gave Hedy a slight smirk.
"I'm a good judge of character." Her smirk widened when that comment just made Felix more annoyed.
Hedy shook her head. She managed a slight smile. She was interested to learn that her childhood friends had actually met each other. It was both amusing and infuriatingly sad. The smile dropped a moment later. These weren't her friends anymore. They were just shells of hate and cruelty. And pain.
Mangle watched Hedy's expressions, her heart made of just electricity and code breaking. She shared a glance with the other Toys and Teddy frowned. They were all really mad that the building was showing them this, not just for their sakes. Yeah, these videos were uncomfortable reminders of when their early lives were relatively good (as selfish as that sounded when they remembered the Originals), but this had to really suck for Hedy.
"Seriously," Jeremy said. "None of you remember any of this?"
"Hypocrite," Hedy said, "You don't seem to remember Ruby either. And you're old enough."
"Maybe you never introduced her. We haven't seen me meet her." Jeremy retorted. He squinted. "Are you calling me old?"
Hedy laughed and pointed at the screen. "You were Ruby's age!"
Ruby squinted at Jeremy.
"You're ancient." she deadpanned, drawing some startled snickers from some bots. "We'll probably find out if we got introduced at any point in the videos."
"Thirty-two is not ancient," Jeremy protested, and Michael let out a snort.
"You were complaining about your knee hurting yesterday," Teddy pointed out.
"Mike hit it with a chair!"
"It was an accident!" Mike protested.
"Ancient!" Ruby sing-songed.
She threw Mike a thumbs up, though, and mouthed 'accident' with an annoying knowing grin. Not everyone purposely whacked people with things...
"It was!" Mike insisted while Hedy laughed.
The building seemed to get impatient and a loud static cut them off before the tape continued to play.
It was another clip, unsurprisingly.
"Benji you got to hold it still!"
"I know. I know," Benji insisted.
"How come he gets to hold it?"
"Because you're going to break it, Felix," Ginny scolded.
"Am not!"
"Uh huh," Cheryl argued.
"Wiggy said Benji is holding the camera," Frederick said. "She's in charge."
"Why is she in charge?!"
"Because it was her idea!"
"Shhhh!" Hedy snapped. "We're closed! We got to be quiet or the grown-ups will hear us! See, Ruby's being quiet."
LIttle Ruby nodded her head and put a finger to her lips very seriously.
It was adorable.
"..." Hedy squinted suspiciously. "What were we doing after closing?"
Jeremy shrugged. "You and I always stayed until Dad left. Sometime's he, Scott, and the other parents stayed to chat almost half an hour after closing. The manager at the time hated it because all she wanted to do was close up and go home, but she was a control freak and never just let Scott handle it even though he was allowed to. I guess Ruby's parents were talking too."
Ruby watched curiously, wondering what kind of trouble she got up to as a toddler.
She knew the answer was a lot, but she wanted specifics.
Little Ruby gave Felix a glare when he opened his mouth to speak again.
He abruptly shut it and looked to Hedy for help.
"Everyone knows the plan?" Wiggy asked, earning a round of nods and the group split up.
"Come on Ruby!' Wiggy said, dragging Ruby behind her.
"'Kay," the toddler said happily as Benji with the camera followed the girls.
They got to the guard office and Hedy made a beeline for one of the vents.
Ruby seemed a bit hesitant. "Dark..."
"It's okay," Hedy assured. She backed out of the vent and hopped over to the desk, going through the drawers until she found a flashlight. She pointed it at her face and flicked it on, immediately shouting as she was blinded.
"Ah!"
Benji snickered. "A-are you okay?"
Hedy rubbed the spots out of her eyes. "I'm fine!"
Benji snickered again.
"You're supposed to go find Mari!" Hedy complained, giving Benji a look.
"O-oh right..."
Hedy took the camera for a second. "See the blinky light? That means its recording. When you look through the eye hole thingy, make sure you can see him."
"Like a periscope?"
"Uh huh."
"Are you going to get in trouble for going into the vents?"
"Nuh uh. It's like a cave!"
"Are you going to get lost?" Benji sounded so concerned for Hedy it was adorable.
Hedy looked a bit insulted. She very seriously handed the camera back and put both her hands on the sides of Benji's face.
"NO! I never get lost." She gave him a silly grin and lightly pushed him away as Benji left.
They caught a glimpse of Hedy and Ruby crawling into the vent and the briefest flash of Benji looking a little red in the face as he silently studied the camera lens.
Ruby raised her eyebrow and looked between Hedy and Benji a few times. Everyone was silent as they waited for her reaction.
"Aww! Puppy crush!" she cooed as a brilliant smile crossed her face.
It was so unexpected that Benji turned a bright shade of red and just opened and closed his mouth, speechless.
Ruby could get caught up in her soft spot for kids even with them apparently.
Mike chuckled, smiling despite how Hedy cast him a look out from between the fingers now covering her face.
Hedy dropped her hands as she stared at the screen. She'd never realised. Nor was she sure how to feel about that. She liked Benji all those years ago, but it was a childhood crush that she hadn't understood. Maybe if they had grown up together things might have been different.
She suddenly felt so sad. It was the first not-angry feeling she'd had towards the kids in a while.
Mike nudged her and gave her a comforting smile.
"Well, that explains why Benji hates me so much," he snorted, trying to make light of the uncomfortable moment.
"We all hate you," Frederick pointed out.
"Yeah, but Benji's always doing extra. He'd kick my shin if he could."
"I'm not doing extra."
"Yeah, you are."
"Nuh uh!"
Mike rolled his eyes, not willing to get into that kind of argument with the kid.
Cheryl seems to have other things on her mind. "WIGGY AND BENJI SITTING IN A TREE!"
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Ginny finished, while Benji looked even redder.
"You got to say Hedy and Mike in a tree now," Felix pointed out, frowning. He sensed Hedy and Benji both felt a bit sad and he didn't like it. This was getting weird.
"Nah, that's just going to make Benji cry."
Benji glared at Ginny. "No, it isn't. Wiggy...Hedy's a grown up now. I don't like her anymore. Like that." He crossed his arms and looked away, while Hedy didn't say anything and just watched with a distant little frown.
Michael was watching with an odd expression. He didn't dare say anything while trapped in the salt circle, but it was interesting to see what else he took away from the kids. Possible love apparently. It was both pathetic on their part and gave him that little rush of power he loved.
Somehow, Ruby seemed to guess what he was thinking since Betty collided with his head. Hard. A blow like that would have normally sent him flying, but he just hit the salt barrier. Also hard.
"I didn't say anything!" he yelled after cursing at the feeling of burns on his face.
"You were thinking it!" Ruby growled back, waving her bat. "I could see it on your face."
Michael scowled at her but didn't say anything. Aggravating Ruby in this vulnerable position was a bad idea...
The ghost kids glanced at each other. Over time they'd started to notice what the bots had seen for ages. And Hedy was maybe still missing.
Ruby defended them from Michael too. Maybe not obviously and their anger might have prevented them from seeing it before. But she was definitely doing it. They just didn't understand why.
Benji couldn't help glancing at Hedy a bit awkwardly, still unsure what her reaction was.
She had a blank conflicted look and he immediately looked away.
"Benji..." she said, ignoring Michael and Ruby. Anger aside, this was something they should address probably.
"I don't like you like that anymore," he insisted, interrupting her.
"I wouldn't think so," Hedy said simply and looked back at the screen as Benji sat down, staring over his arms as he crossed them over his knees.
The tape didn't play and no one said anything for a second, sensing Benji still had something to ask.
"Did you like me?" Benji asked, a bit braver. It wasn't like it mattered anymore anyway.
Things were different and that's not even considering how much Hedy hated him now.
Hedy paused, very careful with her answer. "Maybe as a little girl. But neither of us understood that stuff at that age. So yes I think I did at one point. But not anymore of course." She said it bluntly.
"Okay..." Benji mumbled with a dejected duck of his head. He would have preferred she hadn't so he didn't have to think about what might have been had he had the chance to grow up. He didn't miss the tone that in his mind sounded a bit spiteful either.
The others were casting quietly concerned looks at Hedy. They could tell she hadn't meant to be intentionally cruel to the boy, but the deadpanned tone had made the statement so harsh.
Ruby's glare at Michael meant that he wisely kept his mouth shut.
She moved to sit down by Foxy and Bonnie again. The rabbit glanced at Benji and for once didn't look angry or scared. He looked sympathetic, and sad.
Ruby darted another glance at Hedy, that unreadable expression still on her face.
The kids, most of them at least, couldn't even bring themselves to blame Hedy for how cold she was. They certainly thought it was unfair, though, which probably just angered Hedy more.
The camera resumed, carried by Benji.
He went to the main area where he looked around, spotting Scott who was next to Puppet's box talking to the bot. He focused the camera on them, staying hidden and signaling to the other kids with a small wave.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Ruby muttered.
"Because you're in the vent. Bad things happen to others when you're in the vent." Freddy answered immediately. Ruby stuck her tongue out at him childishly.
"I didn't see any fireworks," Mike pointed out helpfully. He sneakily snaked his hand into Hedy's and squeezed it comfortingly as her breathing hitched a little at the sight of her uncle.
Jeremy didn't even blink as he stared at the man, though he swallowed the tightness in his chest. He missed Scott too.
"MR. SCOTT!" Cheryl shouted as she and the others ran into the frame.
Scott jumped while Puppet cut off mid sentence and looked at the little girl.
"Oh hey, kids," the man said with a cheerful grin. "Have fun today?"
They nodded, smiling up at him.
Benji tilted the camera up just a little bit to show a flash of movement behind the grate in the vent above them.
"Ooooh. I think I see where this is going." Ruby grinned and leaned forward.
Foxy looked at Hedy in exasperation. "I'm blaming you for her pranking addiction."
Hedy looked confused, then horrified. "Now hold on. There's no way I influenced Ruby that much."
Jeremy on his part looked a little sad as he remembered how different Hedy used to be. She lost a lot of her 'spunk' over the years.
"Young children are very impressionable." Chica was giving Hedy a disapproving look.
"I blame you too," Freddy deadpanned.
"I blame the closet incident on you," Bonnie added. That was a good nail in the coffin.
Goldy smirked and put on a sweet fake-comforting voice. "Hedy, denial is not a good look on you, sweetie."
"Oh, come on! No!" Hedy complained as Ruby laughed, her reputation as the responsible one getting picked apart by her own childhood.
"You used to pull pranks all the time," Ginny said tentatively. "Remember when you put food dye in the drink dispenser?"
"No." The playfulness in Hedy's voice dropped out.
"You turned everyone in the restaurant's mouths blue because a rude lady told my mommy she was stupid for not having money to get me braces," Ginny continued quietly, then started and blinked in shock that she even remembered the event.
"Oh, I remember that," Felix said. "She said 'nice teeth' to the lady when she was yelling."
Ruby paused in her laughter and now looked thoughtful. Bonnie's ears fell back.
"Don't give her ideas!" Both he and Foxy yelled.
Ginny actually smiled a bit. "The night guard could get a lot of ideas from Hedy," she mumbled.
"Alright, everyone just shut up," Hedy groaned, face red and not sure how to deal with the ghost kids trying to bond over nostalgic memories. She was still mad. Furious. She wasn't ready for this. "I'm not like that anymore."
Hedy was using it as a defence, but that phrase made both Puppet and Jeremy a bit upset by how much more withdrawn Hedy had become.
While Puppet was glad he didn't have two pranksters making his life hell, he felt guilty it was at the cost of Hedy's spirit. He glanced at Jeremy, eyes passing over Michael. Puppet wasn't around when Hedy was growing up, but he could imagine it was hard. Her spark wasn't completely gone, evident by how she handled the Warehouse and the ghosts during Ruby's coma, but she didn't have the same joy when "pranking" that Ruby did. It was always practical for her. There had been a few times where she let herself do something, usually a small prank on Ruby like a salt hula hoop, but those moments were rare.
Hedy didn't notice her brother or the bot looking at her, too busy watching the screen as a small hand carefully removed the grating of the vent while the other children kept Puppet and Scott from looking up.
Ignoring the impending prank for the moment, it was disturbing to see the kids interact with Scott like he was their favourite person in the world. One of them ended up killing him.
The Originals were having similar, but far more guilty thoughts.
Goldy was suffocatingly quiet. She considered if she would feel better leaving whenever Scott was on screen, but decided against that cowardly idea. She wanted these good memories.
Scott deserved that much. He deserved to be remembered as he truly was, which seemed to be what the building was showing.
"Mr. Scott? Do you like my shoes?" Ginny asked, pointing at her light up sneakers.
"Hm," Scott crouched down to appraise the shoes, struggling to hide a grin. "Weeeell I don't know…Nah just kidding! They're absolutely brilliant. Very cool, kiddo. I should get a pair for myself."
"Your feet are too big!"
"Well that's just not fair. They aren't that big."
Ginny giggled while Frederick pouted and stomped his feet, showing that he was wearing light up shoes too.
"Are those Batman shoes, Ricky?" Scott asked, and Frederick smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, my dad got them!"
Frederick frowned a bit at the memory of Scott's nickname. The man never liked calling Frederick "Freddy" or "Fred" for obvious reasons, so his nickname used to be Ricky. Why did everyone stop calling him that? He glanced at Ruby, remembering the kid that sometimes came with Ruby was named Ricky too.
He looked down at the shoes he was wearing as a ghost. They were the same black and yellow Batman sneakers. He died in them. He forgot they used to light up. They never did now. Their clothes weren't any more real than their bodies. They were just…there. Unreal. Illusions. There probably weren't even 'ghost lights' in the shoes. He looked away. It wasn't fair.
His memories of when it happened could be blurry sometimes and painfully clear at others. He remembered hiding from Michael at some point. Some morbid curiosity wondered if Michael had found him because of the shoes.
Glancing at Ginny, he noticed she wasn't wearing her light-up sneakers. She was just wearing socks. How come he never noticed before? Ginny had never really liked wearing shoes anyway. She and Hedy had liked to run around her backyard barefoot while they played. When they were at the pizzeria, the whole group of them sometimes slid around freshly cleaned hallways in their socks.
Had he always remembered these things?
Ginny turned to Puppet. "Do you like my shoes, Puppet?"
Puppet leaned down to look. "They're very nice, dear. Now, what are you little ones doing?"
"What are you talking about?" Cheryl asked innocently.
Puppet looked at Scott. "They're up to something," he deadpanned.
"Oh yeah. Of course," Scott chuckled as the kids all suddenly looked aghast.
"No we aren't!" Felix insisted.
Scott continued, pretending to ignore the kids. "Now what could it be, I wonder." He looked at the kids with a glint in his eyes. "Where's Benji and Wiggy, Ricky?"
Frederick's eyes widened. "I don't know."
"Oh really?" Puppet asked.
Meanwhile, they caught a glimpse of Hedy in the vent silently showing Ruby how to push a bucket into position. It seemed a bit heavy with whatever was inside.
Little Ruby looked extremely excited by what they were doing, the familiar sparkle in her eyes as she tried to help Hedy shove at the bucket.
A toddler shouldn't have a wicked smirk like that on their face…
Everyone was shooting Hedy pointed looks which she was ignoring.
Mike was busy thinking about how much teasing they could get out of this for his girlfriend.
The bucket tipped and the other kids scrambled out of the way.
Scott and Puppet both shouted as they were doused in a thick stream of purple glue slime mixed with pink glitter, Puppet stumbling from the weight on his thin frame. The bucket falling over his head couldn't have helped.
But Hedy didn't get a chance to enjoy it as Ruby had pushed too hard and wasn't expecting the bucket to tip that suddenly.
Ruby half fell out of the vent with a startled cry while Hedy frantically tried to hold the toddler by the shirt and arm, but they were both going to fall, halfway out of the vent already and slipping fast.
"Uncle Scott!" Hedy screeched as her grip started slipping.
Hedy winced and glanced at Ruby but the teen continued to look amused by the entire thing. Then again, she'd broken bones before for a prank and still claimed it was worth it.
Still, it didn't feel great to the mechanic that the younger her had promised to take care of Ruby and this was the result.
Ruby fell and Scott caught the toddler, diving for her a couple steps. A second later, after trying to squirm back into the vent, Hedy fell too and was caught by Puppet.
Well, he more broke her fall than caught her. They both went to the floor but Hedy was unhurt as Benji ran up with the camera.
Ruby looked a little surprised before giggling and cheering, not bothered by the fact that she was getting smeared in slime.
"Again!"
Ruby smirked. "Had worse falls than that."
"Like from my ship's mast," Foxy grumbled.
Ruby just smiled innocently. No one believed the expression for a second.
"Hedy..." Puppet sounded exasperated as he sat up and started checking her over, glancing up to do the same for Ruby.
"Um...h-how about no?" Scott suggested, answering Ruby as slime dripped off the end of his nose. He chuckled at the enthusiasm. "Now, who are you?"
"'m Ruby." She declared. "You're Steve!"
Everyone watching facepalmed amidst the shock over the fact this meeting even happened.
"Even back then?!" Freddy exclaimed in disbelief.
"Wow," Hedy said behind the hand on her face while Jeremy blinked in shock and shook his head.
Mike found it hilarious and burst out laughing. "Oh shit..."
Scott seemed a bit thrown off. He cracked a grin. "Sure. Steve it is. Nice to meet you, Miss Ruby."
"Is she okay Uncle Scott?" Hedy asked, worried as the sounds of other adults approached.
"No no. You have to call me Uncle Steve now," Scott/Steve said very seriously while Puppet rolled his eyes.
Hedy immediately pulled a face. "No!"
"Are you okay Wiggy?" Benji asked but Hedy just nodded and glared at her uncle.
"Sorry Wiggy. Them's the rules," Steve said with a smug grin, clearly enjoying annoying her.
"What rules?!"
"Unca Steve Unca Steve!" Ruby was chanting happily.
"See? He even admitted he was Steve!" Ruby pointed at the screen. "I like him."
"No kidding." Bonnie stifled a chuckle. "Normally you hated new adults. Even the staff."
"Well, at least he seemed to like you too..." Hedy sighed. Hearing Ruby also call the man 'uncle' really hit somewhere in her gut. She noticed how Ruby glossed over that.
"Hedwig!"
Scott frowned as Hedy stiffened and Ruby began to squirm in his arms.
The camera shifted to show a group of adults appearing, Derrick and Rose with them.
"Hedwig, what on earth is this mess?" Joseph snapped, clearly distressed. There were bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't slept in a few days.
Rose was very clearly trying to stifle her laughter, lips twitching as she took in the sight before her.
Derrick looked torn between exasperation and amusement.
"They didn't mention this in the parenting books," he groaned.
Ruby had tensed, nails digging into her palms. She couldn't look away from the screen but it hurt to see them, to hear her dad's voice.
"Hedy," Joseph scolded, taking Hedy from Puppet, ignoring the glare the bot sent him.
It wasn't outright hatred, not with the children there, but there was definitely distaste in Puppet's eyes as he reluctantly handed Hedy over.
Joseph gave his daughter a displeased look.
"Was this your idea to make a mess and almost get someone hurt?"
She looked away in shame, looking close to tears.
"It wasn't Hedy's fault, Mr. Fitzgerlald!" Felix spoke up, stepping on Frederick's foot when he opened his mouth to correct that. "Don't be mad at her. It was my idea."
"Felix..." another woman out of frame sighed.
Felix stiffened at the sound of her voice.
"It was!" he sounded distressed that Hedy was almost crying.
Obviously, none of the adults believed him.
"I'm sorry," Hedy said, sounding particularly pathetic. "I didn't want to get Ruby hurt. I just thought it would be funny..."
"I'm very sorry about this, sir," Joseph said to Derrick. He sounded a bit frightened that the toddler's parents would be mad.
Derrick was giving him a disapproving look, arms crossed while his wife took their daughter to clean up.
"Wiggy sad?" The toddler asked, twisting to try and see her friend.
"Children will get up to mischief, it's what they do. My daughter is hardly innocent in this, it's not the first time." He gave her a brief, exasperated look to which the toddler responded with a too innocent smile.
"No one was hurt." Rose spoke up, wiping Ruby's face. "It was a harmless prank that went a little wrong in the end."
"We'll speak to Ruby and explain that she needs to be more careful. Without reducing her to tears." Derrick's tone was pointed and he looked quite ready to start an argument.
Rose shot her husband a scolding look. "Derrick..."
The man backed down but he was still clearly unhappy with Joseph.
"Thank you for catching my daughter," he said to Scott.
Jeremy wasn't too surprised. Derrick was always very protective of kids. He hated seeing them cry and didn't believe in yelling at the younger ones since he thought it just scared them.
He also couldn't help but feel that irritation for his father that he hadn't really felt in years.
"It's raining kids," one of the parents snorted. Another elbowed him while Cheryl giggled and gestured for the woman to pick her up.
Joseph looked a bit cowed at Derrick's words but nodded, looking a bit relieved they weren't going to sue or something.
Hedy stared, a bit sad. It was awful seeing how frightened and frustrated her father was in hindsight. She thought he was a good dad, but it was like watching a stranger. With an outside perspective, it was easy to see he was not being very fair to her, maybe even emotionally abusive.
He obviously still cared and loved her and Jeremy, so she took some comfort in that.
"Oh, no problem. I have great reflexes," Scott joked proudly, handing Ruby over, not seeming to notice the slime still sliding off him in clumps. He held his hand out, not bothering to wipe it off. "Scott. Or Steve, according to Ruby."
"She named you?" Derrick seemed surprised. "Huh. She must like you. Steve is her favourite name too."
"Unca Steve!" Ruby yelled out happily, squirming now as she was cleaned, trying to get down to run over to Hedy. Then she started to point at people she knew, deciding to yell out their names. "Mari Mari! Wiggy! Benny! Ricky! Che-Shhhhhhhh." Apparently she wasn't having luck with Cheryl's name. "Bob." She said instead. "Gin. Meanie." She pointed at Felix.
At that moment Michael walked in and she pointed at him too. "Ugly."
Ruby fell over, laughing her head off.
It was unexpected enough that Hedy let out a sharp laugh as well.
Both Michael's looked fairly startled.
"Huh," Jeremy couldn't help the small amused snort. "Can't say she isn't accurate."
Michael glared at him, but Jeremy just smiled back with a vicious glint in her eyes.
"Bob?!" Cheryl whined, "Why Bob?!"
Frederick was getting a kick out of that and laughed at Cheryl's expression while Benji giggled.
Felix seemed to struggle because he clearly wanted to snicker too but was too stubborn to give in. Plus Ruby called him Meanie again.
"She called him Ugly!" Ginny squealed, more interested in that part.
Ruby was holding her stomach while she gasped for breath.
"I forgot I used to do that." She giggled. "I never used the same name twice either."
Foxy snickered. "You ran into the manager once and named him 'idiot'."
"Oh yeah. Forgot about that too. Didn't like him back then either."
Ruby looked at Frederick. "I'm calling you Ricky now."
Frederick just rolled his eyes and sneered at her. She was completely unaffected by the expression though. The kids were thrown by the, well, the lack of hostility from Ruby tonight. They hadn't really been around her a lot lately but they'd expected more glares and pointed comments. They mostly got indifference though while she focused her aggression on Michael.
Michael on the screen looked shocked at being called ugly. He stifled a glare at the kid and looked at Scott.
"Here for shift, Scott... Aren't we closed?"
Interestingly, Michael eyed the slime and shifted a pointed look at Puppet.
"We were just chatting," Ginny's mother chuckled as the camera shifted her way, Benji still holding it. She sounded as amused as Scott. "We're leaving, I swear."
Ginny suddenly felt like crying. She forgot how pretty her mommy was. Where was she now? She glanced at Hedy. Did Hedy or Jeremy know?
She was too scared to ask Hedy. Hedy was still mad at her. At all of them. They could feel it simmering in her all the time.
Michael didn't seem to hear the woman and continued to stare at Scott. "Uh... why do you look like a grape?"
Scott smirked. "What are you talking about? This is the new guard uniform, Michael. Didn't you get the memo?" Scott held his arms out as if to hug the young man who made a freaked (definitely manly) squeal and ducked away.
Puppet rolled his eyes and got back in his box, but stayed open while the people were still there.
Ruby was still squirming to get down but her mother had a good hold on her, tucking her under her arm like a football.
"Thank you for the lovely chat." Rose smiled at the other parents before looking at Hedy. "And thank you for playing with Ruby. Say bye to your friends, sweetheart."
Ruby pouted but waved at Hedy and the kids. "Bye bye Wiggy! Bye bye Unca Steve!"
Ruby didn't take her eyes off her parents until they were out of sight. Then she looked down, face going expressionless.
"Benji, give me the camera please?" Hedy said, still looking a bit sad.
The camera was handed over and the clip cut out.