A/N: All right everyone, it's time we wrap up Mike's birthday party.
Ginopippofreebooter: This may actually surprise you, but I think you actually have a very good point regarding saturation and this story. To be completely honest, I have a feeling that the end of this story is within seeing distance, and it's a feeling I had similar to "The Phantom Hero's Realm" when I finished that story several years ago. As you rightfully pointed out, there's only so long that you can work on a story before it becomes boring, repetitive, and unenjoyable both for the readers to read and for the authors to write. And I don't believe in adding plot points out of nowhere with no previous buildup just for the sake of prolonging the story.
Granted, we're not QUITE at the end yet. Obviously, Security Breach will be a major plot point in this story, and there's a high chance I'll be including the Ruin DLC as well. But after that, I think I will be wrapping up this story soon unless I get major inspiration from something like Help Wanted 2. I'm going to be a full-fledged doctor soon, and it'll be even harder to work on this story as a full-fledged attending. Sometimes, you just gotta know when to quit while you're ahead.
Chapter 185 – Happy Birthday Mike Part 4
"Hey, guys!" Charlie called out, attracting everyone's attention. "Why don't we go back to the dining room so we can bring out the birthday cake and give Dad his presents?"
"I'm down!" Alex eagerly agreed. "After watching that movie, I'm starting to get hungry again!"
Meghan rolled her eyes. "Weren't you the one who ate like 3 egg rolls, a whole heaping of fried rice, and 3 chicken tenders on top of all that?" she deadpanned.
"The only reason why I didn't stop you when I saw that happening was because you skipped breakfast for this," their father commented dryly. "But yeah, I think now's as good a time as any to get the birthday cake out."
"You can't have a birthday party without a birthday cake!" Susie cheekily declared as the group of living and dead partiers made their way back to the dining room. They all proceeded to retake the same seats they had originally sat on for dinner, with the exception of Melody, Susie, and Cassidy, who made their way to the kitchen to get the birthday cake instead.
"So what kinda cake did you guys like to eat?" Liz asked the Marshall kids as a means of striking up conversation while they waited.
"I like vanilla cake with vanilla frosting!" Alex immediately and eagerly answered. "Vanilla's the greatest flavor ever, you can't go wrong with vanilla!"
Meghan rolled her eyes. "You and your vanilla," she retorted dryly. "Chocolate is so much better than vanilla! I'll be a lot happier if this cake turns out to be chocolate instead of vanilla!"
"I mean, those are good flavors, but aren't they kinda…you know, basic?" Jeremy couldn't help but wonder. "I feel like 90% of cakes are either chocolate or vanilla in some way."
"Jeremy's got a point," Ryan acknowledged. "I personally like Red Velvet the most."
Colm shrugged. "Red Velvet for me is hit or miss," he commented. "Some days I like it, some days I don't. It really depends on how I'm feeling and the quality of the cake."
Mike watched with amusement as his guests and his kids debated on which kind of cake was the best. He personally didn't really have a preference; as long as the cake was of high quality, he would gladly eat some regardless of the flavor.
"The cake's coming!" Liz suddenly announced, interrupting their conversation.
Everyone stopped talking as Melody came back with Susie and Cassidy flying in the air next to them, all of them holding a large rectangular birthday cake covered in white frosting. The top of the cake was neatly surrounded by a border of fluffy blue frosting, and on the corners of the cake were wrenches and robots that had been added as edible stickers that represented Mike's skill with robotics and engineering. On the center of the cake, the message, "Happy Birthday Mike!" had been elaborately written on in neat cursive with red lettering, and two lit candles with the numbers 5 and 0 had been placed on the top, showcasing that the man had officially reached his 50th year of life.
"Ooh, that looks really good!" Fritz exclaimed, licking his lips in anticipation as he ignored the eye rolls from some of his other siblings.
"You do realize we can't physically eat this cake, right?" Gabe pointed out the obvious. "Even if Dad lets us do the possession thing so we can taste it, it would still be way too much cake for him to eat today. Especially after the huge lunch he just had."
The former Foxy inhabitant pouted. "Dammit, I knew it was too good to be true," he grumbled, earning a few snickers from everyone around him.
Melody decided to rescue him from further embarrassment. "All right, guys, ready to sing the song?" she called out to everyone.
"Let's do this!" the kids all shouted. Melody raised her hand and counted down with her fingers. 3…2…1…
"Happy Birthday to you…" everyone sang the traditional and timeless song as one voice, "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Mike/Dad…Happy Birthday to you!"
Everyone cheered and clapped as Mike, not missing a beat, blew at the top of the candles, extinguishing the tiny flames dancing on top of them in one single breath. "When it comes to a birthday party, you just can't beat the classics," Charlie commented with a good-natured smile.
"Yeah!" Cassidy happily agreed. "Birthday parties, singing the song, blowing out the candles…it never gets old!"
"What next?" Gabe asked everyone. "Should we eat the cake? Open up some presents?"
"Let's eat the cake first," Mike suggested. "I don't want this cake to go bad if we leave it out in the open for too long."
Since the birthday man himself had made the call, nobody disagreed, and Susie immediately started cutting the cake into several slices before distributing them out to the partiers. As she did so, it was quickly revealed that the inside of the cake was a dark rich brown, signifying that it had been a chocolate cake that Melody had brought to the party after all. The former Chica inhabitant made sure to cut out a particularly big piece for the first slice, before carefully maneuvering it onto a plate and handing the plate respectfully to her father. "Here you go, Dad!" she declared.
Mike gratefully accepted the cake slice from his daughter and took a bite out of it. His eyes lit up as tasted it. "Holy crap!" he exclaimed. "This cake tastes really good! This is definitely a lot better than those garden variety cakes that show up at the grocery store."
"I went to the local bakery and got it homemade, with some suggestions for the decorations made by your kids," Melody answered with a knowing smile. "You and I both know the bakery's cakes are so much better than the typical Walmart, and I couldn't have you eating a substandard cake for your birthday."
"True enough," Mike acknowledged. "I sure as hell am not complaining. The chocolate in this cake tastes so rich and delicious, and frosting makes me feel like I'm in a sugary heaven. If I ate this whole thing, it would be a one-way trip straight to diabetes," he added dryly.
"Now I really wish we could eat it…" Jeremy mumbled a bit morosely.
"Can we taste it, please?" Fritz pleaded.
"I'm sure there'll be plenty left over for the next few days, and I'll make sure you all get a taste whenever I eat a slice for dessert," Mike promised. It wasn't the ideal answer they could have gotten, but the ghost kids accepted it, knowing that there was realistically no way their father could eat any more than 1 or 2 cake slices, especially with the massive lunch that they had eaten previously.
Everyone spent the next few minutes enjoying the chocolate birthday cake, which proved to be just as delicious as Mike had proclaimed. Unfortunately for the ghost kids, not everyone could enjoy a taste of the cake unless they wanted to experience insultingly small portions of cake bites. After a few seconds of discussion, the ghosts all agreed that Susie and Cassidy should be the ones to properly enjoy the taste of the cake today, as they had put in the most effort in coordinating with Melody to bring the cake itself into a reality.
"You guys will all get your chance, I promise," Mike reassured them as everyone finished their slices. As he had predicted, a significant portion of the cake still remained, even after Mike insisted that everyone take an extra slice home to enjoy at their discretion. "Everyone deserves to enjoy a taste of this cake."
"You guys are gonna love it when you taste it," Susie promised. "I can't remember the last time I had a cake this good outside of those fancy hotels we visited!"
"Oh, this is gonna bug me all night," Fritz groaned, though he wasn't going to be so insensitive as to demand his father eat another slice just to satisfy his spectral taste buds.
"I kinda feel bad for you guys," Meghan gave them a sympathetic look. "That cake really was good."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Way to twist the knife in, sis," he deadpanned.
Charlie decided to come to the rescue and distract her unfortunate siblings who hadn't had the opportunity to taste Mike's cake. "How about we go open up some presents?" she suggested. "I saw that the Marshalls, Melody, and Colm all brought their own presents to Dad's birthday party. Now's as good a time as any to open them up!"
"That's a great idea!" Liz immediately agreed, welcoming the distraction. "I want to see what kind of gifts Dad's friends got him!"
"I'll go bring the gifts over," Gabe volunteered. Together, he and Jeremy flew over to the living room, telekinetically lifted up the gift boxes that had been brought to the party, and brought them back over to the dining room. Liz hastily cleared away the plates and left an open space on the table in front of Mike, leaving plenty of room for Gabe and Jeremy to put the small pile of presents in front of their father.
"All right, Mike, time to open up the gifts that we got for you!" Ryan declared.
Mike looked through the gifts, before randomly selecting one covered in red gift paper wrapped up in a green bow tie. "I'll open this one first," he decided. "The gift wrapper kinda reminds me of Christmas, which is kinda funny."
He tore open the gift wrapper, revealing a seemingly plain white box. Upon opening it, however, Mike discovered that there were several different items that had been neatly arranged together. Included inside the box were a red T-shirt, a light gray sweater, a large cup that seemingly had a caricature of a map engrave on its exterior, 2 pens, and a red pennant decorated with the word UTAH that also had a white circle with a red U and feathers jutting out of it. Uniting the seemingly random assortment of items was one single name: "Utah State University." It didn't take long for everyone to realize that Ryan had brought his old friend several souvenirs from the college they had gone to together, a memento of good times that had long since passed.
Mike grinned at his college friend. "You actually went back to Utah State University to get these souvenirs for me, Ryan? Man, those were the days."
"It wasn't just me," Ryan turned towards Charlie, who smirked and winked at him. "The ghost kids helped us coordinate what would be a good present to get for you, since they couldn't actually buy presents for you themselves."
"Mr. Marshall is right," the former Marionette agreed. All eyes turned to her, inviting her to continue. "Unfortunately, there wasn't any real way for us ghosts to outright buy a physical present for Dad. There was no way we could get a delivery truck here without immediately giving away the birthday surprise, so instead we worked with the party guests to bring good presents for him."
Mike grinned at her. "Well, this is a very good start, Charlie," he complimented, earning a grateful and relieved smile from all the ghost kids in return. "Even though it's been a long time since college, I still do miss those days."
"There's another part to the present opening we'd like to do," Gabe interjected, taking over from where Charlie had left off. "We'd like to ask the three adults who got presents here to give a little speech of appreciation about Dad. Something that they like about him, or something they're grateful to him for doing."
"We'd do it ourselves," Liz added as a small smirk appeared on her lips, "but we've told Dad how much we're grateful for adopting us so many times by now that we could write a small book with how many times we've said it."
"You would not believe how many times we've given Dad a group hug over the past few years," Fritz snickered.
"So we thought that it would be a nice change of pace for some of our family friends to show their appreciation instead," Gabe concluded.
"An appreciation speech for Mike? I can certainly do that," Ryan remarked as he stood up from his chair. "It's fitting that the present I got for him was a bunch of souvenirs from college, cause that's where our paths first crossed. When I first met Mike in the dorm room, I liked him from the start, but I didn't think he'd be anything more than just one of many college friends that I'd make in 4 years of university. We went to classes, cheered our football team, played D&D together on the weekends, occasionally took a trip to Salt Lake City, all the usual stuff."
Mike laughed. "Good times, Ryan, good times."
"Yeah, and in the years we've known each other, I think I can confidently say that the best thing I like about Mike is that if you're his friend, he's always got your back," Ryan declared, his voice taking on a slightly more serious tone as he moved on to the main point. "There was this girl back in college that I really liked. I had a huge crush on her, but I was too nervous to even so much as talk to her. Mike knew all this, and he took matters into his own hands. one day while we were all at a party together, he brought her over to our table, introduced me to her, and conveniently went to go to the bathroom to give us room to talk." He made sure to put air-quotes when he spoke that phrase, earning some snickers from everyone around him. "At the time, I was flustered as hell wondering what the hell he was doing…but in hindsight, he was giving me the push I needed. Thanks to that small bit of help he gave me, I got the confidence to talk to her and even hang out with her. One thing led to another…" he glanced over and grinned at Alex and Meghan. "And that girl is now my wife."
"Awwww…" Susie, Cassidy, and Liz all cooed.
"And that's not even going to how this guy paid off all my student loans not even a year after we graduated," Ryan continued. "When Mike made that offer to me, I thought he was joking." He glanced over at the ghost kids. "You kids are lucky that you'll never have to deal with the bullshit that is college loans. You owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to college for your tuition, and that can take literal years to pay off. Not knowing that Mike was filthy rich at the time, I thought Mike was taking the piss…and then he showed up at my apartment, opened the student loan financing website, and literally paid off every single one of my student loans right then and there. I think it took an entire minute for me to pick my jaw off the floor after I saw that," he added with a chuckle.
Mike was similarly struggling to hold back his own laughter. "Honestly, just seeing the look on your face was worth paying off your student loans by itself," he commented dryly.
"I'll gladly do funny faces all day if it means getting my loans paid off," Ryan retorted, and then his facial features softened into a warm and genuine smile. "But seriously, Mike. That kind of loyalty from a friend is something that most people dream of having from their friends. I'm super lucky to have met a guy like you in college, and I'm happy our kids are friends just like we are. Happy Birthday to you, man."
Everyone listening burst into applause as the two men embraced briefly. Once Ryan had returned to his seat and the clapping had died down, Mike chose another present to open, this one a purple gift box wrapped in a bright blue ribbon. When Mike opened it, the box revealed a variety of robotics engineering tools that Mike could tell were new and state-of-the-art.
"Oh, it looks like you opened my gift!" Melody exclaimed. "Guess it's my turn to give a speech now."
"Yep, go right ahead!" Charlie promptly invited.
"All right," the Asian woman took a deep breath before proceeding. "To those of you who don't know," she began, ignoring the fact that the only person who this label applied to was likely only Colm, "I worked with Mike for years at a robotics engineering company called Eisensteel. He had already been the chief engineer and a major leading figure in the company by the time I joined." She smiled nostalgically. "I was a complete novice, and I didn't know the first thing about the advanced engineering that comes with actually working in a robotics factory."
"I took a look at what Dad works on in the garage once out of curiosity," Jeremy commented, shaking his head in bemusement. "I honestly don't understand how you and Dad are able to understand the projects you guys try to make."
"Don't worry about it, it took years of training and experience to understand that kind of stuff," Melody reassured the former Bonnie inhabitant, before continuing. "Ryan already said a lot of excellent stuff about Mike's loyalty to his friends, so I'm going to go on a different approach and say that Mike is, without a doubt, an amazing leader." She smiled as her mind flashed back to the years of training and partnership that she had enjoyed at Eisensteel under Mike's tutelage. "Like I said before, I was a complete novice who didn't know the first thing about practical robotics. Mike saw that I was uncomfortable, and he offered to be my mentor while I learned the ropes at Eisensteel. For the first few months he would show me what to do by example, teaching me all the tips and tricks of robotics engineering while giving me plenty of time to test things out and ask him questions. And once I got the hang of things, he would gradually back off and give me more autonomy to come up with my own ideas, do my own work, and create my own projects. He had a balanced teaching style that I really respect and I honestly think is one of the best ways to teach in general. Never leaving me hanging out to dry, but also not trying to be too overbearing or heavy-handed in his teaching." She smiled gratefully at him. "I wouldn't have been half the engineer I am today if it wasn't for Mike, and I certainly wouldn't have been able to take over as chief engineer of Eisensteel after Mike retired without his guidance."
"Oh yeah, Dad is definitely a good leader," Liz agreed. "No doubt about that."
"Melody is right, but for us it's for different reasons than it was for her," Charlie thought. What really stood out to the former Marionette was Mike's ability to effectively handle a crisis. Thanks to their father's guidance, their family had been able to weather the storm that was William Afton's rise as Nightmare Springtrap and prevent Glitchtrap's worst plan from coming to fruition with the Special Delivery project. And like Melody had described, Mike had allowed the ghost kids to carry out their own roles in their redemption while at the same time making sure to personally intervene in particularly dangerous situations such as confronting Glitchtrap directly in the VR game and the first day when the animatronics at the factory had gone on a rampage. Charlie wasn't ashamed to admit, to herself or to anyone else, that she wouldn't have been nearly as successful in dealing with these disasters.
Her thoughts shifted back to Melody as she started talking again. "Anyways, I don't like long speeches, so I'll just briefly explain my gift." She gestured towards the tools in the gift box. "I know Mike still likes to tinker around in his garage every so often, so with some help from Mike's kids I got him a new set of some of the highest quality tools that we use at Eisensteel." Melody smiled at Mike. "I don't know what projects you work on nowadays, but whatever they are, I hope that these tools help you make your projects faster and better than ever before."
Everyone burst into applause again as Mike and Melody briefly embraced, in the same way that the former and Ryan had done. After the two separated and Melody sat back down in her seat, there was only one gift box left, this one covered in silver wrapping paper with a red ribbon keeping it sealed.
Not wasting any time, Mike opened the box, and to his surprise discovered what looked like a large black pocket knife of some kind. Curiously, he took out the "pocket knife" and opened it up…to expose no less than 10 different metal appendages, each with a slightly but noticeably different edge. "Is this a lockpick?" he asked Colm.
Colm chuckled dryly. "Not just any lockpick, Mike. It's one of the most advanced lockpicks to ever exist in the market. A bit of an ironic gift given how we met, but also a fitting one for the speech that I'm about to give."
He cleared his throat, making sure everyone's attention was on him before continuing. "Unlike the other adults here who just gave Mike here some gifts, my initial meeting with him was not a positive one." His face turned a bit sheepish. "Actually, we first met when I tried to break into and rob his house."
"Wait, REALLY?" Meghan exclaimed in disbelief.
"You tried to rob Mr. Schmidt? Why'd you do something like that?" Alex demanded.
Colm sighed. "I tried to rob Mike because I had heard rumors of this one guy who lived in a small mansion by himself and had a ton of money. I was really struggling with cash back then and I thought Mike would be a good target to steal a couple of thousand dollars for myself and my wife so we could make ends meet for the next few months." He winced. "Of course, I didn't realize that his house was actually full of ghost kids who really didn't like the fact that I tried to rob their adoptive dad's house."
The ghost kids snickered. "We scared the crap out of you, didn't we!" Gabe declared smugly.
Fritz laughed. "Hell yeah we did, you should've seen the look on your face!"
"Har har," Colm rolled his eyes, but he couldn't deny that the mockery was deserved. "Needless to say, the ghost kids completely destroyed any chance I had of actually pulling off the robbery, and I was pretty much helpless when Mike came down and caught me in the kitchen." The former thief sighed. "I was fully expecting him to call the police and get me arrested for breaking and entering."
Colm gave the man a grateful smile. "But that's not what he did. Instead of tossing me into jail like he had every right to, Mike allowed me to explain myself as to why I was breaking into my house. And after I did, he willingly handed over thousands of dollars to somebody who had just tried to rob him. You never heard from me again until we took care of that whole Special Delivery mess, Mike, but your gift that day gave me the time and money I needed to get my life and my family back on track. And I couldn't have done it without you."
"That's Mike for you," Ryan commented knowingly. "He can always find a way to surprise you in the best way possible."
"You really are lucky it was Mike who you tried to rob," Melody remarked with a frown. "I can guarantee you most people around here would've chased you out of the house, called the police, or straight-up tried to shoot you."
"Don't I know it," Colm agreed dryly, and then his features softened. "And as you guys probably already figured out, what I like about Mike is his generosity and his capacity to forgive people who tried to fuck him over. The world would be a better place if there were more people like Mike here, and I didn't even need to think for a second before accepting the job he offered me as a security guard in that factory with all the animatronics." He snorted. "He sure as hell is a better boss than most of them, that's for sure."
"Everything you said about Dad was true," Charlie agreed silently. "He's willing to forgive a lot, but he does have his limits. And I hope you never find out what happens when those limits are crossed."
"Just like Ms. Park here, I don't really care much for big speeches that drag on for too long, so let me just briefly explain my gift here," Colm continued, gesturing towards the sophisticated lockpick in Mike's hands. "That lockpick is a little call-back to how we first met, and it's a bit of an ironic gift to be sure. To be honest, I can't really explain why I chose this as my gift. When I saw this lockpick at the store while I was thinking about what gift to get Mike for his birthday, I had this strange feeling I couldn't explain that I should buy this lockpick and give it to Mike as a present." He shrugged. "Maybe I'm overanalyzing things, or maybe I'm just crazy, who knows. But I do hope that this lockpick does come in handy to help you out some day, Mike."
If Mike was completely honest with himself, he wasn't sure exactly how useful this lockpick would be in the future, either. But he could respect and appreciate the sincerity behind Colm's gift, and he wouldn't dismiss or discard a tool just because he couldn't identify its value or purpose right off the bat. "If I find a way to make this lockpick useful, I promise I'll make the most out of it," Mike promised.
Everyone clapped for the third time as the two men approached each other. The two of them didn't have a close enough relationship for them to share a hug like with Ryan or Melody, so instead they extended their hands into a firm handshake that represented the respect and camaraderie that the two of them had grown for each other.
"Wow, normally I tend to fall asleep during speeches, but these were actually pretty interesting," Alex commented as the clapping subsided and the two men sat back down. "No wonder people like Mr. Schmidt so much."
"I'm really glad that we came over to your dad's birthday," Meghan remarked to the ghost kids. "This was a lot of fun."
"We did our best to make it as fun as possible!" Gabe replied, before an uncertain look appeared on his face. "But…what do we do now? We didn't really plan for anything after this!"
"Ah crap," Fritz groaned. "I knew we were forgetting something."
"Might I make a suggestion?" Mike called out, drawing everyone's attention to him. "You guys did everything you could to recreate a traditional birthday party straight out of the good old times, and you succeeded magnificently."
The ghosts grinned at each other and started high-fiving, but Mike wasn't finished. "Might I suggest we add a more…modern…element to this birthday party, if everyone still has some time left?" The man suddenly grinned. "Who wants to play some video games?"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Alex raised his hand and pumped it in the air enthusiastically as Meghan rolled her eyes and Ryan resisted the urge to facepalm in the background. "I do, I do!"
"Heck yeah, I wanna play some video games too!" Cassidy exclaimed, just as eager to join in the fun as her living friend.
"Perfect. Since we have everybody here…" Mike's mouth stretched into a grin. "Who wants to go a few rounds of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?"
Meanwhile, at the Crimson Lake…
Old Man Consequences sat at the edge of the Crimson Lake, humming contentedly as he threw his line out into the depths of the lake. He had spent a few minutes entertaining himself by watching Mike Schmidt's birthday party, though in general he was not prone to diverting his attention away from his duties for frivolous purposes.
"A WELL-EARNED RESPITE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, SCHMIDT," Old Man Consequences commented as his crocodile-like maw stretched into a small grin. "YOU AND YOUR FAMILY DID WELL TO AVERT THE DISASTER THAT COULD HAVE BEEN UNLEASHED BY THE ABOMINATION SO FAR. BUT AS YOU ARE WELL AWARE, YOUR DUTY IS NOT YET DONE."
Suddenly, the entity guarding the antechamber of the afterlife felt a presence join him at the Lake. "My lord…" Shadow Bonnie rasped. "It is done. Schmidt has received the lockpick from Colm Duessell. I do not fully understand why you ordered me to whisper the suggestion in the thief's ear to purchase the lockpick on Schmidt's behalf, but the protector of the ghostly children now possesses the tool."
"EXCELLENT WORK," Old Man Consequences praised his servant. "DO NOT CONCERN YOURSELF WITH WHY I GAVE YOU THAT ORDER, MY FRIEND. ALTHOUGH EVEN I AM NOT PERMITTED TO LOOK EXTENSIVELY INTO THE FUTURE, I MYSELF RECEIVED PREMONITIONS FROM ON HIGH THAT THIS TOOL MAY BE USEFUL TO SCHMIDT IN THE FUTURE. AND I WOULD RATHER SCHMIDT HAVE THAT LOCKPICK AND NOT NEED TO USE IT, THAN BE DEPRIVED OF IT WHEN HE NEEDS IT THE MOST."
Shadow Bonnie bowed in respect. "As you wish, master," he intoned. "Should I summon Nightmare to your side once again?"
Old Man Consequences shook his head. "NOT AT THIS TIME. THOUGH HE AND HIS KIN MAY HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN THE EVENTS TO COME, WE DO NOT REQUIRE THEIR SERVICES JUST YET."
The crocodile-headed entity turned his gaze back towards the Crimson Lake, unable to resist letting out a small chuckle as he did so. "IT WOULD SOMEWHAT DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF THE CHILDREN'S REDEMPTION IF THEY DEPENDED ON THE AID OF DEMONS TO DO ALL THEIR WORK FOR THEM, WOULD IT NOT? THEIR DETERMINATION TO ATONE IS ADMIRABLE, AND THEY HAVE DONE QUITE WELL SO FAR."
Old Man Consequences stopped chuckling. "BUT IF MY PREMONITIONS ARE CORRECT, THEN THE UPCOMING TRIALS MAY SOON TEST THEM…IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE."
/
A/N: And that concludes Mike's birthday party! This chapter was one of those that was a pain in the ass to write, but I'm satisfied with the quality of the final product overall.
I originally didn't have the gift giving section of this chapter to be anything more than just fluffy wholesome gift giving, but as I was writing Colm's gift, a sudden idea popped into my head of how I can tie in a little plot thread for Security Breach in the future. And thus, we have Colm's gift with the lockpick…and a little scene in the afterlife to explain how the former thief got this seemingly random idea for a present.
I do plan on going into Security Breach somewhat soon…but not just yet. Maybe 1 or 2 filler chapters first before we go into it. And yes, there will be a bit of a Time Skip in the transition to Security Breach, and there definitely won't be any major arcs before we go into the next big FNaF-related part of this story.
That's all I have for now. Hope you guys enjoyed!
