I Don't Own Fnaf

They couldn't do anything just yet, they all had lives, and more importantly a business that they really needed to keep from sinking, so as it was, they couldn't just shut the Cove down and rush over to see just how many more people Mike's dad has killed. Admittedly, Mike almost wanted to just go anyways, while everyone was busy, just to head there and just do... something, anything, but he didn't, mostly because he didn't want everyone else to be pissed at him for burning the place down or something without them.

It was a nice thought though, burning down the place that reeked of his father's involvement, at least it was until he started remembering in more detail about his father in general. That mostly just ended up ruining Mike's mood, not that it was in a great place already, his feelings about it all were still conflicted in so many ways it was hard to really wrap his own head around what he was feeling or thinking about it all.

It was easy to hate his dad, he resented and held a grudge against the man for most of his life, just that grudge has changed and morphed over the years from hate that he made Mike do everything, to the neglect, to not being there, to now being a monster. But maybe the man always had been a monster, Mike could still feel the impacts of the man's temper as well as he could remember the impacts of his own.

And what did that say about Mike? An apple who didn't so much as fall but got caught up in the branches of his father's tree.

The thought came out unprompted and it was one Mike instantly wanted to wipe away, but it was an old one, and like all his own thoughts, they stuck around like a cloying paste against the walls of his mind, refusing to go away, and when he reached to try and rip them away, it just somehow got worse.

Because at the end of the day, what was the difference between him and his father? They had the same temper, the same inherent cruel nature, the same history, the same damn face. Mike was running the man's own business now, because no matter how much he wanted to be different from what Freddy's had become, hadn't he originally truly wanted it to be what his father had first envisioned? And if that was the case, what was it the man truly wished for when he helped create the family diner that Mike now ran?

He was following the man in every step of the word it felt like, and that made him feel disgusting, like slime had congealed under his skin, like something vile was inside, even if he didn't know it, waiting to get out to follow the man's steps even farther still. Mike has already killed, the only difference was Mike stopped... But... But what if he hadn't? What if he could just... resume, like it was nothing?

Because... Because it was nothing, he tried to kill Ennard hadn't he? Self-defense be damned, the animatronic was defenseless, he knew that, he knew it and hadn't cared, if Mari hadn't stopped him, he would have, Mike knew that and it haunted him more than he wanted to admit. Because it had been an easy choice, in that moment, it hadn't mattered, he would have killed that animatronic without a second thought.

He knew what they were most likely, even if he didn't know for certain and was busy with other things it wasn't hard to realize, even when it was happening, that the pile of wires were... That they were just kids, in a situation even worse than Toy Bonnie's, and he would have killed them, without a second thought. That's how easy it was to just revert back to the horrible man he had been... and if it was that easy, then had he truly become better at all or was he just lying to himself? Hoping if he thought he was better he could hide from the monster writhing with wrath under his skin?

Would it have been better if he just died down there?

The thought came so harshly it floored him hard enough that he had to slam the breaks of his car, given he had still been on his way home from the Cove as these thoughts came with an irresistible weigh and pressure to them, as he barely managed to slam the car into park, as he fumbled with the door, half dragging himself out in time to start to heave over some random person's yard, his stomach rolling as his chest felt too tight and too empty in equal measure leading to a nauseating feeling of pain.

It was agonizing as it felt like someone was crushing his chest through the weight of the thought had slammed into him, his entire lower body burned, broken and injured muscles flexing and straining as his body tried in some way to puke up something, while his mind was being crushed under the weight of a thought he had hoped beyond anything he wouldn't have ever had again. A faint buzzing pressure in his skull made him well aware he was probably bordering on a panic attack when a hand and very concerned voice broke past his thoughts.

"O-oh! Mike, come on sweetie, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Mike just shuddered, pushing himself up and away quickly from the voice as he ended up mostly just managing to land on his backside instead of being on all fours, his abdomen didn't have the muscle strength to let him just get up on his own without being careful, it made him feel pathetic, as his eyes managed to focus back on reality well enough to see Janet's mother, Carol, standing above him with a concerned look over her face as Mike lamented in a way that was too tired to truly get worked up over, that he was probably going to be the gossip for the next year in his neighborhood with how he looked and was just acting, as he managed out with gritted teeth.

"I- I'm fine, just... a flare up while I was driving" He felt that hand place itself on his shoulder again as he did his best to not tense up from the action, he did not know this women nearly that well, and she surprisingly seemed to realize that right away as her hand vanished a moment after as he found himself watching with shock as Carol, a prim and proper looking lady he was sure would rather drown than look anything but put together, casually and easily dropped herself, nice outfit and all, right onto the grass in front of him, and simply waited.

Mike was confused for a moment before realizing just what she was doing, it was the same thing he had done only the day before now for Phone Guy. It was... well to say he felt his face burn with something that would easily be recognized as shame would be an understatement of just how he felt about falling apart in the slightest in front of basically a stranger. Gritting his teeth, he moved, getting his hands under himself and carefully getting up, he ignored the way Carol moved to follow him back into standing, as he made a move to get back in his car to do the thirty seconds it would take to pull into his own driveway.

He really couldn't have just lasted a bit longer huh? He was just about to pull himself into the car, an excuse ready on his lips when Carol spoke up.

"Are you hurt any? I heard you were in an accident but..." She was obviously just prying for information, probably to spread it all around the town, he just gritted his teeth a bit tighter, before saying back.

"Just an accident, nothing to worry about"

"It doesn't look like nothing, you don't look well" Mike just shrugged.

"Skin condition" She didn't look at all convinced, as she said with a clear downward turn to her lips that made something uncomfortable squirm in his chest.

"I was a nurse honey, those don't just happen" She was? Well, then again, he hardly knew anything about Carol or her family for the most part, even if he was friends with her daughter, that didn't really mean a ton when you think about it. Still, he just shrugged again, a bit more tightly.

"It's nothing, really" She just stared at him for a long moment, before finally her eyes softened in a way that made him very uncomfortable as she finally said.

"Oh, alright, if you're sure, but if you need anything, you let me know alright mister? You're helping take care of my girl, you know, that means something" That got a small laugh out of him in spite of himself, as he said with a bit of bitterness to his tone that he had no idea where it came from and that she wouldn't notice.

"I just pay her, she takes care of herself more than well enough"

"Damn right, but you also introduced her to that friend of yours, Fritz... I think he's a good sort I supposed, so I'm grateful for that as well, even if I would have liked her to stick around a bit longer before moving in with strangers" It was a bit easier to talk now that it wasn't really about him, as he said simply.

"Fritz's better than me for her, trust me" She just huffed, though Carol did squint up at him in a way that he wasn't sure just what she was looking for... before...

"I guess... You just be careful alright, no more falls and be safe on the road, has Mari be able to help you out?" Mike answered quickly, wanting to get the concern passed off again as soon as possible.

"Yeah, he's been great, he's at work currently, but I doubt I'll wreck in the hundred feet I'll drive down the road" She just hummed, before nodding, once, before giving him a shooing motion.

"Right, get on then, but I want to know if you need anything alright?" Mike gave a nod, even though that was the last thing he'd ever do, as he made a very quick escape out of the conversation and made the rest of the short way to his house soon after, as the second his car was parked in the garage, he just let himself sit there for a moment, before sighing out in a long pained sound. This was not at all what he wanted today to go, then again he had no idea what he had thought today would be like in the first place.

He hadn't thought he would make that almost demand to return to Afton Robotics, but they really did need to actually get that place sorted out, and if there was more people on the line than just the murderous four in the form of Ennard, then they owed it to those animatronics to go down there and get them. It's not like Ennard was much of a threat anymore, right?

Mike felt exhausted, mentally and physically, and given he had only been awake for a few hours at this point, that probably wasn't a good thing, but then again he always felt tired these days... Well, to be honest, he's very rarely not felt exhausted, but it was a nice few months where he hadn't held this weight. Not to mention his fall probably hadn't been great on his body, he was already feeling the soreness ache through him... Maybe a nap would do him some good, at the very least it would save him some of the time before Mari got home where he'd be stuck with his thoughts.

It wasn't a particularly great idea, he had a lot of things he needed to think about, but that didn't mean he'd get anywhere with them when he was like this, so with that, and with a sigh, he just ran a hand through his hair before moving forwards and finding himself pulling himself down to lay down on his couch, it was as uncomfortably comforting as it always was, as he took a deep breath before letting himself close his eyes. Apparently he was somehow even more tired than he thought as soon after he found himself drifting off into sleep.

Of course he wasn't allowed any real rest, as soon after he found himself pulled under with dreams of a place he had never been to, but had seen more than a few times now.

He didn't really want to be here, but something that Michael had said the day before stuck with him more than he wanted it to. He wasn't ready for this, but then again, would he ever be ready? Was it ever a question of if he could? Or rather a question of if he would ever try? He had done a lot of horrible things in his life, and he wasn't leaving any time soon from this place, this town, it was like he was trapped here in some ways, the idea of going somewhere else, where he'd never be known felt to freeing to be allowed, this was the place he helped destroy the innocence of, it was the least he could do but to suffer with them.

And so he would also try, as much as it hurt, but maybe that's why he was here, because it hurt, because it made his hands shake, because it felt like his heart was going to break out of his chest to flee before it could break and bend anymore. It wasn't like this was the first time he had visited this place, back when it was nothing but peace, when he could enjoy the cheers of children and the exasperation of parents. Before he had been sent to practically help run Juniors.

Before 1983 when everything had felt right, before he had helped through inaction hide the first bodies, before he was to afraid for his own life to risk speaking up out of nothing but cowardice, before he began to slowly and steadily become unable to be around others, until he was doing everything over the phone because the idea of looking the people he called co-workers in the face was to painful to do out of guilt, out of knowing he might be the one who had to hide their disappearance to keep his own fragile peace, to hold onto the broken and cracked normalcy he was to scared to ever test until he had no choice but to let himself nearly die to escape, at the end, when the company was nothing more than a death's throw away from the end, when he had gotten any courage, and faced the pain that he had let bleed onto so many others.

The weight of the guilt that came from learning that the animatronics could be saved, that they were just as much victims as the others, that had been nearly unbearable, but he was to much of a coward to ever do anything about the sheer weight of shame and guilt on his shoulders, so he kept going, scared and now without anything to do to fill his days before, scant faint echoes of contacts from the life he wanted nothing more than to bury always calling, calling, and calling with thoughts, and requests, and he answered them, he gave help, and it burned every time, but he did it anyways.

This was the place where his help didn't burn, but being here, in the parking lot, in front of what had once been the diner still hurt in other ways. He wondered how Mike had learned to deal with it, wondered how Jeremy and Fritz could stand it, how the animatronics felt about their own hands that played such large parts in continually spreading suffering over such a long time. Did he deserve to know? Was even the idea of asking too good for him? He knew he didn't deserve any peace for what he had done, not respite, and as such he shouldn't want to know if there was anything that could help the guilt he felt.

But beyond anything else, beyond the hurt, the pain, the guilt, he wanted to go through those doors, and ask all the same. Wanted to know how... but he wouldn't.

He couldn't, because he was frozen, in his seat in his car, where he had only too good a view to see through the large window right at the main stage where a golden bear stood next to a fox. At the end of the day, he would always be a coward, and right now the fear of getting closer, of even moving at all, was too much in the sight of the bear that didn't even know he was there.

He felt pathetic as he shifted his car into reserve and pulled out of the parking lot, but that was hardly a new feeling, even if it was hardly a comfort.

The man didn't notice as he pulled out and left, another person in much the same situation as him, froze, sitting in her car, staring ahead through the windows, her hands tightening with emotions she had no idea what to label as, as she watched as a certain puppet, held up on wires, moved around, holding a cake tray of all things, and bringing it to a table.

She couldn't bring herself to go in there, though something made her want to, to need to know for certain...

Because Charlie knew what she had seen, but that didn't mean she was ready to face it.

Marionette wasn't sure going back down below was a great idea, but then again, the very idea that there were others, more that they didn't know about... It was a guilty feeling that the idea gave him, more so that he hadn't thought about it as much as it was. He wasn't sure it was still worth going back down there even with that knowledge, but Marionette could admit, he was more than a little... bias about AR as a whole.

That made him feel even worse, the idea that he had lost so much of himself from who he had once been that he would be alright with leaving animatronics to suffer. Then again, he left Ennard to suffer, had no goals to help the animatronic who nearly took everything from him, and if that was the case then what did that say about him? The Protector... Did he deserve that title anymore? Was it even needed now with so many others willing to help or was it just something he wanted to cling onto in a hope of holding onto a bit of his past that he was willing to remember?

It was a hard line of thought, one he willingly pressed down and held away instead of the favor of holding onto another conversation and the conviction he had felt then. Back at AR the last time he had visited, with Goldie at his side, talking about second chances. Marionette didn't want to interact with Ennard, never wanted to talk to the animatronic again, never wanted to so much as see them above the surface, but... But what he wanted didn't really matter, did it? What right did he have to be so angry when he had done the same to so many others while he got the chance to live what he had once thought nothing possible for him outside of a dream?

In the end he didn't get to have some answer he could find within the hours of his work day, and in the end he vanished back home with nothing more than what felt like a headache.

He was ready to announce his presence, ready and more than willing to find Mike and persuade him into laying on the couch with him for a while so he could just forget his own issues... As it stood he found Mike quickly, because the man was already there, laying on the couch, his eyes closed, seemingly sleeping... Only his face was twisted up with an expression of near pain.

"Mike?" The man didn't so much as stir at the puppets words, instead just continued to tense up worse and worse, his hands were balls into fists as his whole body shook every few seconds. Marionette quickly moved in closer, the man never had nightmares like this before. It honestly scared the puppet as he reached down and carefully shook the man's shoulders, doing his best to be gentle, but it didn't seem to do anything but make the man flinch in his sleep.

"Mike? Come on, Mike!" Marionette didn't want to seem to frantic, but this was seriously beginning to freak him out more than it had any right to, as he shook the man a few more times, before finally working up the courage to reach down and actively lift the man up by his shoulders to give a much more firm shake.

"Ah!" The man woke with a sharp start, trying to move before he realized just what he was doing, his arms shooting up like he was trying to brace himself against something unseen, his entire body tense, before he slowly lowered his arms as he realized the inhuman grasp on his shoulders weren't moving to tightening any as he blinked up with wide and almost manic eyes up at the very concerned face of Marionette.

"You're safe, it was just a nightmare... Are you alright?" Mike just stared up at the face of the puppet for a long moment before letting his head lean back until it hit the arm rest of the couch as he just stared up at the ceiling, his mind still whirling around more than a little bit, flashes of things in the back of his eyes still playing themselves out in a way that made him still feel the rush of panic and pain in his chest... Ok, maybe the pain was actually just him, Mike was pretty sure he hadn't woken up peacefully and his ribs were still looking more like puzzle pieces than bones, even if he didn't think about that particular injury as much as the massive new hole in his body.

"I-..." Mike's words got caught in his throat as he just took a deep breath and shifted a bit, getting to sit properly on the couch as he reached up and with a wince put some pressure on his side. It burned like hell but in another way forced his mind to anchor itself into the moment, he felt his hand get taken away a second later by the puppet, who now just held onto it with concern still radiating off him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mike just blinked, staring at the felt black fabric covered hands holding onto one of his. It was a dumb thought, but he hadn't ever really realized just how much bigger his hands were in comparison to Mari's. It made sense, Mike had really big hands in general, and Mari only had three fingers, and while quite long, they were also quite thin. It was a weird thing to focus on, but he needed something, it made it easier to speak.

"I died" The words felt wrong, Marionette just let out a low sound as he moved over, ready to comfort Mike like the last time the man had a break down over something like this, but the man held on to the puppet's hands, as he continued to speak, "But it wasn't me who died... And it happened again, and again... I- I remember them all"

"W-what are you talking about?" Mike could only shrug uselessly.

"I-... I don't know, but someone, maybe a lot of someones, are trying to tell me something" The man finally just sighed, dropping his head down a bit, "Just another reason to go back, I don't think I want to deal with anymore creepy hallways" Marionette had no idea what that meant, but it was clear as Mike now broke his hands free, reaching up to grab onto the puppet proper, he had no interest in telling.

With the day they both apparently have had, the puppet let the man just pull him onto the couch, and listen as the sound of the tv clicked on, it seemed they both were trying to escape their thoughts tonight. Marionette wasn't sure it was good that it seemed they were doing that more and more recently, but he couldn't find it in him to try and fix it right now either.

Goldie was not amused for a lot of reasons at the moment, as he stared at the form of Toy Bonnie who was just there, sitting on the table, like nothing was wrong in the slightest. The bear hadn't really cared to think about the animatronic in a while, frankly on the long list of things that the bear spent his time thinking about, he had made it a habit to have rabbits of any kind to not be on the list, so this wasn't exactly a pleasant evening surprise.

Bonnie didn't seem to care about that, however, broken face and ruined eyes focusing on him before slightly turning just enough to show the way the animatronics' eyes focused on the man at the bear's side. Jeremy had been the one who dropped the bear off, the man had been the one who drove the van the most, always willing and nice enough to hold to the whims of the bear wanting to stay his nights at the warehouse and the fox who often asked to join him more and more recently.

They hadn't really been talking about anything up until this point, but Jeremy had followed him in anyways, sometimes the man did that as well, to... the bear didn't really know, see that he made it in or something? Frankly Goldie never made a point to question the man's habit of hovering about, he was always just... sort of there, and if he wasn't, then he just wasn't.

As it stood though, he was here, and as such Goldie moved forwards as the bunny's eyes moved over, so he was standing in front of Jeremy, not by a lot, but more than enough to get the point across. He had no idea if the animatronic was going to try something or not, so he needed to be at least a little careful... Even if a small part of the back of his mind almost wished to the excuse to do something.

Sadly though Jeremy was the first to speak, his voice, while a bit hesitant, wasn't all that worried, which was probably a good thing given the man's ability to read a room.

"O-oh, uhm, hello there... I don't suppose we've met properly?" The short animatronic let out a huff, the voice that came from the bunny unfortunately spiking the bear with a long lost feeling of nostalgia and grief that the bear really wished he wasn't suddenly hit with.

"I don't forget faces, I know who you are mister night guard" Jeremy shuffled awkwardly on his feet for a moment, a hand reaching up to try and run it through his hair only to smack it against the hat on his head, this one had some sports team logo on it that Goldie didn't know the name of. The bear spoke up next, ignoring the faintly concerned look Jeremy shot at him in spite of the man's own clear uncertainty.

"What are you doing out of your box?"

"What? You think I'm some kind of puppet that you can keep locked up in a box?" The sound of creaking springs filled the air as Goldie tilted his head down, staring much more forcefully at the bunny, old feelings coming back up in painful clarity in the actual face of such an old friend or not, he was not going to let that comment slide. He had occasional issues with Marionette, but he knew all too well what that kind of side comment hurt like. Bonnie huffed, but his eyes did turn away all the same after a short staring contest as he said tartly. "Marionette visited me, he didn't seem all that concerned with locking me up afterwards, didn't care to leave until now I guess, but I figured there wasn't a point in hiding either so... " And now the bear was unamused for another list of reasons, he was sure going to need to have a talk with the puppet soon then about letting psychotic rabbits out of their cages in his home, what a pain.

"Well, I mean, if Mari thought it was alright then..." Jeremy didn't sound wholly convinced, not that Goldie could blame him he wasn't either, though the bear was a bit more interested in the way the bunny tensed just a bit at the name 'Mari', strange but not that important. Frankly the bear was doing his best to not care, he didn't like how difficult it was.

"He didn't seem to care" Bonnie tried to sound blase about it, but that Goldie and Jeremy both could hear the faint resentment in his tone. Goldie really didn't want to touch that, so instead he just walked forwards, moving past the animatronic before stopping, just for a moment, saying simply but sternly.

"Don't be a problem" Bonnie just rolled his hardly existent eyes and instead just glanced back at Jeremy.

"Not planning on it, is he just going to do anything or just stare like a weirdo" Jeremy's face went a bit red, as he sputtered out something when Bonnie just broke into not to kind snickers at the sight of the man floundering, before turning away, getting up and simply walking away, not saying anything as he went, as the two just watched. Goldie just stayed there, keeping an eye on him, he didn't trust that rabbit. Jeremy just coughed awkwardly before saying.

"Well, that could have gone worse, right?" The bear had to begrudgingly give the man that.

"Yeah, he didn't try to kill us again" Jeremy winced.

"Ah, right... Should... Should we be worried about him? I don't think so, he's... more stable I guess but-" Goldie spoke up before he could really measure his words.

"I'll keep an eye on him, if he tries anything like that again..." Goldie didn't need to explain, Jeremy just frowned, but didn't say anything, just nodding as he glanced back over in the direction that Bonnie had walked off in, there was nothing over there, the rabbit probably just wanted a dramatic exit, apparently somethings don't change. Turning away, he saw Jeremy looking in the same direction, concern etching itself onto the man's face. Goldie himself frowned, not particularly liking the idea the man was still afraid of the rabbit, especially when Goldie was here, as he said.

"You can head out, I'll see you in the morning" Jeremy blinked a bit before nodding quickly, glancing back once more before doing just that, turning and making his way out of the warehouse, unsure just what he was suppose to do with the aching feelings of betrayal and hurt that he had felt from Bonnie. Was he supposed to do anything? Was it his place?

In the end it didn't matter, he drove away all the same, his mind swirling with concern and uncertainty as it always did without a way to get rid of the thoughts properly.

The days continued to march on, Monday was quickly upon them, the Cove was closed, and it was time to find out just what was below the surface. Mike was aware no one was comfortable with him being here, frankly he wasn't all that thrilled about it himself, but he needed to go back down there, needed to find it, so he was going, end of story. It wasn't like he wasn't going to be careful, a new, much too expensive, taser was carefully tucked in his also new jacket's pocket, and he was sure his puppet and his brother would be hovering around him the entire time, so it was hardly like he thought he would be in any real danger.

Honestly, if anyone should be concerned for anyone, it would be all of them for Janet, he wasn't really sure just why she was so intensely certain that she should come with them, but he wasn't going to say no to extra eyes, and even as Fritz fussed over it he knew better than to try and fight her on that. Smart man, but the point stood, Mike wasn't sure just how she was going to handle this, this was... the ugliest side of the business that she'd be subjected to hopefully for a long time, and while it might not be as bad as, say, springlocking your own father, it still wasn't going to be pretty no matter what happened if Mike's gut feeling about all this was right.

Then again, he didn't have much in terms of guts these days so...

It was a dumb joke, but it made him smirk to himself in spite of himself, as he leaned his head against the window in the passenger seat of the van, glancing out and looking around to see if he could spy Fritz's car. They had made the decision to take two cars, mostly for just the sake of not knowing just what they might be bringing back. Even though as it was, with Foxy, Mari, and Goldie in the van, that might be a bit of a stretch to how much room they would have if they brought back the whole circus.

So, yeah, Fritz was following behind them, Janet was with him, the two were probably talking about what to expect if Mike had to guess, the place was a bit creepy just in general with the fact that it was a haunted abandoned building... Hmm, thinking of creepy, Mike didn't really care much about thinking to hard about the place he was heading to, he'd have to be serious and deal with everything when he was there of course, they all would, but in the meantime, Mike rolled his head off the window into looking back over his shoulder towards the animatronics as he asked everyone in the van.

"Think we should do something for Halloween?" There hadn't really been much in the way of conversation in the van until this point, the air was too tense, so the sudden break in silence and with the topic matter had most heads turning to look at Mike like he was at least a little crazy, as Evan spoke first, saying blandly.

"I don't think we're in a position to go trick or treating" Mike smirked at the dryness before shrugging and saying back.

"I'm sure we could load up on candy if one of you went around knocking on doors, but I mean for the Cove. Halloween is on a Saturday, that's already our busiest day, and we need to figure out if we want to do something for the holiday season anyways since Christmas is not to far off after" That seemed to hit the right button, because while Evan didn't seem all that enthused, Mari and Foxy both perked up more than a little bit at the idea, as the fox was quick to speak up.

"We can dress up everyone as a proper crew! Just imagine it! Everyone finally proper pirates!" Mike was sure the fox would have stars in his eyes if he could, as Mari chimed in quickly.

"And we can dress the Cove up! Make it a proper Halloween themed time! Ooh! We could have a fun little event as well!" Jeremy hummed at that part, tacking on a more business minded perspective.

"We could probably make a full week of events it, I mean, dressing the entire Cove up for just one day is a bit much, but if we do something for everyday Tuesday to Friday, leading up to Halloween, then we could probably get a lot of kids in for the entire week which would make it a lot more worth it"

"True, we'd need to think up the events as well though" Mari chimed in again quickly with an eagerness to his voice.

"I'm sure we can think of some that fit in with the themes, and if not then I'm sure we can come up with plenty of Halloween based games and activities" Mike hummed, that was true, it even sounded like a nice way to give a boost in income for the Cove, not to say they hadn't been doing alright, more they were doing well enough, but the school year had hurt a lot more than he wanted to admit, so this would be a really nice way to pad the income for this month, and if they were lucky the idea would hold weight for the next few holidays if they could come up with a way to make it worth while for parents and kids to come by the Cove.

Still, time to toss in his hat into the idea ring, as he said casually to stoke the fire.

"So Jeremy, think you can rock fox ears?" The man blinked, confused, and then suddenly Foxy was moving, his head poking between the two of them and staring at the man right in the face, his eyes sharp like he was trying to figure something out. Mike just smirked as Jeremy sputtered out something as he glanced back at the back of the van at the mixed look of unimpressed and amused coming from the other two. Yeah, that wasn't too bad. If Mike was lucky he could sick the fox on Fritz as well at some point, it would be an amusing sight for sure, and if Foxy managed to win in his new interest, it would finally mean that the Cove finally gets to be properly fox themed... Though Mike wasn't certain if he counted or not in that regard, mask or not... Eh, he already had the mask, so the fox had nothing on him.

It was a nice little break on the way before they arrived as well, as the conversation continued to circle around the idea, even as they got closer and closer to AR, so Mike figured he had done his job well enough.

Honestly, this was suppose to be a lot faster paced, with the next trip, with them arriving and going down being in this chapter, but there was a lot of things I needed to have in place first, and so this one just became another segmented chapter, which is fine, I really enjoy these ones were it's just short little moments spread out among most of the cast, this one was pretty fun for a lot of reasons.

For one, Mike is going through it, same with Mari, but let's be honest, that's not a new thing, and honestly I'm not sure what else I can add there, so moving onto others, or rather the one I'm most hyped to talk about, the 'mystery POV' we had in the middle of the chapter, not that mysterious, I think it was pretty obvious as to just who it was, but no reason to spell it out here I suppose, just it's nice to finally get into the mind of this person in particular.

And then there's Charlie, been a while since she's come up, but that's for a few reasons, and it seems like she's got something of an eye on the puppet... NO idea what that could be about! Not at all... Anyways, Can't wait to get to that, but in the mean time we're focused back on round two with the below section of AR which is fun, been a bit, about fifteen chapters in fact, wild, doesn't feel that long, at least for me, but then again I know everything that's happening so... Anyways! See ya!