I Don't Own Fnaf
"Hey, do you... Do you know how old Bonnie is?" Mari paused, the reminder of the animatronic hitting him hard in the chest, as he turned and glanced over at Jeremy, who was helping him take boxes of merch from the van into the office. Reminders of the animatronic rabbit often hurt, he wanted... He wanted nothing more than to go and talk to him more, but he had already felt as if he had failed so much that the animatronic would only react poorly to his presence.
The fact that he knew he had no idea just what to say, what to do to even try to make it better was a heavy weight that he had been carrying constantly the last while since their first real talk in what was years. Still, he collected himself to try and at least not make it too obvious how uncomfortable he was, as he said carefully.
"I mean... Not really... He was young, maybe... eight or nine when I gave him his gift? Mike found those records about the toys right? I imagine at most Bonnie would only be maybe a year or so older than that based on... my own experiences, so about thirteen or fourteen" He didn't want to think about his time in that crate, about the drifting in and out of focus for years at a time had been, or how it meant that monster had toyed with him for so long... It made him sick to even think about.
"Right... Thanks"
"Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, just... Thinking about something I guess, have you talked to him much?" The puppet let out a guilty chime at that, before slowly shaking his head.
"No, he doesn't want anything to do with me, so I'm trying to give him time... I hope he asks after me to talk at some point, but I don't think pushing him right now is a good idea for me to try and do. I fear it'll only make things worse you know? Me leaving him like that for so long didn't help when he was relying on me" Jeremy was just silent for a long moment, glancing over at the puppet a frown marring his face just for a second before saying softly.
"You know, it's not your fault" That got a surprised chime from the animatronic as he turned to look at Jeremy as the man just continued, "You couldn't have known, none of us could have, and even then, it's not on you to be the one to help him, you've been doing that for all the others the entire time you were at Freddy's" Marionette just shook his head, unable to really hear what he was being told.
"No, I should have... He tried to reach out, but I ignored him, and even if I hadn't, it's my job to be the one to protect him, I promised him that, and I failed" Jeremy just looked sorrowful, if only for a moment, before, strangely, something more closely to determination seemed to play over his features as he said.
"Mari you were a kid yourself, that's way too much pressure you put on yourself back then, and you don't need to do it now. It's like Ennard, we're all here to help" The puppet didn't seem all that convinced but thankfully Jeremy seemed to drop it, instead focusing on helping Marionette continue to set up for the day as the others got ready on the main floor. It was just turning to the weekend, so Phone Guy would be showing up... at some point, and everyone was slightly on edge about that, Marionette included.
They really were holding on a lot for the man to make a decision for the benefit of the others, something he wasn't exactly inclined to do in the past, and not one Marionette could find himself holding much hope in happening now if he was being perfectly honest with himself. He hoped of course, but Phone Guy... wasn't one who did well in inspiring confidence in his ability to not be self serving.
Still, they would be doing their best to convince the man, though Mari would no doubt do his best to not have to actually speak to him. If they were lucky then this wouldn't be their issue for much longer.
It felt a bit cruel, and Marionette did feel a bit guilty about that, the conversation he was just having with Jeremy unfortunately making him wonder just how old the souls inside the amalgam that was Ennard were, based on the timeline and Purple Guy's... bias in victims, they could be anywhere from fourteen to seventeen if the puppet had to put a strong guess on it, which... Definitely helped to make him feel worse about his feelings involving that matter, even if he couldn't help it.
Shaking his head, he let out one last chime before moving to get himself situated in his box, choosing to look forward to entertaining the children than the dread of knowing Phone Guy would be in his restaurant.
The day had progressed, and before anyone knew it, it was getting close to closing time, Mike was slowly getting more and more concerned that Phone Guy was just going to bail on them all, he wouldn't have been to surprised, disappointed, sure, but mostly because it meant he would have to double down on being convincing enough to make the man make an admittedly poor health decision. Having been waiting long enough, he took a moment to send a nod to Jeremy who was standing around, to head around to the office to make a call, just to see if the guy had been in an accident or was just trying to get out of it.
It was then that a hand had reached out and placed itself on his shoulder as he ignored the instinctive urge to both back up and to push the arm away, and instead looked down at a... very small older lady. Honestly, if she hadn't reached up to stop him and get his attention, there was a chance he might have just walked over her, something he had thought he was too observant to do, especially now that he worked around so many children.
He racked his mind for a moment about who this was, before settling on a few tidbits of information that he had collected on most of the regulars that came into here. Grandmother who liked to take her grandkids out, a bit paranoid, occasionally flirted with Jeremy because she liked 'pretty boys'. Everyone had made an agreement to not have Jeremy wait on that group after he mentioned it, he tried to not look too uncomfortable at the time, but it was a silent decision that was made between Mike and Fritz anyways.
Coming out of that little recall spiral he glanced down at the granny and asked carefully.
"Is something wrong?" She looked a bit uncomfortable, whether it was because someone two feet taller than her was looking straight down with a fox mask or not was up for debate, before she finally said.
"Err, well, it's just, there's this man outside, been there for too long you know, just was wondering if you could do something about it, he looks... Unwell" Mike's head snapped up to look over at the large window out in the front, wanting to see what she was talking about, as the old lady continued to talk, "Yeah, in that old beaten up blue car, right there!" Mike felt the tension unwind from his shoulders as he finally caught sight of what she was talking about, even as he felt something in his brow twitch, as he said carefully to the old lady, mostly to end this conversation.
"I'll see what I can do, but I promise he's not doing anything shady" She didn't seem to believe that too well, but Mike didn't really care as he moved himself out of the old woman's reach, and moved over to find Fritz. The man had been talking with an older gentleman who seemed to talk wildly with his hands, Fritz himself seemed mostly just bored with the talk, though he was doing his best to not look it, it was pretty obvious with the way he perked up and quickly said something that sounded a lot like using the 'my boss needs me' excuse, as he moved over towards Mike who was to curious as to not ask.
"What was that about?" Fritz just grimaced for a moment, shooting a look back at the man who was now staring unabashedly at Foxy who was on the stage mostly just rambling on about something with Evan working as more or less a dry sound board to the tall tales of the private captain to a group of invested looking kids.
"Some guy from this magazine asking questions about the animatronics, ever heard of Screws, Bolts, and Hairpins?" Mike... just shook his head, unsure just why a magazine wanting to write about the Cove was bad, even as Fritz continue on, "They're a tech magazine, they wanted to know about the animatronics with how 'advanced' they were compared to earlier models, I fed him some lines about a new servos system, thanks for getting me out of that by the way, I really didn't want to have to try and really convince him of that" Mike was still a bit confused as he asked.
"Is that a bad thing?" Fritz just sighed.
"I mean, not really, as long as we don't answer any questions, it's good word about how advanced our shows are is getting out, more customers I guess, but if a bunch of technicians come in and actually want to take a 'peak behind the hood' so to speak..." Mike now understood exactly what Fritz was talking about, it was one thing to say that Foxy and Goldie were advanced animatronics, it was another for someone to come out and actually properly look at them and realize they were decades out of date in terms of the current technology standard, because then the question became just how were they acting so advanced, and that was a question that they couldn't answer.
"Got it... I'll run him off then, I don't like how closely he's looking at the stage duo" Fritz gave a grateful look to the man, clearly not wanting to go back to that conversation anytime soon, while Mike just let him have that... for another second before saying, "While I'm doing that, mind grabbing Phone Guy from his car? He's been out there in the parking lot for an hour" Fritz spun around and looked out the same window Mike had for a long moment, before grimacing as he saw the car in question, glancing back at Mike as he said.
"And if he runs off?" Mike just shrugged.
"I'll give him a call and guilt trip him into doing something else to get him out here to talk"
"Right.. Well, have fun with the magazine guy" Mike just nodded as the man walked towards the front while he himself moved over to the stage, sending a glance up at the duo on it, before focusing on the now mentally dubbed Magazine Guy, this shouldn't take a particularly long time to get rid of him, he was an excited looking man with no kids of his own staring a bit too closely at a stage surrounded by kids. Mike gave the man maybe twenty seconds before realizing that himself once Mike had approached and ran himself off, less if Mike pulled out the stops of one of his less pleasant glares, the mask added to the fear factor.
Mike was right, it was around the same time that Fritz had managed to say something convincing enough to get Phone Guy to walk through the front doors and had Magazine Guy walking out of them at a fairly fast pace. Mike ignored the glance that Fritz sent him and instead moved over to the group of two and said casually.
"We're close to closing, if you want to stick around, we can talk after everyone's gone" The man just gave a very shaky nod, his eyes weren't focused on him, instead they were locked up on the stage behind Mike, the man had the feeling he was focused on Evan, Mike could understand, sometimes he caught himself staring up at the stage with his brother on it, because of that suit he was in. Mike decided to break the silence by continuing to speak, "You want anything? I promise that our pizza actually tastes like it"
"I-uh... I- No, I'm good" Mike just hummed, before turning to Fritz.
"I'll be back in a minute with something" Fritz just nodded, looking a bit grateful that Mike didn't really believe the man, though, if he was being honest, he mostly just wanted to make it look like the man was here was a paying customer and not just a weird dude that was just hanging around, which was why Mike was also hoping that Fritz would stick with the man, as he moved around to head to the kitchen.
Time passed, he kept an eye out, noticed more than once a few things, but that was always his job, normally it was just things about the people who came in, noted the way that they interacted, how they talked, and looked around, to make sure nothing would happen and if it did he would be ahead of it before it could become anything. It was his job, and better yet, Mike was good at it, maybe in another life he would have been working as security full time instead of just playing the roll of it on top of all the other hats he occasionally wore.
So, yeah, he was aware of a lot of things when they happened in the Cove, and while out of practice, he was just as good at it as he always was, just normally it wasn't the animatronics he was keeping an eye on, at least, they weren't his main focus. But now, he watched them, it was mostly out of curiosity if he was being honest, nothing much more than that, while also admittedly needing to know that this wasn't going to blow up in their face. He knew Foxy wouldn't do anything, Mari he trusted, and his brother was likely to be more indifferent than anything, probably just not bothering to be involved in the conversation.
But he still watched them, watched the way they reacted when they caught sight of Phone Guy, saw the way that Mari tensed, just for an instance, before continuing out to do one last loop around the Cove, watched the way Phone Guy tensed in response, the way that Fritz talked to the man, pointing out random things to distract him, the way that Phone Guy seemed to keep his eyes on certain focuses. When Mari was around, he focused on the puppet, when he wasn't, it was his brother, and when Goldie retired from the stage, with Foxy doing an end of day performance while the last song from the speakers echoed out, his eyes were on Foxy. A list of threats ranked in the Phone Guy's mind, though for what they told Mike, he wasn't entirely sure, but it built up a picture that he was slowly getting more and more interested in being able to figure out just what it meant.
But not for right now, right now they had other things to focus on as the last kid and father pair left the doors at the closing hour, as Jeremy moved over, as was custom for them, flipping the door sign to close, and pulling the blinds. And just like that, Foxy wandered right out from his place behind his starry curtains, with Evan moving to more slowly follow after him, Mari poking his head out from the curtain as Mike just moved around, saying casually to the air, but with the intent for everyone who was no doubt listening.
"Let's get everything done for closing first, we can talk after" He said it for a reason, he wasn't sure anyone realized what it was, but it didn't really matter as they followed through all the same, as Foxy moved around towards the machines to help Fritz with anything that might have gotten stuck under them, Jeremy moving to start working on cleaning up the tables, he could already hear the water rushing now that the main room wasn't flooded with music or kids from Janet working on cleaning the kitchen up, while he watched as Mari just floated right back into the Prize Corner to do his own counting and restocking.
Mike himself took a moment, to glance over to where Phone Guy was, moving over while saying casually.
"You mind helping out with Jere clearing off tables?" The man seemed surprised, but like everyone who was incredibly awkward and unsure of just what they were supposed to be doing, he leaped at the chance to not stand around looking petrified, as he moved off to ask Jeremy just what he was supposed to be doing. Jeremy would be the best for that, the man was best at stuff like this, helping calm a person down and think rationally, taking a deep breath, he just ignored the faintly sick feeling in the back of his mind, as he moved forwards towards the kitchen to help Janet out, he knew how long cleaning the kitchen could be and Jere already had help with the tables.
The motions were familiar and honestly nice, as he and Janet talked, if only for the few minutes it took with the two of them about nothing, but before long they were walking out to the sight of an awkward Phone Guy who was hovering around, while everyone mostly just stood around, seemingly waiting on him and Janet, as they moved over. Mike thought about jumping right to the point, but instead glanced over towards Evan, who was standing off to the side, Foxy next to him.
"Hey, going to join us" Evan just stared at Mike, probably wondering just what his angle was, as his head moved over to look at Phone Guy as he spoke back, who more or less flinched back from the direct attention, though Mike could already see the faint look on his face at the sound of his brother's voice, without the fredbear voice overshadowing it. That was the goal.
"You sure that's a good idea?"
"Eh" The bear didn't seem to expect that, but while he was still giving Mike a look, he did move around, while the man himself just waved and gave a smile to Mari, who while a bit uncomfortable himself, floated over from the doorway from the Prize Corner as well, Foxy just wandered with the bear, which was what Mike figured would happen, as he glanced over to Phone Guy, as he said.
"So, come up with an answer?" The man just gulped, his eyes flickering between the set of animatronics that were pretty close to him now. Mike could see the faint way his chest was already beginning to rise and lower a bit too quickly, but after a long moment, he seemed to gather himself as he said uncomfortably.
"I- uh. I'm not sure I want to move any animatronic in- right away at least! But, if... If I could meet them, then... We'll see what happens" Mike blinked a bit at that, honestly not having expected an answer that wasn't a yes or no, but then again that was probably just a Mike thing, given he hadn't really thought twice about moving animatronics into his house. Still... That meant going back to AR... Before he could think too hard about it, Jeremy spoke up, relief in his voice.
"You know where AR is, if you want company, that might be a good idea, I can go with you if you want, I'm sure one of the others would be fine with tagging along as well for a bit more protection- Not that we'd need it! Just, uh, just in case" Foxy lifted his hook up and said quickly.
"Aye! I'd be cool with tagging along to see the blight again!" Jeremy shot the fox a grateful look, and while Phone Guy looked suddenly a bit overwhelmed, he just slowly nodded with a faint gulp.
"Uh, right... We- uh, can go... Monday?" He didn't seem all that enthused, but Jeremy sure did... Even as Mike had to pip up, feeling a bit bad about what he was about to say.
"You sure you're up for that Jere? We got buying to do Monday and Tuesday for the Halloween stuff, we'll need the van for that" The man blinked, before frowning, an uncertain look coming over his face as he thought that over, and Phone Guy looked suddenly a lot more concerned with the idea of going by himself, even if going with others meant a certain fox tagging along. Fritz spoke up soon though.
"I mean, we can handle that, Jeremy can take your car and I can pick you up in the van. We already know Foxy will fit in there" Mike frowned for a moment, remembering the not so quiet grinding the back right of his car made occasionally nowadays. He had been mostly ignoring it because the cost of anything was a bit too much to afford right now if it wasn't directly contributing to making more money for the Cove, and the idea of stressing that more with the fox wasn't a... great thought, but...
"Yeah, that works" From there Mike tried to make some small talk, try to keep Phone Guy around just for a bit longer, maybe forcefully drag the man into a talk with Foxy, who no doubt would be able to talk the man's ear off no matter what the fox thought about the man personally, but sooner than he could manage, Phone Guy had made a stammering excuse and all but fled. Mike just sighed, while Evan asked him straight up.
"So, what was that all about, asking me over here even if you didn't bring me into the talk" Mari let out a low questioning chime, showing he had the same thought, as Mike just sighed before saying simply, as he stared out in the direction that the man had fled.
"Was forcing him around you three, and watching you all do normal people stuff to try and shove in his brain that you're not monstrous abominations to fear anymore. Exposure therapy or something like that"
"And how do you think that worked out?"
"No... well, but better he sees you at your best so he thinks that's possible for Ennard and not toss the animatronic at us as soon as he realizes that he can't go through with this, because I don't think Ennard is going to make it easy on him... Jere?" Jeremy frowned, but nodded all the same.
"I'll try to keep everything calm, maybe talk to Ennard before if I can to let them know the lay of the land, but I'm not sure how Scott will handle that" There were a few times in Mike's life that he spoke without thinking, he was better at it nowadays, but it still happened, this was no exception.
"Who's Scott?" Fritz and Jeremy both turned to stare at him for a moment, before Fritz finally just let out a disbelieving huff as he said truly stumped.
"You actually didn't know his name? Have you really just been calling him Phone Guy in your head for months now? H-how have you gone this long without one of us saying his name?" Mike... Didn't want to answer that, so he didn't, very glad he hadn't bothered to take the mask off yet so they couldn't see the faint red on his face as he continued to say, drily as he could.
"I was joking" He got the feeling no one believed him, even as he quickly carried on, "Anyways, do your best, the sooner this is handled the better for all of us really" Jeremy just nodded, while Mike decided this was a great time to bow out of the conversation and get himself home before Fritz, who looked more than willing to continue to give him shit for not knowing the man's name, could keep on his teasing warpath.
Foxy was humming to himself in the back of Mike's car, lying awkwardly along the back of the seats, it was about as comfortable as it usually was. He would have preferred the van, but the others needed it, and the Cove was much more important to get fixed up to get the kiddies in the door. He knew that business had been getting slower and slower the last few weeks, even if the others seemed to think that eh shouldn't have to worry about it to the point of not bringing it up, he was the one that was up on the stage, and he knew that there weren't as many kids filling the floor.
It made him nervous, made him worry that he wasn't doing his own job well enough, but that didn't help nobody, so he kept those thoughts away as well as he could, worked a bit harder on his routines, preformed and did his best on the stage, roped Goldie in as much as he could. He hoped this Halloween stuff helped out, the others were so stressed... He should work a bit more on the routines with Marionette when the puppet has time, Mari always seemed just as busy as everyone else though recently, so maybe he should just figure it out himself...
The animatronics thoughts were cut off as his ears perked up at the sound of movement, and the closing of a door nearby, he did his best to not move or fidget, and just waited until the two doors to the front of the car were opened up as Jeremy slipped into the driver's seat, and Phone Guy or 'Scott' apparently, which was not what the fox was going to call him, moved, slower, staring at Foxy for a long enough moment for the fox to just lift his hook up and say.
"Yarr" The man just gulped, but slowly got himself into the seat all the same, and just like that they were pulling off. Foxy ignored the faint bumpiness of the ride in the back, he swore it didn't used to be like that, but maybe he had become a bit spoiled with the van, so he didn't bother to say anything, and instead just let the air fill with silence... For about five minutes before said silence got to him with how boring it was. He thought about it for a while, he didn't really want to say it as he did, but Mike had made a point about 'humanizing' them to Phone Guy, even if the word humanizing made the fox a bit angry, he still spoke.
"So, what have you been up to since Freddy's?" Phone Guy jumped at the sudden new, at least to him, voice, spinning around and staring at Foxy with wide eyes at the sound of not a pirate fox, but... well, a teenager, as Foxy just stared back at the man, tempted to say Yar again, but refraining, honestly wondering how he would react to the voice change. Jeremy didn't seem to notice, or if he did he was just playing it off as if it was normal.
"That's a good question, I went to work for my family for a while..." He trailed off, thinking about something it seemed while Phone Guy just continued to stare at Foxy, who just stared back, before finally answering.
"Uh... Not much, I- uh... Well, you meet a lot of people when you've worked as long as I did with Fazbear Entertainment, given they tried to put their hands in just about everything, so I had a few people who went off to their own things that I've been getting odd work from when they need advice on whatever or are trying to get in touch with someone to do something" Jeremy just hummed at that, before saying carefully.
"And you make money from that? I get being a contact man, but, uh, you never said anything about that to us?" Phone Guy just shrugged awkwardly, but Foxy was pretty sure the man wasn't capable of not being awkward at this point, it was kind of amusing, mostly just... awkward.
"I mean, you were still just starting off, and I kind of owed Michael, so it only seemed fair to not, like, ask for anything afterwards" Jeremy frowned from his seat, but Foxy figured that was about as fair as it got, the man owed them all a lot in the fox's opinion, and the idea he would charge them for something as simple as a few phone numbers was a bit... Well Foxy probably would have thrown a fit about it.
"That's nice of you, uh, and this as well, doing this I mean, thanks a lot for this. Ennard's... They've gone through some stuff and they didn't deserve it, but with everything that's happened, we can't be there for them like we had been for Foxy or Goldie" Phone Guy had been awkwardly nodding along, looking a bit guilty as he did so, up until that last part where he seemed to choke on nothing, hacking at air of a long moment before asking hoarsely.
"G-Goldie? Is, uh, that what you call... him" Jeremy just nodded, but Foxy decided it was about time to speak up again, his voice still not flaring into the pirate accent, even if he suddenly wanted to a bit more, this was more personal, and personal always was easier when he was fully the brave captain Foxy, not just... Well, he spoke before he could think too hard about it.
"Yeah, Mike nicknamed him, he didn't want to go by Evan for a while and Golden Freddy was too big a mouth full y'know? He still goes by it, only Mike really calls him by his 'actual' name" Foxy thought about talking more about it, he had a lot of thoughts about his bear friend's strange hold ups with his names and who got to use which and when, but, frankly he liked being one of the few people who knew what was going on in get bear's head and wasn't willing to share much about his best friend with Phone Guy of all people.
Phone Guy was just silent for a while, before slowly asking, very hesitantly.
"So, uh, what's... uh... You know... Your name... Foxy?" Every word sounded like the man was testing them out for the first time, hesitant and unsure of them, but trying them out anyways and hoping he wasn't messing something up. Foxy wondered just what the man thought he was going to do in this tight of a space, lunge at him? That would wreck Mike's car, so he obviously couldn't do that, obviously, and the seats were too nice to try and hooking the man in case he missed. Still, a question was asked, and... Honestly, Foxy wasn't sure if he wanted to answer, normally, and honestly he didn't really care about the name stuff.
He didn't particularly like Gabe as a name, it just didn't sound right to him anymore. Foxy was much better all around, but no one actually called Foxy that so it didn't matter and he got to keep that thought about it to himself, but now Phone Guy was asking and now he had to think of an answer. The answer was quick enough actually, he wasn't here to be friends with the Phone, just make him not want to throw Ennard into a scrap heap.
"Foxy's just fine, only name I'm willing to use these days" The man just slowly nodded, looking over to Jeremy for something, as the man awkwardly shifted before saying.
"He knows it, just... they usually like to stick with their animatronic names more than what they used to have. Goldie and Foxy both do that mostly, and Bonnie hasn't mentioned he's interested in going by Jeremiah" Jeremiah... That was the rabbit's name? Foxy should use that to pester the animatronic, Goldie had complained about the animatronic a lot recently, and the fox was pretty sure he was holding himself back a lot from doing anything back in a surprising show of patience for him. Foxy remembered when Goldie wasn't nearly as... kind as to be patient. Foxy on the other hand wasn't and was more than willing to get even for his friend's sake.
"Not... The puppet?" Jeremy just shrugged.
"I don't know if Mari knows his name or not, he doesn't really talk about that stuff with me, you'd have to ask Mike" Foxy knew, well, not Marionette's name, but that Marionette didn't know his own name, unless that changed recently, but he did remember the conversation they had a while ago now, and he figured if the puppet did figure out, he and Goldie would have been told. But he wasn't going to mention that right now either, as Phone Guy asked carefully.
"I- I see... So, uh, they're close?" Jeremy got a little pleased smile on his face that Foxy wasn't really sure what that was about, but he said confidently.
"Yeah, they're incredibly close, honestly, for a while there, during when Mike was having to stay home to recover, it was incredibly weird to see Mari without Mike being around as well, same in reserve" That Foxy could agree with, the two were thick as thieves in just about everything.
"Isn't that, uh, weird though? I-I mean, no offense, just... The puppet..." He trailed off, not sure what he wanted to say, but Jeremy seemed to get it, saying carefully.
"He was always thinking?" Phone Guy flinched even as Jeremy just gave a short sigh, "I remember that from my first week, you mentioned that, but Mari's..." Jeremy trailed off, not sure just what he wanted to say, Foxy had no issues, his voice coming out clear, a bit sharp, and maybe just a tad pirate.
"Marionette's the best of us, and I won't hear anything different" All the animatronics during their time at Freddy's had been protective of the puppet, Marionette had been the reason they continued to exist, and while not everyone had been... content with that kind of existence, they all still knew they owed the animatronic more than they could often express in their suits. Foxy was no different, the puppet protected them all, and in turn they did the same for him, even if the fox didn't have much reason to do so anymore these days, he knew Marionette could handle himself just fine, but old habits weren't always bad ones to have for the animatronic to hold onto.
Phone Guy squirmed, looking suddenly distressed as he leaned forwards as far as his seatbelt would let him and away from where the foxy was laying, before saying nervously.
"Uh, right, just... Nothing, just... Adjusting" Jeremy gave the man a short, but reassuring smile.
"I get it, suddenly they're acting completely different from how you remember then, and suddenly everything doesn't make sense and it's hard to imagine adjusting to not having to be on guard when you know an animatronic is around, but it will happen, you just have to give yourself the chance to see who they are and not what they were made to do" That sounded like advice given him experience, Foxy shot a small look over at the back of Jeremy's chair for a long moment. Jeremy had always been so... adjusted, not unflappable or anything, he was like Mike who more or less just blinked and shrugged at life changing revelations, but Jeremy had never seemed to think twice about Foxy, no matter what had been their shared past, the idea that there had been an... adjustment period felt... weird to the fox.
Should he be surprised though? Probably not, just... He always figured Fritz was the one who had struggled about all this... It was weird, probably not important, but it stuck with him all the same as he stared at the back of the seat holding Jeremy, even as the man himself spoke up soon after.
"Anyways, we're here... Ready to meet them?"
"I-uh, I guess so..." Foxy just waited for the car to settle before bursting out of the car once the engine had stilled, as he let out a laugh, this one infusing itself with his accent persona, as he said excitedly.
"Right, time to head into the unknown! Wonder what the wiry beast be up to!" Jeremy looked a bit startled, but fell in line with Foxy quickly enough, saying simply.
"Not sure, probably just wandering around, hope we don't surprise them, we did say we'd be back right?"
"Aye! We be expected guest, well, most of us" Phone Guy flinched from where he was standing across from them on the other side of the car, as he turned and looked at the desolate shed that they had parked in front of, clearly and already vividly regretting his decisions. Foxy let out another laugh and marched forwards all the same to force the man into not being able to retreat.
Which he did, after a long moment, as they found themselves in the elevator, if Phone Guy had an issue with how close Foxy had been in the car, this clearly wasn't helping him, but down they went all the same, for a meeting of fate!
Okay, maybe the fox was being a bit dramatic, but he was a bit anxious himself being down here even if he pretended not to show anything was off.
Phone Guy looked like he was about to freak out, and the fact that after a long moment, as the doors slide open, and Jeremy mentioned that he'd go and see if he could find Ennard didn't seem to help, as the man, in spite of his own hesitation of meeting the wire animatronics, quickly tagged along in spite of Jeremy mentioning he could stay there in the elevator bay with Foxy.
So off they went wandering around, looking about for a few minutes before, admittedly, Foxy decided it was a bit of a waste of time when it was pretty obvious that the longer they spent down here the closer Phone Guy was getting to some kind of nervous breakdown. So with that he leaned back a bit before calling out to the massive underground space.
"Ahoy there! We be back for that talk about dragging yah from this sunken locker!" Both men jumped more than a little bit, Foxy only felt a bit bad about one of them as the two spun around to look at him, as he just shrugged in response, saying casually, "What? We don't be having all day, and I don't reckon we came here for a game of hide and seek" Neither really had anything to say to that, though Phone Guy looked a lot more frantic, his head moving every which way trying to spot the animatronic was should be coming to them now.
If not then Foxy was more than willing to yell louder next time.
Though it seemed that it wasn't needed as before long, within the next minute, the sounds of banging could be heard from somewhere, the sounds echoing out in a way that made it hard to pinpoint as needless to say a certain someone let out a low whimper, while the Fox and Jeremy just looked around, slightly nervous admittedly, but ready to do whatever was necessary in the next few moments, Foxy noticed Jeremy not so subtly putting his hands into his pockets where he knew a taser was resting, the guilty look on the man's face was tell enough what he was thinking.
"W-Well helloooo there!" The three's heads snapped up at the same time as they looked up at the sight of... them, Ennard, their wires half sticking out from the top of a vent that they were half hanging out of, Foxy ignored the mental superimposed image of Mangle being the one to stare down at them, the white clown mask both didn't and did help, being not another fox looking back at him helped, but the white face with a singular yellow eye was eerily similar with the sight of a vent dwelling ceiling clinging broken up animatronic.
No one said anything for a long moment, so Foxy just raised a hand up and casually spoke.
"Yar" Ennard just continued to stare down at them, before slowly they began to lower themselves down, as Foxy just watched with a general kind of uncomfortableness for his own animatronic endo's sake as he watched the way that the wires just kept coming, spooling out from the vent, bundled up in certain spots, but it seemed Ennard had gotten their hands on the spare wire spools in the parts and service room and without knowing just what they were really doing with them, just more or less packed and bundled them into each other, by the way that there seemed to be an almost sluggish draw to them as they slowly lowered themselves from the vent, Foxy got the feeling they hadn't really managed to get the wires sorted and fully integrated into... whatever means of bodily control they had going on there.
Who was in the so-called drivers seat anyways? Freddy perhaps? They certainly didn't sound like no Bellora, but then again neither of the Chicas hadn't been much of a chick on the inside, so maybe that was a bit of a moot point all around.
"Y-You said w-w-we're leaving?" Foxy just shrugged, looking over to the other two, before saying as he pointed his hook at the Phone.
"Eh, maybe, we've been making deals to get yah up above, but it ain't been easy, he's the one yah got to convince cause he'll be the one y'all'll be staying with" Phone Guy opened his mouth, but nothing seemed to come out, still just staring at the animatronic that had now landed on the around, the wires tangling and twisting around themselves in a mess of parts that was hard to keep track of them all, no longer a puddle of metal wires, but a proper pool that seemed to try and pull itself up into something that was vaguely humanoid, as their focus seemed to sharpen onto the man in question. Jeremy spoke up next, clearly trying to break the tension.
"We're not sure yet though, and we have a few things to talk about, ground rules, but, yeah, if everything goes well here, we might be able to let you up top and stay with Scott here" The animatronic sort of just... Shook? Trembled? Wiggled? Foxy wasn't sure what the right word for it was, but it was a bit weird to watch, he couldn't imagine being so... flexible, being made of metal bars and all, he didn't get much in way of bendability, so seeing one so fluid sort of creeped him out the more and more he studied Ennard.
Made his metal spine itch.
Foxy was cut from that particular thought that made him uncomfortably aware of his own endo, as a sharper and much deeper voice came that was filtered almost like it was coming from an old school radio with the style the words came from.
"What rules?" Before anyone could respond, the whole body of Ennard jerked, as another voice, soft and female came through, "We can handle rules," only to be drowned out as the original high pitched and energetic voice came back, saying loudly, "No! No busy bossy bodies telling us what to do!" The entire wire structure seemed to shake and tremble with energy, to do what Foxy had no idea, but he found himself moving forwards all the same, they knew Ennard wasn't all that stable, but if they were going to be looking for a fight, then Foxy was willing to give them one.
Jeremy however just held his hands up, trying to go for appeasing and getting the situation under control before everything devolved into chaos, while Phone Guy just looked ready to bolt.
"I get it! You three don't like being ordered around, but Scott isn't like Baby, he's... He's a good guy, but it is his place you'll be staying at, so you have to be willing to meet us halfway... For everyone's safety" Phone Guy finally spoke up, before anyone could respond to Jeremy's words.
"I- I-... I'm going to go, I- I can't be here" The man was already moving, backing up slowly, like he didn't think it was safe to turn his back on Ennard who was now looking around, almost frantically, between him and Jeremy, their body itching forwards as a stuttering mess of voices broke out from them that was too messy to understand even as Jeremy flinched back from the sound and Foxy stepped forwards as the wires moved, rolling over themselves like a strange slinky moving in their direction, that seemed to be the last thing that they should have done as Phone Guy broke out into a full sprint and Foxy moved forwards, ready to tackle the wires and figure out the rest later.
He was only stopped by Jeremy moving before anyone else could, stepping in between the fox and the wires, holding his arms out even as his face twisted up like he was ready to brace himself, Foxy let out a faint growl as he changed plans, shooting a hand out and grabbing onto the man's shoulder, yanking him back before Ennard could make contact, a wiry mess of an approximation of a hand having been reaching out for a purpose the fox had no interest in figuring out as he called back.
"If yah ever want yer freedom you'll settle down" That got a reaction, a loud radio static sound ripping from the form, their whole body spasming about for a long moment, and Foxy could have sworn he could see some wires fighting against itself as he thought he heard the faint motes of words coming from the static, over and over, before finally, in a slump the entire wired body just slumped back all onto the ground, making the wire puddle once more as he just glanced back carefully to Jeremy, unsure really what just happened, the man just looked disappointed, sending that look at Foxy, which made the fox to wince back hard against it, a feeling of shame bubbling up even though he had no idea just what he had done as the man said, moving around the fox to the wires.
"Foxy can you go get Scott and make sure he's alright?" Foxy just looked between the two, ready to say something, before the man just glanced back and gave him a look that Foxy instantly felt himself look away from, he just nodded afterwards, nodding as he turned to head to find the phone. Like the man would get in trouble with how he ran... Well, maybe he had fled completely and Jeremy was worried the man was going to try and steal the car... Foxy could see that.
So he chose to think of that instead of the idea that Jeremy just didn't trust the fox to make things worse when he had no idea what he had done wrong... but then again, was that really surprising? Foxy was good at making all the wrong choices; it felt like he never was where he needed to be.
I think the most important part of this chapter is quite obvious... Phone Guy has a name! Good on him, knew he could do it! So proud! But, yeah, no, figured it was about time that he got his actual name out there now that he's an actually important character to the somewhat main plot with getting wrapped up in animatronic business, good on him, I bet he'll never regret this decision! And, yeah, I went with the boring obvious answer of Phone Guy's name being Scott, it was either that or Vincent, and being honest, I prefer Scott for the sole reason that it's faster to type out and that's about it. It's also why Goldie's name is Evan, cause that's also fast to type out, and fandom approved which also helps.
Honestly this was a pretty heavy Phone Guy chapter, with different parts of the cast interacting with him, and showing their viewpoints on the man, from Mike, Jeremy, Mari, and Foxy, with them all acting differently for the most part about how they viewed him all for differing reasons. It's interesting, showing that kind of thing. And then there's the end, with Scott and Ennard seeing each other face to face, that was fun.
Then there's Foxy, who had a fun little time going along with Phone Guy and Jeremy, and having his own little moments. I really want to do more with Foxy's POV, but being honest, and not to be mean cause I love the pirate dork, but he's kind of the least important and most settled animatronic in the cast at the moment, so there isn't really anything ever going on with him enough to warrant him being in the spot like in such a way, but of course that doesn't mean he's perfectly settled or anything either, so it's nice to see what's going on when we peak behind that starry curtain of his. I plan to do some more with him, but of course that's stuff for later on down the line.
I honestly don't really know what to say to much here if I'm being honest, it's a fun chapter, but I'm writing these notes basically the minute before posting this, and this chapter was written like, two months ago, so... I'm kind of out of the write headspace to really put everything down like I probably wanted to at the time. So I'll leave off here before I get to into the weeds about talking about nothing important and just go on rambling. See ya!