Walking out of the Haunted Classroom, Saphira looked ahead in the hallway leading to the Toy Plaza and main dining room. This hallway has always seemed odd to Saphira, but it was understandable. The Toy Plaza was a rather large space, and because the room was built leading towards the back of the attraction, the hallway was needed for the connection to the Haunted Classroom. After all, Toy Plaza had the most animatronics for people to interact at one time. And being very popular, the space was definitely needed.
The hallway was certainly not as colourful as the Toy Plaza though. Leading up to the Haunted Classroom, the wallpaper on the walls would look torn and worn, and the tiles on the floor would be cracked and dusty, with fake shoe prints in the fake dust. It was a pretty neat detail in the hallway. Whereas, on the other side of the hallway, the wall painted on the left side of the hallway was painted blue with carousel horses prancing on green hills with a cartoon painting of Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica and Toy Freddy leading the way towards the door. It was big contrast to near the Haunted Classroom.
There was a set of bathrooms here on the right as well, along with a small cleaning closet. Not many people actually used these bathrooms, and they were often cleaner than the rest. Saphira used to only use the bathroom here because of that reason. She tended to not like the mess guests left behind in the other bathrooms, so she just used the cleanest one, and she did sometimes wonder if she was the only one at times.
But now, across from the door of the bathroom, was a curved wall. It was new, as the hallway used to have a straight wall on both sides, but part of the left side of the hallway had been knocked down to replace with a curved wall, curving out from the hallway itself. Saphira was definitely surprised as she stood in front of the wall, as there was a large door, currently closed and locked, that clearly would lead into the Bedroom of Nightmares.
The walls were still bare from any design, aside from under construction signs placed around, so people would not enter the space due to not being ready. Saphira wondered if that meant part of the plaza was cut off to make the space for the new area, because it seemed to be the case. The only thing that was definitely noticeable was an old, grandfather clock that was ticking rather loudly as it was working well, and letting everyone know the times. Saphira was certain that hearing it go off in the middle of the night was going to be creepy. And she knew how loud these things were, so she did not know how far the sound would echo.
Saphira looked at the door, impressed by what she was seeing and looked at Mike. "Seems like this will be cool. But does that mean a portion of the plaza has been cut into?" The man seemed surprised by the question. "I ask, because behind this wall…" Saphira gestured to the left wall of the hallway to explain what she meant. "Is the Toy Plaza."
"Well…yes and know. The plaza has been given more width to it to account for the small portion needed for the Bedroom of Nightmares." That was good, and it made sense. Saphira doubted that the plaza would look too different if that was the case. "It was the only way to fit this new attraction in. At least with the Mess Hallway, we had the room, and we will have room next to the chapel too for another attraction some other time."
"How exciting!" Saphira began to walk down the hallway again to proceed towards the Toy Plaza. "Might as well check in on the toy animatronics, and Golden Bonnie. Does she still have her story time house?" Mike nodded affirmatively, and Saphira was super happy to hear that. "Wonderful! I remember when Golden Bonnie arrived sometime after the original toy animatronics. I know she is the one of the few animatronics to speak, since she reads and tells stories. She has the sweetest, calming voice, and I would sit for hours listening to her. That was when I was…hmm…four, I think…" She shrugged as she knew that Golden Bonnie's arrival happened very soon after the toy animatronics, so she couldn't quite remember her age at the time. But she did know when Springtrap showed up, and she was five at the time, so she knew Golden Bonnie came before him. "It was a long time ago, but I certainly remember one time I sat on her knee while she and I were alone, and it seemed like she was surprised. I don't know why, but maybe because I was imagining things."
Mike simply smiled with a shrug. "Yeah, it is a possibility that you were imagining things…" That was an odd response, like he was not surprised that Saphira thought that Golden Bonnie had seemed surprised at the time. But Saphira did not ask why he said that. "From what I understand though, you were good with the animatronics, so if you did sit on Golden Bonnie's knee it would have been okay. I highly doubt you disrespected the animatronics like some kids seem to do, especially since you were awarded as the animatronic best friend achievement multiple times."
"I never did anything disrespectful to them, no. But I was a responsible child, even from a very young age. I guess that had a lot to do with it." Saphira glanced at the wall to see the cartoon paintings and she smiled. They were not faded, and there were bright, blue neon lights writing Fun In The Toy Plaza above the wide, tall doorway with bright pink and yellow curtains either side of the doorway. "The neon lights are definitely new. I'm surprised that you decided to go with them. There are so many around the building."
"Well, the theme here has always geared towards the eighties, so I thought the neon lights added to it. Which they do, considering some areas are more retro feeling than others, like the Toy Plaza, but the boss wanted these as well." Saphira did think it was a lot of neon lighting, but she did understand the reason. If the owner of the place wanted these neon lights added, there really was no room for argument. Even if Mike did not think they were that great. "Personally, I think adding them has helped to get more guests in at night, since the outside lights have really been a good addition to the building itself. Whereas all the internal areas…I do like the lighting, but it has restricted epileptic guests from visiting."
"To be fair, even before the neon lights, the stage lights of the animatronics would cause seizures in them as well. So I don't think that is fully correct, Mike. I remember one time a mother brought her daughter, because the mother loved the place so much. And she did not know her daughter had epilepsy. I am sure you can guess what happened." Mike nodded as Saphira told the story as they walk through the doorway. "Yeah…the mother was very unhappy. I did see the woman again after that, but without her kid…which I am not sure was good."
"I see you have a lot of stories to share about this place," Mike commented with a chuckle. "You have a pretty good memory."
"I guess I do. All of my good memories are from this place, honestly." Saphira glanced around the Toy Plaza with a smile. "And being here has brought a lot of them back. And I am very happy about it."
Gazing around the familiar room she once spent a lot of time in. Toy Plaza was a very large space filled with mini attractions, a play area with a ball pit, a bakery and so on. Unlike the rest of the pizzeria, the floor tiles were not black and white, but were instead a light blue and the walls were white with a light of the same light blue tiles. There were some cartoon images of Toy Freddy, Toy Chica, Toy Bonnie, Toy Foxy and Mangle in here. Unfortunately, these images were older than Golden Bonnie, so she did not get an image up on the wall. But she has her own private space.
The mini attractions within Toy Plaza included an arcade area, with numerous machines that were extremely popular with kids and young adults. There was a prize counter where people could pay for their tokens and pick their prizes. Saphira never did get to play the games as a kid, mostly because she didn't want to waste money on something like that. She had spent her time with the animatronics anyway, so she never wanted to play on the machines.
The other attractions included two basketball hoop ring machines, two air hockey machines, a mini carousel, a foosball gaming table and an indoor archery range, which was fully netted to keep arrows from hitting people outside the net. However, the arrows were not even sharp, so no one would actually be hurt. But it was still a precaution regardless. There was also a corner for arts and craft, which was actually quite popular among the younger kids.
There was also a few claw machines and gumball machines, which were also popular in here. Near the Bakery, there was also a buffet area where there were specialty sodas specifically made for Toy Plaza, based upon the characters that reside in the plaza. Such as Toy Bonnie's Blueberry Burst, Toy Chica's Citrus Zest and Toy Freddy's Cola Burst. All of these sodas were offered via soda machines that were refillable at a cost. These sodas were designed shortly after the arrival of the toy animatronics, and they added another soda flavour after Golden Bonnie joined, which was nice.
Aside from the specialty sodas, the food here was generally the same as the main dining room, aside from the Bakery, as there were many deserts here that were handmade and very delicious when fresh. There was also an ice cream parlour attached to it, serving homemade gelato, frozen yogurt and soft serve of various flavors. The ice cream parlour was new, as Saphira remembered the Bakery being here, so it was good to see the expansion.
As for the stars of the Toy Plaza, they had their own stage. Their stage was wooden with a painted background of rolling green hills and blue sky. Here is where Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica performed daily, and the dance floor in front of the stage was full of dance LED tiles on the floor and numerous disco lights above. This was a fun place, that was for sure. Which was why Saphira's brother loved coming here.
She could not help but feel a little emotional upon seeing Toy Plaza again. She looked at the animatronics. Their eyes were closed too, but the aroma of food still in the air indicated that guests had been in here not long ago. She could even still smell the sweet scent of fresh cinnamon donuts and the calming aroma of coffee. These were scents she had associated the plaza with, and she remembers smelling the donuts and coffee on that fateful day ten years ago.
Saphira looked ahead to see where the expansion was for the plaza, and she saw Toy Foxy had a new area. It was an area designed like a ship where Toy Foxy would tell stories about adventures of the ocean. Around Halloween, Toy Foxy used to tell tales about Davy Jones, the kraken, sirens and kelpies, which tended to make a lot of kids frightened. But Saphira never was frightened of those stories as a kid. It was a memory she enjoyed.
And finally, her eyes looked towards the Build-a-Bear entry, into a room where Mangle would watch over kids who would build a bear or animatronic look-a-like. Mangle never really did much, aside from reacting happy whenever a kid would complete their project and such. It was an added expense to guests, as the children would get to keep the toy once they finished it, so it had to be paid for.
Saphira then looked at what appeared to be as a small, white house with purple roof panels with a cartoon image of Golden Bonnie on the side gesturing to the front door. A speech bubble is painted to showing the words Golden Bonnie's Storytime in green letters. It really did look like a playhouse someone would generally find outside in the backyard of a family's house. But inside, it is cosy. Very cosy, and while it wasn't a huge space, it was enough.
"This place is still wonderful…" Saphira looked towards the toy animatronics with a smile. "I…my brother used to love it here a lot. It was his favorite place to be when we came here. Toy Bonnie was his favorite." She did not notice Toy Bonnie's ears twitching a little upon hearing her voice. She looked towards Toy Foxy, who had a slightly different appearance to Foxy. "Does Toy Foxy still tell stories of Davy Jones and such at Halloween?"
Mike smirked and chuckled a little in surprise. "I am surprised you remember that. And yes, he does. And we have expanded those stories now." Saphira was immediately intrigued. "Such as a story about a ghost ship, undead pirates and even, the grim reaper. I think a lot of kids get scared of Toy Foxy afterwards for a while."
"I know. But I don't get it. He's not scary at all." Saphira looked at Toy Foxy with a smile.
Unlike Foxy who had crimson red as the base of his colour, Toy Foxy's shade of red. He was closer to rose red, which was fine. It made it easier to distinguish the two animatronics, as they both looked familiar. The main different between them was that Toy Foxy's ears were a bit smaller than Foxy's, and he has two silver ring piercings in the left ear. His snout was slightly smaller as well, and he was given dark red cheeks. And his hook was a pearl colour, instead of a steel like Foxy's. Saphira didn't particularly know why they didn't just give Toy Foxy a steel coloured hook, as the pearl colour made it look plastic. But he was designed to be more kid friendly in appearance.
"I don't really get it either. Anyway, you will be happy to know that there are no doors to check in here. The Bakery keeps their dry goods in the dry storage near the main kitchen, along with the ice cream, yogurt and gelato that they make in the freezer to save for the next day. I imagine the ice cream parlour is new to you." Saphira nodded affirmatively as she turned to walk back out the door, knowing that they had to continue to the main dining room. Mike walked with her to walk across to the large doorway leading back towards the room that was the crossroads connected to the Toy Plaza, Fredbear's Family Diner and the main dining room. "It has been around for about two years, and I am glad I added it, because it is very popular. All the ice cream, frozen yogurt and gelato are made here, and there are plenty of specialty options. Such as banana splits, large sundaes and so on."
"That sounds wonderful. Nothing like a bit of ice cream after pizza. There's always room for dessert." Saphira glanced towards the large, open archway into the main dining room. She saw the last of the guests leaving the attraction, and she could hear their laughter as they make their way towards the merchandise store. "Now I get to see Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy again. I am pretty excited honestly."
"That is no surprise. Despite having many other animatronics, these four are still the stars of the attraction. But that is okay. They have been around a long time. It is a shame that Fredbear does not have the same popularity he used to have many years ago. People seem to be more afraid of him compared to Freddy." Saphira did not understand that either, but she guessed because Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy were a bit of crew together when they arrived, people liked that. Fredbear was still popular, but definitely not as popular. "I think you will find not a lot has changed, aside from a few minor upgrades, and the entry into the first-aid room, of course. Pirate Cove still exists, and it is the hub for birthday parties. Toy Plaza would be the next most popular place for parties, usually for the younger kids."
"And there are still private party rooms, right?" Saphira questioned, and Mike nodded affirmatively, before gesturing both left and right to see doors with Party Room written on them. "Oh! I see they were moved. Not a bad idea." She counted the number of doors silently before looking at Mike curiously. "And ten private rooms are enough?"
"Yeah. Sometimes a couple are empty at a time, so ten has been enough. It might seem like it is not enough, but not everyone is prepared to pay extra for private birthday parties with only one animatronic present. I think if we had fifteen, only ten would get used anyway." Saphira did not argue any further, because Mike knew what benefited the attraction more than she did. "Maybe when we expand further with more animatronics, we will add more party rooms, but that could be another few years away. So, for right now, what we have is more than enough."
"That makes sense." Saphira stopped under the entry into the main dining room, and she smiled. She looked around the space as the nostalgia she felt from being here in the past filled her mind. "Wow…there really is not much that has changed here." Mike chuckled and nodded in agreement.
The main dining didn't really have a name like the other areas of the attraction. Mostly because it was the main pizzeria area of the building. Regardless, it was a large space that could host up to eighty people sitting at the multiple dining tables in the room. More tables and chairs could be added as well during the busy times, such as Halloween, to add more guests sitting at the tables. But as people generally didn't spend a whole lot of time sitting and eating, there was more than enough tables and chairs in here. And they were regularly cleaned during the day.
There were stained glass panels with images of Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy around the space to break up the room, and Saphira remembered the first time they were installed. They were absolutely beautiful. In this room, there was a massive buffet area where there were many choices of pizza, pasta, burger, hot dog, tacos and so on here for people to eat. The pizza had it's own buffet stand, so it was always the central part of the buffet. There were other options too, like vegetarian choices, steamed vegetables, roast of the day, soup of the day and so on.
In the mornings, there were often breakfast options. Though sometimes, pancakes would still be served during the day, but these were dessert pancakes. Often paired with ice cream, chocolate syrup and so on. There also was a large salad bar, which a lot of adults would use, and a fruit stand as well. Drinks were served on the tap here, though there was a smoothie and milkshake bar near the refillable drink machines that served Coke and Pepsi soda options. It was definitely a place where guests could really fill up on food.
Though this space wasn't just a dining room. There was a dance floor, a small play area for kids to play in and, of course, Pirate Cove. The dance floor in front of the main stage did not the same LED tiles as the Toy Plaza dance floor, but there were still many disco lights above for people to join in on the party that the animatronics would host regularly. Though the songs were generally the same each day.
Pirate Cove was on the far left side of the dining room, and it has now got a small, pirate play area for kids to enjoy. The curtain was currently closed around Foxy, so Saphira wouldn't get to see him. But the curtains were still purple with white stairs as the pattern. It just seems that the curtains were newer than the ones she remembered, which was good that they got replaced regularly. And this place certainly had guests here recently, as staff were still cleaning the buffet stands.
Her eyes looked towards the main stage. A large wooden stage with red curtains, that were currently open, LED star lights on the curved beam across the stage and LED lights behind the animatronics. The white clouds were still on the back wall behind the three animatronics like they had been when Saphira was a child. She was surprised that the backdrop has not been updated in all these years, but she guessed it suited the appearance of the dining room.
As for Freddy, Bonnie and Chica, all three of them had their eyes closed like the other animatronics. Their faces were pointed downward slightly due to them being off. The curtains were not yet closed, and Saphira did not know if they were pulled closed during the night. Regardless, it was really nice to the see them. The one thing Saphira did notice was the Animatronic's Best Friend board was still up on the right side of the stage. She smiled, as she could just make out the pictures of herself with the animatronics. There were LED bulbs around the frame of the board, which were new, and she was surprised that it was still up with her on it. But kids likely wanted to be on the board, so it made sense.
"And that is the tour." Saphira looked at Mike in surprise before looking back at the room. She could see the kitchen doors leading into the main kitchen, the door into the first-aid room, and there was a set of doors to the bathrooms here as well. "I imagine that you will be taking your time walking through the pizzeria later."
"Yeah…I would like to just…reminisce my childhood a little bit. And since I'll be on my own, and have my tasks done as you have told me, I am sure it won't be a problem." Mike chuckled a little before he proceeded to walk away to head towards the office. Saphira looked back at the stage briefly before she would follow the man. "Thanks for the tour, Mike. I was nice to see things that were new, and old. You've done a really good job here."
"It is very nice to hear that compliment from a guest from the past. Generally, I get complaints from regulars, but I tend to ignore them since they don't likely understand business." Saphira nodded in agreement, and glanced at the doorway into Fredbear's Diner, smiling as she knew she would enjoy passing by the animatronic's room often. "Now that you are away of where things are, I suppose you will be okay getting around."
"I will. It isn't too difficult, and I am glad that things are easy to find." She looked into the doorway as they walk by Fredbear's Diner and smiled as her eyes lingered on Fredbear for a moment before looking towards the staff door. "I will make sure that I follow your instructions so that things will not go haywire while I am here. I am hopeful to not run into trouble tonight at least."
"And I cannot predict how your first night will go…but…from what other night guards have said, the first night is often the easiest. Not sure what that means…" The man shrugged as he opened the staff door and stepped aside. Saphira shivered as they step back into the cold, dull hall of the staff only area, and she noticed that the temperature has dropped some more here. "Good thing you brought your jacket. I imagine you were feeling a little bit toasty walking through the main areas for guests, but now you can cool down."
"I was a bit…which is probably why it feels colder than it probably is," Saphira said with a light chuckle. "But I will be okay. There's no way for strong winds to get into the building, so I think it will be okay. Unless there is a sudden burst from the vents." Mike laughed lightly and shook his head, as that was unlikely to happen. "Good to know it won't be like that."
"It's funny to think about though." Mike looked at his watch and it was just after ten. "Ah! Two minutes past ten. I should pack up and get going." She smiled as he walked quicker towards the office and she followed him, though she didn't follow the same pace. When she walked into the office, she saw him gathering his jacket, keys and wallet while checking some papers before he put them into a folder. "I think you will do a good job tonight, Saphira, so do not worry much." Saphira sat on the chair in front of the desk and looked at the tablet and computer for a moment. "Don't overthink this job too much." The man turned to Saphira with a smile. "Have a good night, and I shall see you tomorrow evening."
Saphira nodded as she smiled back at him. "Thank you, Mike. You go and get to bed. You can count on me keeping this place in order for the night." The man chuckled lightly as he walked towards the door. "I will see you tomorrow night."
With that, Mike gave her a wave and walked to the back door. Saphira heard him open the door, and it had a loud, heavy sounding squeal which echoed through the hallway and office, and it made her grimace a little bit as well. The door closed with a heavy thump when Mike shut it, and Saphira could not help but wonder why the door had to be so heavy like that. Maybe it was to keep trespassers from entering that way, but she did not know.
Regardless, Saphira placed her hand on the pendent around her neck to caress thoughtfully. She was feeling quite content at the moment now that she had been given a tour of the pizzeria for the first time in ten years. It felt like a sense of closure, kind of, even though Saphira knew that the deep wounds of the accident were still raw for her in her mind. Especially when she had brought up the fact that her brother loved Toy Plaza the most. And Toy Bonnie was his favorite animatronic.
And now she was sitting in the office of the pizzeria as the security guard for the night shift. It really made her feel a lot of things. Especially as she knew, deep down, she had missed this place the whole time she was kept away from the pizzeria. Now that she was here, she was happy. Saphira hoped for a good first night. If Mike was strangely right about the first night being the easiest, then it would be good.
Saphira sighed deeply and she turned to the computer to cheek through the cameras curiously. She wanted to know what rooms the cameras were in, and to see if she could spot any of the animatronics with the cameras themselves. And there were quite a lot of cameras. There were a couple cameras in the hallway just outside the office, in the hallway between the office and Loading Docks, and so on. She could list all the places easily, though most of the cameras were in the main pizzeria areas, which made sense. She did find the cameras that Mike mentioned being near the window locations of where people tended to enter the building through, and there were definitely blind spots on them.
I am still curious about the security system that this place has. He said I will find out, but I wonder if I should be worried about it.
Saphira continued to casually look through the cameras. She smiled when she would see the phantom animatronics, toy animatronics, Fredbear and the three original animatronics in the main dining room on camera. It was nice to see them. There was also a camera in Golden Bonnie's house in the plaza, and Saphira saw that the animatronic was sitting on her chair. It was a large, white fabric chair that was strong enough to hold up an animatronic. The animatronic's eyes were closed like the other animatronics, and the bookshelf in the room was full of the books she read to kids each day.
She checked through the cameras until she finally found the camera in the principal's office of the Haunted Classroom. Though it was in the back, right corner of the room, so Saphira could only see the back of Springtrap. But she was still glad to see him. She was tempted to walk to the Haunted Classroom just to sit and talk to him, but she had to remain here. And she couldn't just stare at Springtrap the whole time as well. She had to check to see if there were potential laggers hiding in the dark corners of a room in the building.
And so that is what she did. She could see the other staff finishing their shifts as well. She didn't worry much about them. As the locker room was by the office, Saphira would see them walking in so they could grab their stuff before leaving through the back door. Most of them were polite as they said their quick farewells and goodnights to her, though a few just seemed to be annoyed by her presence suddenly or amused. She did not know why, and ignored them.
After an hour and a half, it was eleven-thirty, and only a few of the cleaning staff were still here and finishing up their shift. And it was at this time Saphira actually noticed that the camera system here did not seem to be recording anything. She only realized this because she tried to find a file on the computer to show any previous incidents in the building, only to realize these cameras were not recording a thing. She was shocked.
Mike never told me these cameras don't record anything. But why aren't they recording all the time? That makes no sense! I'll have to ask him tomorrow the reason, because I've never known a place to have security cameras with zero recording.
Hey readers! Hope the last few chapters weren't too boring. I know I stretched out the detail of the different areas of the pizzeria, but if I put it all into one chapter, it would be an insanely long chapter. Hope you don't mind though, as I have made small detail changes to certain characters to fit with the story, and also wanted to try and detail the appearance of the different areas of the pizzeria as much as possible. So I hope you enjoyed.