I Don't Own Fnaf

Goldie stormed out of the room after a while, after Michael had explained everything, all of the proof the man had found, along with the clues that all lead to a single answer, William Afton was the purple guy, he was the one that had killed everyone else.

He didn't know why he had to leave so suddenly, why he couldn't be there anymore, he wasn't hit with some memory, wasn't overcome by some strange foreign emotion, it wasn't anything like that, not that he realized anyways, he just... Could not be in that room anymore, not with the subject matter that they were discussing, hearing that another Afton was-... Foxy followed him, the second Goldie moved to leave the living room to head off, not sure where he was going until he found himself in his old bedroom, the fox was behind him every step of the way.

He didn't say anything for a long moment as Goldie moved, pacing, because he didn't- couldn't stay still right now, the idea of it-... It made something cold roll down his metal spine, the idea of being motionless often was one that he held conflicting feelings over, whether he wanted to never be still and stuck again or wanting to hold onto the comfort that came from not needing to move but knowing he could if he so wished. Now the idea of keeping inactive burned cold, a hate surging suddenly from nowhere as he felt this need to do something, but with nothing was there within reach.

The walls seemed to mock him, faint flashes of memories of this room, of the hell it had been to be here, it was almost suffocating to be in here now, but there was no where else he could go, no other room would be less painful, and at least here he was away from the others, from the conversation he could still slightly hear through the walls. He had only stayed long enough for proof, but the second he had it, he wished in a way he didn't. It was dumb, to feel like this, it made no sense.

"Are you alright?" The voice of Foxy- No, no that was Gabe, the accent wasn't there, and while Goldie didn't know the differences and importances the fox held between the two personas, he would still, even like this, do his best to keep track of them, as the bear paused, if only for a second, in his pacing, before returning to it, having no idea just what it was that he could answer to such a simple but loaded question. Because was he alright? He had no idea, he should be, but as it stood...

"I'm angry" His voice shook a bit, not out of nerves, but from what he meant on the tin, he was... He was pissed, but that was only a part of it, but that was the only part he was willing at this moment to focus on, the others... He shoved them down, but that did nothing to really get rid of them. But he could focus on anger, he had spent a lot of time angry, it wasn't a hard feeling to pull on and let himself almost get washed away in.

"Uh... With who? Or- what?" Fox- Gabe, was clearly trying his best to not just brush the situation off, in a more normal situation, he'd probably be trying to bulldoze his way through the conversation like nothing was wrong. The bear wasn't sure if he wanted that kind of support at the moment or not, given that meant he could have at least tried to pretend he wasn't as affected as he was, but then again, the pacing gave him away. Honestly as it was, he wasn't sure he even wanted someone to try and 'support' him through this, he shouldn't be this affected in the first place.

"I don't know" Because he didn't, because he did, because... Because he just was, but he had no idea how to even broach such a concept of whatever it was those words meant, so he just said he didn't know as the fox to his side just frowned, continuing to watch him pace about before simply asking.

"So you're just angry?" The fox just sounded faintly concerned, and not overly believing, that rankled something in the bear as he spoke back, a harshness to his tone lacing his words.

"Yeah, sounds about right" The words were snappier than he wanted them to be, being sardonic and rude was Michael's thing, the man managed it without sounding like an absolute jerk, something Goldie definitely couldn't claim for himself, as the fox flinched at the to hard words hitting him like an almost physical blow. That was the thing that gave the bear pause, his anger... He reined it in, not by much, but enough that it felt like, if he had lungs to use, he would have been able to breathe again, as he muttered more silently than he wanted but unable to say louder, "Sorry".

"It's fine Gol-"

"Evan" The fox didn't pause for more than a second, it felt like it lasted forever, Goldi-, hell he might as well not be a hypocrite-, Evan hadn't asked anyone outside of his brother to call him by such a name, but this wasn't a Goldie thing, this was the one inside of this suit, Goldie never knew William Afton, Evan Afton however could remember the man he called Dad, even if he didn't want to some days.

"Aye, Evan, I get it" Evan just huffed, he doubted that, and the fox winced as he realized the same thing, "Err, well, not really, but if you want to talk about it then we can"

"What is there to talk about?" He knew what, there was so much to talk about, but he didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to so much as think about it. The fox just shrugged.

"I don't know, he wasn't my old man, but whatever it is you want to say I'll listen" Evan was sure the fox believed that, he truly did, but he also was just as sure Gabe would be able to stand by it, it was nice and kind to offer, but the subject wasn't nice or kind, and frankly he didn't want to inflict such thoughts onto his friend.

"I don't want to talk about it" Gabe didn't say anything, a halting look like he was unsure to press, before eventually just moving over and dropping down in a heap to the ground, next to the bed, cross his legs over themselves in a way Evan was sure wasn't good for his suit, but neither seemed to care to point that out, as the animatronic just said simply.

"Alright, then I'll just listen to the silence" Evan wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a joke or not, he didn't laugh either way, but he did eventually just leave his eyes from the sight of the fox and resumed his pacing. It wasn't a side of the fox Evan was used to, the silent type Gabe was not, he was more the type to bulldoze whatever the issue was, but Evan... Evan was glad that the teen made the exception for him right now. The silence wasn't nice, but it was grounding with the presence of the fox in there with him, even as he continued to think about things he'd rather not.

Memories were a part of them, he... Hadn't told Michael, he didn't want the man to know frankly, they were his memories, as bad as they were, his childhood was his own, and every scrap he regained through the last few months, though he would never admit it to anyone else, were things he held close to his chest with an almost hoarding need to keep them to himself, safe and kept in the one place he could trust, his mind.

Said childhood was flashes of brightness in what felt like a constant dark, the burning weakness of his past self was something that grated at Evan. That weak crybaby that would break down at someone so much as raising their voice around him. He hated the person he had used to be, he hated the Michael that had been there as well, though no matter how much he despised such a thought not too long ago, he had still loved his brother, no matter how much he hadn't liked him then.

Michael and Elizabeth, they were the brightest spots of the nine years of life Evan got to live, but they held their own dark spots as well. He hadn't had friends, he had been to scared to try, everything had terrified him, nothing ever felt right, like his skin didn't fit right, though now Evan wasn't quite sure that was real or just a self-imposed feeling on his old memories, because the idea that he had ever felt right in his body was such a foreign concept, he couldn't imagine even back then being comfortable with himself, not even he had never been comfortable to begin with.

Back to the point, his father... The darkness, it sounded dramatic, but he had... He could remember times where it felt like the man cared, faint whispers of smiles, of trips out of town, going to places and exploring, of gifts and nice words. Michael had said once the man had been good and bad, with a more lean towards one than the other, but both still all the same. Evan wasn't sure he believed that, or maybe it was simply a part of Michael who had been older, could see more or was distracted by how the man might have once been, but in the end it didn't matter.

Because Evan had never... He was sure he had loved his father, could still feel those memories, that want to be protected by the man, someone he wanted so desperately to like him, and he could remember times where he was sure the man did, did love him but... the man, no matter the actions he took, never felt kind, never felt right. Those moments never gave him light, like they had with Michael, who one could argue was worse, an active bully instead of just a neglectful presence, it had felt cold... Yeah, cold, the best word for it, no matter what memory the teenaged bear recalled or regained of the man, they never felt warm.

They reminded him of his memories of the animatronics, back when they had been barely more than prototypes, unrefined and unalive. Static motions played out for the benefit of the crowd, but with nothing behind the actions that made them real.

He used to be so afraid of the animatronics, it wasn't until he had such bigger things to fear that he had stopped caring, had stopped being such a child, he had no choice but to be strong, and eventually he became the thing that inspired fear. Golden Freddy, a rumor of the night shift, not one often spread because there weren't many who survived to spread it at all.

And thus once more Evan found himself at the heart of the issue he had wanted to avoid. And yet he was thinking about it in spite of himself.

He could believe his father had been Miller, could believe the man had been the Purple Guy, that wasn't the hard part. He had been scared of the man even before he had become the terror that he had spent years trying to end. He must have known, must have known about the old broken down golden suit that plagued the night watch, he must have heard something, at least once.

So yeah... Evan was angry, because the man had to know about Golden Freddy, and because he must have known, he must have known who that was, must have known just which soul was held inside of what had become a pile of scraps. He knew about Evan, being stuck and trapped in a place the man had abandoned, and left him like that.

He had no right to feel betrayed, even as a kid he must have had an idea, to feel so unsafe around, and yet... And yet at the end of the day, it didn't change what he felt, didn't change the ache, the pain, the sorrow...

Because at the end of the day, it wasn't surprising, another monster holding the name Afton.

Another Afton killed by an Afton. This time not from one brother to another, but a son and his father. Evan had been the one that got the man in that suit, it was after he had appeared that Miller had rushed for Spring Bonnie.

He had killed his father.

And he wasn't sure just what he was supposed to do with that knowledge. So instead of dwelling on it, he paced, and continued to try and think of anything else.

At the same time, in a nearby room, two men, leaving Mike and Mari alone in the living room, a heaviness in the air. Mike had held the conversation as well as he could between him and Fritz and Jeremy, and they hadn't left more than a few moments ago, but he was already tired, as he moved and more or less dropped down onto the couch, pressing his face into his hands as he thought over the questions and answers he gave to the men. Thankfully Mari had been able to hold his own self in the air after he had come out of whatever it was that had distracted him so badly.

He was in the middle of gathering energy to jump into the next lengthy conversation he knew he needed to have, this time with his puppet, when Mari himself had managed to beat him to it, speaking simply, softly, and not without a little concern, even though there was a hitch to his own voice that Mike wouldn't have been able to miss for the world, as the puppet floated closer.

"Are you okay?" Mike let out a shaky huff at the idea of being okay right now.

"Nope, what about you?"

"No..."

"Well at least we're a mess together"

"Almost like nothings different at all"

"What, being a mess? I guess so, it's kind of our constant state of being" That got a weak chime out of the puppet as he lifted his head up enough from his hands to watch as Mari moved over next to him, sitting to his side, before gracelessly just flopping onto him. It was now his turn to crack a grin, even if it was a small one, as he moved just enough for them both to be comfortable, his arm moving around to more easily hold onto the puppet and bring him in a bit closer.

It was still tense, the air still felt wrong, there were so many things that they could say, do, talk about... Neither wanted to though, Mike knew he should, but he couldn't bring himself to it, not yet at least, he just didn't have the energy left, he was so tired these days, not even in a mental sense, though that too played a large part of it, his body just seemed to drain itself of energy without him doing much of anything. This recovering thing was really annoying in that way.

"How are you feeling?" The puppet's question came and went, resting in the air for a long moment as Mike considered just what it was that he was feeling right now. It was an easy answer, but a hard thing to say.

"I feel... gross" The puppet let out a worried little chime, asking shortly afterwards.

"What do you mean?" Mike didn't really want to speak, so instead he just shrugged, saying instead.

"Can we talk about something else?" Mari was concerned, he knew they wouldn't be able to hide from it forever, but maybe this was effecting the puppet just as much as it was him, as slowly Mari just nodded, letting the subject drop, instead saying.

"What do you want to talk about then?" Mike wished he knew, there was so much important stuff to talk about, so many things they needed to say, to speak about, that they just didn't have the will to address right in that moment, they could, they both knew they could if they had to, if pressed, but neither was willing to press the other to genuinely start. Maybe that's what got Mike to answer what he did.

"How about our trip?" Marionette let out a faintly confused chime, as Mike explained, "We said we'd do something, go somewhere, after everything was settled. We never really made a choice about where that would be though" The puppet let out a sound of realization, remembering what the man was talking about, and graciously grabbing onto the topic just as easily as Mike had hoped he would, they both could use the distraction, even if it couldn't happen yet, the idea of planning something made a warmth that he had been lacking for most of today reignite itself within his chest.

"Oh! Right! I hadn't thought about that! Oh, there's not too many places we could go though..." Mike just shrugged, he knew Mari was being a bit more energetic than he normally would have been given the circumstances, but he didn't mind, the extra energy helped him, the puppet's more optimistic attitude often helped him more than he was sure Mari realized sometimes.

"I mean, as long as we don't be super obvious about it, I'm sure it'll be fine, no one really notices anything in this town anyways" The words hadn't meant to come out bitter, more just a statement, but they felt bitter all the same, so he quickly pivoted before he could be the one to bring the mood back down, "Just, you know, no places with a lot of people, but I'm sure we could find some nature paths that no one would walk regularly that we could explore by going camping"

Mike had held that thought for a long time now, as something they could do with each other, he had seen the wonder that the puppet often held in his eyes as he looked out at the view of the world around them when they did a long drive. It seemed the thought had been a good one as a truly genuine chime of interest echoed from the puppet, as he perked up visibly at the thought of it.

"Oh! That sounds like an incredible idea! We'll have to be careful still of course, but I haven't been truly outside since... Well I can't remember!" Mike just smiled a bit at the delightfully invested tone the puppet spoke about something that probably should have been sadder than he made it sound, but Mike had adjusted to that for a while now, and Mari never seemed to let it be enough of a problem to affect him.

"Yeah, we can explore around, look at trees and... stuff" Mike kind of trailed off as he tried to think about what it was that they were actually supposed to do on something like a hike, he kind of came up blank.

"Stuff?" Mari looked amused at his lackluster knowledge on his own idea, and he couldn't just have that, so he turned a bit to look at the puppet and said with full seriousness.

"Yeah, stuff, maybe if we're lucky we might be able to do things as well" Mari rolled on in with ease.

"Oh of course, if we get there in the right time of year, we might even be able to have an activity or two to do as well" The two just stared at each other for a moment, Mike was the one who broke first, letting out a not so flattering snort in the attempt to ward off a smile, only for him to one crack right after, letting out a shaking snicker as the Mari's much less restrictive chiming laughter bounced off the walls.

The two were trapped within the ridiculousness of the moment for another long moment, before Mike said good naturedly, leaning back against the couch more than being hunched over.

"I have no idea what people do on hikes" The puppet let out an amused hum.

"You don't say?" Mike put on a pondering look.

"Well, I mean I know walking is involved, and given you don't subscribe to gravity, I'm not sure what else might be different, but I'm sure we can think of some things" Mari nodded along.

"Sounds reasonable... Sounds wonderful actually" His tone became lightly wistful at the idea, his head tilting to the side, probably thinking about it, as a warm humming sound came from the puppet over whatever it was he was envisioning. Mike just found himself stuck, just for a moment, staring at the puppet to his side, staring off, thinking about their future plans, his mask holding a wondrous expression. Mike felt something twinge in his chest at the sight, words tumbling out of his mouth before he knew it.

"You're beautiful" He more muttered it than said it, but the puppet heard his words anyways, letting out a surprised chime that quickly turned into a much more bashful trilling sound as he looked away, Mike just smiled a bit bigger at the sight. Mari had such a hard time accepting compliments like that, Mike wasn't quite sure why, but he did know he loved the reaction it got from the puppet.

"M-Mike!" If Mari hadn't sounded so pleased he might have sounded a bit whiny, Mike just leaned over, bumping the puppet's shoulder with his own as he said, as he moved just a bit closer.

"Hmm?" Mari just waved a hand, trying to articulate something before finally landing on.

"Y-you're brother's here! So is Foxy! They're in the next room" Mike just shrugged, leaning in a bit more, until he could feel the light trembling from the puppet.

"I'm sure they're busy" Mari looked practically ready to vibrate out of his endo, so, Mike with a smirk, suddenly just leaned back, placing himself firmly back into the couch, as he said casually, "But I guess you got a point"

It took an astronomical amount of willpower to not burst into a small fit of laughter at the suddenly betrayed and worked up look on Mari's face. Though he didn't need to last long, as the puppet, with a startling move of confidence he didn't normally have for situations like this, moved in quickly, grabbing onto Mike's shoulder to steady himself, and soon Mike found himself a bit too busy to laugh.

Was it mentally healthy to ignore the startlingly large amount of problems someone has to eventually deal with in favor of making out with one's boyfriend? Probably not, but Mike really didn't care at the moment, and he had a feeling Mari didn't either.

Fritz admittedly could have thought of a better time to do this than right after the conversation with the others about... well, everything that they just found out, but the fact was, he wanted to not think for a bit. It wasn't... groundbreaking or anything, he didn't have much personal stakes in the matter really, if one ignored the fact one of his closest friend's dad was a serial child murder, but given said close friend just found out about that as well, he was pretty sure it wasn't something he could hold against Mike any, nor did he want to.

Sure, it was a wild thing to learn about, but he had never met the man personally, not to his memory at least, Fritz had always just had to deal with certain level of upper management, usually in the form of the so dubbed 'Phone Guy', but never the owner or the person who ran the show behind the scenes. He hadn't ever really thought about why he never met the owner or any of the apparent stockholders that had power over Freddy's turning his time there, given it was hardly a massive brand, never having more than two locations up at the same time. But then again, he had been busy thinking about other much more pressing matters at the time, like surviving to the next day.

So, yeah, the fact that William Afton was the killer all along wasn't a nice realization, it wasn't his either to really freak out over... Even if he admittedly wondered to himself if that's where the Afton brother's got their more... 'ill-natured' quirks, or if they were just something developed over time through two different situations. It didn't really matter in the end, and he decided that it didn't really matter much to him either, so he continued on, doing what he was doing now.

That being going to the warehouse.

He wanted to get these drives at the very least plugged in and making sure they were stable before he bothered with going back to his apartment and trying to sleep the stress of the day off, because he knew he wasn't going to be able to do much more than think about it nonstop unless he kept himself busy with something else, or was not conscious enough to think about it in the first place. So, yeah, he was going to get the drives placed in before maybe working on Bonnie for a while, just to keep his mind occupied by keeping his hands busy.

The first part was easy enough, he had gotten a drive dock not too long ago for other reasons, he just hadn't thought he'd be using it on the older computer in the warehouse for it, but it was fine. Better use than just the things he used his own computer for, it was mostly just for more storage space anyways, he had wanted to make some digital backups for all the plans that he had over time pieced back together of most of the animatronics that were now a fixture in his daily life. It would help for future reference instead of just keeping everything in his head, at least that had been the idea, but it wasn't anything he couldn't put off for a bit longer.

So with that, the drives now slotted into place, he opened up the computer and began to move through to see if he could organize the new files any, maybe look them over a bit to see if anything would instantly jump out at him as important, though he doubted it. Things that actually ended up being relevant often found themselves being buried under so much paperwork or unless information that it was nearly impossible to find them without a fine tooth comb.

That's why it always took so long to try and find anything new about anything when it came to the secrets that Freddy's had buried. So he wasn't overly hopeful, but any information was better than nothing, as he used the file manager to mess around with the newly inserted files, getting them all in one place so they wouldn't have to search around for them in the future, before reading long the lists of file names that were inside of the drives.

It was mostly just nonsense strings of letter and numbers, so he just ignored them, clicking on a few just to see a bunch of files types he didn't recognize and as such didn't want to bother with trying to figure out right now. There was a few smaller files that only had seemingly old text documents held in them, but when Fritz opened them up there was nothing in them that he recognized as important, weird for sure, but nothing that looked at all like it would help any kind of meaningful way in uncovering anything.

'Please Stand By' seemed to be the most popular of the repeating nonsense of words, along with a file that was just a lot of symbols, letters, and numbers, Fritz wasn't sure what that was about, but figured it was probably some file that got translated into a word document, something to work at fixing later, but for right now he just leaned back, staring at the screen for a moment, before deciding this was enough for right now, it would be better to have at least Mike here when they all began looking through all this new nonsense. The man was the best detective in the group, though Fritz himself would have to puzzle out just why the file types were labeled so strangely, he still didn't recognize them, but he was pretty sure he might have seen something like it before at some point.

No idea where, but that was something he could think about later.

Getting up to stand away from the desk, he made the decision to spend the next little while getting his head on straight while working on Bonnie, the animatronic was very nearly fixed at this point, the code had been the first thing Fritz had done his best to purge, it had been much easier than it had been with Foxy's had been, even with the frankly disastrous state the fox's had already been in when he first started on truly fixing the fox up way back at the start of the year.

Fritz wasn't quite sure as to the reason why it was so much easier, frankly it didn't make much more sense given this bonnie, being a part of the toy line, had been much more technologically advanced in most ways, but now he was pretty sure it was because it had been Emily, the other owner of Freddy's, that had been the one to make the animatronic. While Afton, the evil one, probably made sure his code stuck more like a... well, a virus if Fritz had to put a word to it, it was like an annoying mess that was an incredible pain back then to work out fully, even when there hadn't been much of it, like it was designed to stick around.

That thought made the man a bit sick to think about, and made him almost want to think more about the animatronics held down below in AR, but he didn't want to think about that kind of thing right now, so instead he just moved to the crate that held the sole remaining toy animatronic.

Realistically a part of him realized it was a bit risky as he opened up the crate, looking inside for a moment, before finding the animatronic where he had been last, laying on a table that Goldie had been nice enough to move in and help him get the bunny up onto so Fritz could better work on him. Still not on, not even a sign he's moved in general, Fritz let out a faint breath of something close to relief, frankly with everything else going on Bonnie was one of the least concerning parts of his schedule. Honestly, working on the animatronic was relaxing in a way that Fritz didn't often get to do before said bunny needed to be fixed up.

A long term project that was just the right level of challenging to keep him engaged but not mindlessly working nor constantly frustrated. Well, long term in that he'd only been working on the animatronic for a little over a month now, but it was enough, as he moved over, tools in hand, as he looked over the animatronic. Still nothing, Bonnie never seemed to have turned back on, he had heard Goldie mention that the animatronic might be waiting for something, Fritz knew better than that, or, well, he knew a bit more, he didn't know how that worked supernatural thing worked to be honest, all the ghost stuff went right over his head for the most part.

It was probably dumb of him to feel at all safe in here, as he moved to get started, reaching up and lightly moving a screw driver to begin to pry at the side of Bonnie's plastic and broken chest, to open it up to see what all else he had to work on before finally having to try and find a way to repair the outer suit itself. That kind of costume part wasn't going to be cheap, so he was honestly saving it for last. Either way, while dumb, he did feel... Maybe not safe, but relaxed enough to not worry.

Fritz would have had to have a pretty poor ability in perception if he actually thought Bonnie wasn't aware of what was happening. Five-, well, actually, six years now, of working on living animatronics meant a lot more than just knowing what made their hardware tick a bit differently than a normal robot. He knew when they were faking it, when they were more active than they tried to pretend. Before it had been a needed skill to be able to keep himself safe, now it was just handy to know when something was alive that shouldn't be.

Being able to tell the faint trimmers that were nearly unnoticeable to anyone else as he worked on the delicate parts inside of an animatronic, and being able to have that feedback and knowledge of how to make it better in the form of Foxy and Goldie, both who he had already basically repaired from the scrap heap, had done wonders at making him even more aware of the slight reactions possessed suits had when they are being worked on, doubly when they were trying their damndest to not react to anything.

He didn't really know why Bonnie was so set on making sure no one realized he was awake and aware, going as far to refuse to move even the slightest bit, but it wasn't for him to decide. Well, at least, it wasn't now, Fritz had been more than ready to drop all of this on Mari at the very least, as well as the others, but then... Everything happened with Mike and then it kept happening, and he knew that once he broke the silence between this bot and the rest of them, then he wouldn't be able to work through his thoughts like this anymore, and it would be one more thing on everyone's plate.

Maybe it was selfish, but they both were here to avoid thinking and addressing the things around them, for as long as it would last, so for right now, Fritz continued to work, and Bonnie kept his silence. And it was fine, for now at the very least, even if they both knew it wouldn't last, it was something in this moment, and that meant it was going to have to be enough.

The next few days flowed faster than anyone would have liked, more than anyone would have preferred, but soon enough, things had to go back to normal, and so they did. It wasn't a conscious effort on everyone's part, at least no one else seemed to think so, but as it stood, they all had gone through too many things for this to last to rest among them all. It was a new weight, but no one mentioned it, just... accepted it as well as they could and did their best to keep on like they always did. It wasn't like there was much else they could do.

To say there had been a lot of conversations about everything would be... pretty lackluster of a description, not much happened in that way, a few things came out, and more and more was beginning to be said, but the serious heavy parts of most conversations was simply just avoided whenever it seemed to begin to be brought up. Thankfully an easy escape of those thoughts came up in the convenient form of one woman.

Janet had returned to work on Wednesday like always, and to say she acted normal would be an understatement, it was more like nothing was different about her at all. The animatronics that were present all saw her just moving around in the morning, most a little surprised by the ease at which she gave a wave to the three of them before she was held up in the kitchen once more for work day as the cook.

The evening came along and with the closed sign being flipped, out came Janet once more, looking around with a faint air of anxiousness that wasn't really missed, but more willfully ignored by the group, as she watched as everyone moved around to help with the closing rituals that she herself hadn't really ever experienced, having been ushered out of the door before hand.

Watching as Foxy and Goldie moved around, helping move a few arcade cabinets so Fritz or Jeremy could more easily get the few bits of trash or junk that had managed to slip under them during business hours, the sound of slight movement and occasional chimes from the Prize Corner, that when she stuck her head into, she could see the puppet, moving gracefully through the air around the room, either restocking or messing with the token machine, writing something down in a little notebook Janet hadn't realized was in the room in the first place, before it was hidden behind the counter.

Maybe the reason she stuck around the corner a bit too long, given she suddenly realized with a start that the puppet was now looking over at her, was how... different the marionette was, the other two... Sure, they were strange, but she had at least heard both talk at this point, seen them walk around and help about like they were nothing more than a way to strong people, she could make the connection to people there.

It was harder with the puppet, for being the one she had heard the most about realistically, she still couldn't connect it- him, to the man that Mike talked about. It felt dumb, even to her, they all were equally weird, yet the puppet was so much more... expressively supernatural, with the floating and all. And given he was so much more human looking, as much as a weird sock monkey-esque animatronic could be compared to a fox and golden bear, it was just... more uncanny and unnerving to see this one move and do such human tasks.

And because of that, the puppet was now staring at her, with... she felt was an expectant look that made something in the back of her mind itch with a faint uncomfortableness as she managed to clear her throat, remembering both Mike's advice, and the most recent talk she had with Fritz to double check her boss's words. Janet decided this place was something worth it, so she had to be a big girl now and work through these feelings now rather than later.

So with a smile that felt a bit to stiff on her own face, she moved more fully into the Prize Corner, looking around at the walls of merch, because she really hadn't been in here much at all, trying to grasp at something to say while she did so, before finally stumbling out with some formulation of words.

"H-hey! Marion right? We haven't had a chance to talk yet" The puppet just stared at her for what felt like a bit too long, before just giving a short nod, a hand coming up to show a gesture to continue, and Janet was suddenly lost on just what she was supposed to say next. Fritz had told her that the puppet was the quietest, but she had still figured that meant the puppet would still talk.

"Right, uh, just wanted to introduce myself I guess, properly, that is. I'm sure you already know me of course, but I don't know you, expect for what Mike's told me" That got a short chime from the animatronic that nearly had Janet jump, just a bit, but she held the reaction back as she quickly nodded, using the excuse to keep going, "Y-yeah, he had a lot to say, I know you're roommates and all, so I've heard a bit, but that's not really enough to know someone right? So..."

Janet was not used to trying and holding a conversation for two people by herself, though she had the faint idea that the puppet was amused by her, or maybe by something she had said? She had no idea if she was being honest with herself.

"So, uh... yeah, it was nice to meet you" She honestly wanted to say more, but she had no idea just what she was supposed to say, what could she say, so instead she just nodded and moved to leave. The puppet didn't say anything on her way out, but she wasn't expecting him to.

Instead in the near opposite of what just happened she found herself quickly dragged into a conversation with Foxy who had spotted her leaving, waving her over enthusiastically enough that honestly even if she wasn't looking to speak to them all, she would have felt inclined enough to go over anyways. Janet spotted... Goldie? Evan? off to the side, apparently the one the fox had been ranting at before she had moved over.

She wasn't really sure just what she was supposed to call him, Fritz said Goldie, but his name was Evan and he wasn't against it like Foxy, or rather Gabe, was. Janet couldn't imagine being called anything but her own name, but she figured it wasn't for her to understand in the end.

All the same, she did her best to keep up with the fox, and did her best to not be surprised when occasionally the bear interjected with a dry line or two in answer. It was an awkward conversation that Foxy seemed to be doing his darndest to just power through with sheer energy, and Janet found herself finding that more endearing than strange after a short time. Goldie unnerved her a bit still, but she was quickly getting used to his dry sense of humor at the very least, given if it was a bit harder to detangle him from how he acted on stage and off it, same with Foxy in a way, but... different.

Fritz was right though, the bear was most certainly Mike's brother, their humors weren't really one to one or anything, but the way they spoke was more similar than not. They didn't act quite like each other, but it was clear there was some kind of similar kind of toughness and stoicism to them that she could see when she was looking for similarities. In the end it was a good, if not overly long conversation, and before long she was back in the car with Fritz, driving back, the two talking about their days.

It was... strange, she felt like she was using that word a lot, but there wasn't much else she could think to use to describe it, it just was strange, but... It wasn't bad.

They were all just people, just like her, only a bit more... well, strange.

This was a fun chapter to write, after the bomb of last chapter on the cast, this one was nice to be able to lead into to be able to see just what everyone is thinking about and how they all handled it, which I think was really interesting.

Going down the line, Goldie and Foxy... They were an interesting one, probably the hardest to nail down really for this chapter, but I really like how it came out, I don't really know what to say about it though, just... Don't have the words to really figure out how I want to explain it in a way that makes sense, Goldie being who he is, and foxy doing his best for his friend, but neither exactly being quite in a position where they can comfortably handle this weight, so instead they just exist with it, shared between them, for the time being.

Then there's Mike and Mari, who had a very similar situation, but with much greater weights on the both of them, neither wanting to talk about it either, but being much more willing to actively just comfort and hold onto each other until the other is ready to talk. It might be a while though, and I can't blame them, Mike feels like he holds the weight of everything on his shoulders like a dumbass, and Mari is to willing to hold his own problems close to the chest in spite of his own wants for others to be open. Neither ready to address their concerns in that moment, and as such just... distracted themselves, in this case by making out, cause... Well, it's not as easy to think about awfulness when you're locking face, plus I just thought the end moment was a funny way to break the tension moving into the next scene.

That scene being Fritz, I don't have much to add here, the man works to think through his problems, he did that here, nothing honestly that interesting because he had no one to bounce his thoughts off of... Beyond Bonnie, who he happened to already know was awake as well, but that's a whole thing isn't it? Probably says something about him, nothing bad of course, but something, but that's about it.

Then there's Janet, she's cool, just having more time with a new-ish POV has been fun, having the oddball out being the main POV from a writing perspective is honestly a lot of fun, she's getting adjusted to the crew in it's entirety, and as well let's me show an outside POV of just how the dynamics among the group are viewed from someone that isn't apart of said dynamic. It's fun, that's about it to be honest, and felt like a good enough way to end off the chapter. Anyways, See ya.