I Don't Own Fnaf

Charlie hadn't expected much from the keycard, not really.

It had taken her finding a yellow pages that was years out of date to be able to find the address and phone number of Afton Robotics, the latter of which gave nothing but the sound of an out of order number. It had been a sharp debate on just if she wanted to go out to the location listed, the keycard, which she had taken on keeping hidden in her jacket pockets, burning a hole in the back of her mind over the following week as she moved through her life, like nothing was wrong.

She didn't do a very good job of it, John and Jessica both had asked after her multiple times at this point on if she was alright or not, she was running out of ways to say she was fine, even when she had no idea just what it was that she was actually feeling. Confused for the most part, what was there to say? What was there to do? Did she really want to know? She had to, the idea of not doing so was worse.

And that's why she was here, a week after finding that key, now standing in the empty lot of Afton Robotics, a nervousness to her from the fact that she was out here all alone. She had blown off Marla asking if she wanted to hang out for this, she'd have to apologize later, but being out here now, she wasn't sure if this was such a good idea anymore... Charlie wasn't sure she would be able to leave now though, not for any reason beyond the fact that if she left now she wasn't sure she'd be able to build up the courage to come back.

In the end, she nearly gave up on courage as a whole, as Charlie stepped inside and nearly let out a shriek at the long streak of red trailing up to her feet where she stood in the door. Holding a hand up to her mouth to not gag at the faint smell of iron in the air, she took a deep breath before stepping inside as she looked around for a long moment, her eyes catching on the red as it moved forwards towards what looked like a lift, before shaking her head.

This was a mistake, she shouldn't be here, she should be calling the police or something.

More than ready to turn around instead of ahead into what might be a murder scene that she most certainly didn't want to tamper with, the sound of an electronic of some kind whirling to life forced her to pause in her movement. Charlie's head slowly turned back into the dark room as she focused on a monitor that was behind the main desk. She shouldn't... But nothing about this made sense, there were so many questions in the back of her mind still, from Michael to that foxy that didn't act right, to what really happened and what was still happening, and just what really happened to her brother.

Maybe this place wouldn't have any real answers, maybe she really shouldn't go in here... but Charlie continued to stare at that desk were the computer was still whirling, and before she knew it, she was slowly stepping inside, gulping to herself, as she moved over and around to the right side of the desk to look onto the flickering static of a computer screen.

After a long pause, a set of words in a large font appeared over a circular checkered pattern icon, reading out: 'Please Stand By!'

Charlie just shifted, looking around the room, but as far as she could tell she was alone, even as a long shiver trailed up her back as she wondered if it was too late to regret not bringing something to defend herself with if something did jump out at her or something of the like. The idea of being watched felt somehow more and more likely when she watched, as on the screen appeared what seemed to be video footage of the very room that she was in from an angle coming from above the door she had just walked through.

...Only it wasn't now that the footage was showing, it wasn't a live feed, the long streak of dried red wasn't there, and in the top right, there was a time stamp, while there was no date, the time still showed it being well past midnight, not the middle of the afternoon that it was now for Charlie. This... Was someone showing her something?

Her thoughts were immediately confirmed in the worst way as the doors were pushed open on the screen as she watched with shock as Michael stepped inside, a light in his hand lighting up the room fully letting the camera catch more detail, as her old childhood friend glanced around, back and forth, like he was on guard just as Charlie had been not even five minutes ago.

Only instead of pausing and then being lead in by something she couldn't explain, the man stepped inside without hesitation, turning his head, saying something to someone, though there was no audio that came from the computer to let her know what was being said, as she watched with a startled confusion as it seemed as if someone else joined Mike in the room, only for a burst of white covered the camera.

The entire screen glitching out with static as the image on it buffered in place and lagged behind, skipping whole moments it seemed like as Michael moved further into the room while the other person, who must have been the source of corruption, moved at the man's side, making it hard to track the incredible tall man's path to the elevator... Only from the time stamps in the top corner, no time was missing, the seconds ticked on completely normally, like nothing was amiss. Charlie had no idea just what kind of device would be needed to do that to a camera feed, nor just why it would be used here for one person but not Michael, who to Charlie seemed much more likely to care about something like that.

She could only watch as the two continued to talk, before finally they stepped into the elevator and once the door was closed the footage returned to normal as she just frowned, unsure just what she was watching. After a long second, the screen glitched back to that icon and words, before once more a new scene was playing, the same night from what she could only guess, only fifteen minutes having passed from the first time stamps, when the elevator doors opened once more...

And Charlie's world was shattered, as she watched from inside the opened doors, laid Michael, and next to him, holding onto the man in a warped looking hug, sat a stripped animatronic who moved on it's own, it's legs moving and lifting off the ground, as she watched with horror and a feeling of bile rising in her throat, as the thing dragged Michael out of the elevator, a long thick streak of dark liquid trailing from the man's body as Charlie felt herself heave as the man got closer to the camera and she could see the thing sticking out of the man's chest.

Stumbling back, she was ready to run, needing air away from this horrible room, from this horrible truth, only to scream in shock as the screen of the computer glitched, the light getting almost eye blinding bright on the screen, before smoke sparked out from the tower at the monitor's side as she just stumbled back, staring at the sight in terror before rushing out, half stumbling over her own feet as she blasted through the doors, not caring to properly close them as she rushed to her car.

She needed to be anywhere but there.

Fritz felt a bit like tearing his hair out, but that was completely for new reasons than he was used to. Because he was used to it, from everything from a project just refusing to finally fix itself, aka the arcade machines back in the summer when Bonnie was throwing his fit, to worry, aka when Mike had gotten himself hospitalized, but this wasn't any of that.

Because the project should have already been done, it should have been as simple as getting the correct information, seeing what was one the handunit, and then the next morning going to the warehouse to get the files off the computer over there so he could finally start figuring more out about the details of the Funtime animatronics, as well as look into those many files that weren't able to be accessed without this device before now.

And he had thought that had gone well, he had gone to the warehouse, had talked to Goldie for a bit, even did a fair amount of work on Bonnie while he had the handunit set up on the computer letting the files transfer over while he was working given it would take a while with how much information there was to move over. But the second that he had gotten the handunit back from the docking station he had rigged up to plug into the old computer, it was very clear something was wrong.

For one the speakers had been reset to the maximum volume, and even when Fritz went as far as figuring out to mute the damn thing, it was never more than an hour later that the sound had maxed itself out again, and if he kept it on high and just put a blanket around the speakers, then for some reason it worked in reserve and the sound went down so far he couldn't even make out a murmur from the thing.

Not to mention the files, it was like a jumbled mess of code, he hadn't really thought about pathing the files into any sort of location in the handunit per say, hadn't thought it necessary, which was a massive mistake on his part. Because it seemed the device had a mind of it's own when it came to where files should be located in the file pathways that were already in the handunit.

He found Funtime Freddy's file information, or rather to say a part of the animatronic's file, in a folder that was just filled with nothing but a bunch of images of just... butter? While the other half had been found in the file that held the pre recorded audio files for the voice that came from the handunit, at least, it had at first, but it seemed like the glitching screen wasn't the only thing wrong with the thing, as it vanished and reappeared in a folder that was nothing but nonsense files.

He could only imagine that the reason he had found this handunit down on that conveyer belt was because the man who had it before him, Michael Brookes, which Fritz had taken to just calling Brookes in his head for his own sake, had gotten sick of how just how faulty the thing was. If it wasn't possibly the only one that was to be found anywhere, he would have thrown the thing away himself, as it stood he cracked the back of it open for the fifth time to see just why the thing was causing him such issues, but like always, there wasn't anything with it that seemed to be a problem.

It reminded him far too much of the issues he had with the arcades, but unlike this time he knew it wasn't Bonnie causes the issues... Fritz had already asked, and had gotten a very strange look for it, so it obviously wasn't the rabbit and in this case actually just a fault with the machine, and if there was anything wrong with it, frankly as it stood, because it was the only one he had access to, Fritz was to uncertain he could rewire the entire thing without accidentally wiping something important. Fazbear equipment was notoriously difficult, and so he just had to deal with it.

It took way longer than he wanted to, and it seemed at some point the device made a point to start cycling through different backgrounds for a while, before settling on a checkered one, but in the end, Fritz settled with just being able to figure out the deal with the funtime animatronics before giving up on the thing for the time being, that's what was important right now anyways. The second he was done, he just tossed the thing into a desk drawer and decided to not think about it for a while. He could mess with the thing when he had something that he actually needed to know more about.

It was Wednesday, which meant it was time for the Cove to be open once more. Mike had debated something in the back of his head over the last two days, and as it came time for Mari to get himself up and ready to deal with the day, with Mike following suit like always, he found himself staying behind in his bedroom as the puppet moved to the kitchen to get one last look over the sweets he had prepared over the last two days, like the Cove would be in any kind of shortage for at least a week or two with how much Mari had baked.

He hadn't really talked about it with anyone, but at the same time, it wasn't really a discussion for anyone, as much as Mike didn't exactly make it a big deal, he was the one with final say in things like this, for well more than a few reasons. So with that, while Mari was down stairs, he moved around the room, getting ready, falling into old patterns that felt a bit too unpracticed with how long it had been since he had last done them.

The buttons took a minute to get sorted, but that was mostly because of the new pair of black gloves that he was wearing, things he had been meaning to start using for a while now, but only now really figured it was worth the effort of going through with it. Putting on something that wasn't sweatpants felt weird with how much of a lounging person he had been recently, but at the end of it, with a hand reached out, he picked the last item off the wall, his mask, before simply clipping it to his belt, the familiar weight resting there was more comforting than the almost ritualistic preparations leading up to that point as with one last deep breath, he turned and headed out of the room.

Making his way to the stairs as he made his way down them carefully as the sound of Mari's voice echoed from the kitchen in response to the footfalls, his tone playful as he spoke.

"I was wondering if you had fallen back asleep up there" Mike just called back casually.

"Well I have been told I sleep like the dead" Mari let out a laugh at that.

"By who? Cause I know it wasn't me, you wake up from anything"

"Oh, it wasn't? Must be my side puppet, you know, the one you don't know about"

"You trying to get my jealous or convince me start another one of those weird soaps you love?" Mike hadn't actually seen one with a puppet in it before... well, there was that weird arc with Vlad and that hand puppet thing as a stand in for his son... But Mike preferred to not think about that, as he said back as he leaned himself into the doorway of the kitchen.

"Not sure, before I answer, would it be working?"

"Don't think so, if you want feel free to invite her over some time, we can compare note-" The bit died as Mari had finally turned around and saw Mike, uniform and all, as he let out a surprised chime, before slowly asking, "Are you planning on going into work?"

"Either that or I've gone rogue and started moonlighting as a security guard without telling anyone" Apparently Mike's teasing wasn't enough to get the puppet back into their banter, as he just stared at Mike for a long moment before saying carefully.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what if something happens?" Mike just shrugged.

"Then I'll handle it? I mean, if it's, like, a riot because Foxy decided to do a stage dive, then I assume the others will step in and help me out, but I think I can handle the truly arduous task of taking orders and existing around to make parents feel safe to keep their kids around the Cove" The puppet just fidgeted for a moment, before finally giving a nod.

"Well, I mean... If you're sure..." Of course Mari didn't seem all that sure himself, as Mike found himself slowly frowning, a faint unsettling feeling shifting in his chest, as he did his best to ignore it while he asked carefully.

"I am... Are you okay with it though? You don't seem all that confident in me" He didn't want to sound defensive, but it ended up that way it seemed as Mari let out a faint chime before quickly shaking his head as he moved over.

"No! Of course not, I'm sure it'll go fine! It's just I worry, but this isn't anything to worry about right? You'll be fine" As he spoke the puppet reached out and absently fiddled with the security jacket that rested on Mike's shoulders, patting off dirt that wasn't there, before looking up a bit at Mike as he tried for a smile, only to hear a faint disconcerted chime as before Mike could pull his puppet in for a hug, Mari had floated back and had already moved back to the island in the kitchen, where a large number of trays laid, filled with about a dozen types of sweets combined throughout them all.

Mike just frowned, a bit... not hurt, but being brushed off wasn't a great feeling, even if Mari tried to overcorrect, it didn't have the right effect. So he just moved forwards, glancing to the side for a moment, staring out the mostly closed kitchen window. It was fairly overcast, with dark clouds out in the sky, meant rain soon, Mike hadn't thought to look at the weather, but if they were lucky it'd hold out for most of the day.

Using that glance over as a distraction, being able to grab the puppets attention to where he was looking, with a blind hand, Mike moved, reaching out and snatching one of the cupcakes up before the puppet could try and stop him and took a bite. It was as good as they always were... Strawberry icing, he then finally glanced at the puppet who was giving him an unimpressed look.

"You haven't even had breakfast yet" Mike shrugged, fully unabashed as he said while moving closer.

"How can I resist something so sweet though?" Just as he finished saying that and before Mari could say anything more, he slipped an arm around the puppet and pulled the animatronic in close a side hug and felt a bit of that tension in his body leak out at the flustered at the unsaid flirtatious undertones as Mike plucked up another cupcake, as he turned it over before saying carefully, "Strawberry icing... Not long enough" The animatronic let out a confused chime, telling Mike all he needed, as he just hummed and took a big bite from the cupcake, as he moved away from the puppet towards the fridge to be able to actually get something that wasn't pure sugar in his body before he gave himself a crash half way through his first day back.

That'd be embarrassing.

"What were you talking about?"

"Nothing, just been a while since I had one, they're good though. What kind of spread we got to put on the menu today?" Thankfully Mari believed him, as the puppet moved to quickly explain everything he's been baking over the last few days, happy to tell Mike all about it, the man just glanced down at the remains of the cupcake in his hand... Mike didn't forget the last time Mari had used strawberries in icing. He made it a personal little goal of his to crack the puppet's little code for sweets.

Purple dye and mixed berry was for Mike when he was more depressed than usual for example. Cherry was for when Mari was in an inspired mood, vanilla for just standard baking, chocolate for much the same reason, and strawberry?

Mike had come home to a house full of strawberry after his round trip with the hospital.

Strawberry was for when Mari was mourning.

"Oh! Hey! I wasn't expecting you here" Mike just gave Jeremy a smile as the two moved around to work on the opening shift, the man himself taking a moment to remember and get back into the swing of it, as he spoke back.

"Figured it was about time, I can't imagine it's been great being one person short"

"It's... been a bit of a challenge, but we handled it well enough I think, still glad to see you back" Mike just nodded, as the two continued to do their due diligence, after a while Fritz showing up, leading the two main stage stars out, as Mike glanced over as his eyes caught on Goldie, the bear moving over for a moment, before pausing as he caught sight of Mike in return, the two brothers stayed there for a long moment, keeping their gazes locked onto each other, before finally Mike was the one to turn away as Goldie continued on his way to the stage, nodding along to the conversation that Foxy hadn't bothered to stop while the bear had been preoccupied.

This would be hard, but Mike could handle it, better than being home feeling like he wasn't able to do much of anything, at least here he could do his job. It was something he had been missing for a while now, and the weight of the mask as he placed it over his face was an almost shoulder dropping weight release off his chest, as he glanced to at side at a nearby arcade machine's dark screen and didn't have to see his own face staring back to him.

Before long the day had started, and instantly Mike found himself put on the back heel as one after another, over the course of the hours they were open, Mike was approached by kids, excited to see the other 'Guard Foxy' as he had been apparently named by the collective youth that routinely had visited, more than a few asking him where he had been. Mike having to come up with some tall tale that was less fiction that he wanted it to be with how on the spot he had been put, making it some tale about wire beasts out at sea and what not.

While for the parents who came over and asked about where he had been and if everything was alright, he mentioned that he had been in a car accident and had been recovering at home, they had been very understanding to that, which blew Mike away, not that he mentioned anything when he found himself with about three times as many tips to add to the collective tip jar by the end of the shift.

He hadn't thought in the slightest that anyone at the Cove that wasn't working there would even notice his absence, at least not long enough for it to matter to them, after all, he might be big and noticeable with the mask and purple uniform, but that was about it right? It was... he wasn't sure what it was, but it was certainly something he hadn't expected people to notice about, to even think to care about. It helped something in the back of his mind unwind, his mood not quite as heavy as it had been in weeks it felt like.

He had missed being here, that was also something he hadn't expected, he knew he missed the work, missed having something to do, missed not being able to contribute to the business that he had lead the charge in building back up from the ground, but finding that he had actually missed the sounds of kids screeching as they rushed about a bit to quickly, and the knowing looks he got to share with parents who were watching with exasperation at whatever their kids were getting up to, missed the background sounds of Foxy's tales.

It wasn't... perfect of course, he nearly had to leave from where he had stationed himself the first time Fredbear's voice came from the stage, and he did have to take an early lunch not too long after when the bear kept talking. It... Mike would rather never have heard that voice again, but he slowly forced himself back inside from the back where he definitely hadn't fled from, and just... Stayed there, maybe for a bit too long in hindsight, but unable to move willingly forwards, and too stubborn to retreat again, as he just... observed his brother up on the stage, even as from behind his eyes flashes of memories played out.

It was just something that he would have to get used to, even if it felt almost impossible to even think of how he'd manage that, it had also been impossible once to even think he'd be able to speak to his brother again at all, so Mike figured he could handle this.

Eventually the day ended out, and the crew all meet up by the stage after finishing up closing, talking for a moment about the day itself, Mike feeling nice at another thing he hadn't really realized he had been missing doing, and just how nice it was that Janet was there with them now as well, talking easily with Foxy when the teen bounced into a conversation without an issue. He was very glad to see she was doing well after everything that had happened, she had only been in that room for a few minutes, six or seven at most, but he remembered his own nine minute nightmare that had felt like an eternity.

Sadly, as everything did, eventually their talk turned serious, it was Jeremy who brought it up, which wasn't surprising with how vehement the man had been about the whole Ennard situation. Mike knew he wasn't exactly being fair to the animatronic, and he knew he needed to at least try, but that didn't mean he was at all alright with it, emotionally at least, which made him feel a bit like a wimp to be honest, but as long as Jeremy seemed fine with taking the lead on this then he could let himself wallow in his own time.

"So... Did anyone think of anything?" The man seemed a bit hopeful, as it was, Mike just shook his head, mostly because he didn't really want to think about it. That seemed to be the consensus of everyone else, as a round of no spread around the group, each one seeming to weight on the man, as Fritz spoke up.

"I haven't really thought about it, but I did find out some more stuff about Ennard, or, rather the Funtimes that make up Ennard, I got the hand unit to work, with help from Goldie, and managed to access the computer files that we found on the Funtimes... And, uh... It's not good" Mike grimaced at that, he knew it wouldn't be good, but the way Fritz seemed to tetter off told him more than enough about just how bad it probably would be, as he continued.

"I found a feature list a while ago, with things like luring and sound mimicry, and a few other things, but it was just names, it was concerning, but without actual detail or a summary for what those things did, it would be assumed it was just a really bad naming convention for some show programs" Mike... wouldn't have been that optimistic, but then again, with everything involving Freddy's, it wasn't an impossibility that someone out there was just really bad at labeling things. But given everything...

"It wasn't show programs I take it?" Fritz just shook his head, frowning to himself, as he looked around, before finally saying.

"It's... It's disturbing, really disturbing, but it looks like the features were all designed, or at least intended to be used secondarily, to be able to... lure kids away and... Well..." He couldn't say it, no one needed him to say it for the effect to be what it was. Mike had already suspected, they all had once they realized what the stomach spaces in Circus Baby and Funtime Freddy were most likely used for, but to have that confirmation burned all the same as everyone reacted to that information.

Mari held a hand to his face, a horrified chime coming out, Foxy and Goldie both had the sounds of metal creaking from their hands clenching too tightly for their gears to handle. Jeremy and Janet looked appropriately horrified. While Mike just took a deep breath in to keep from breaking his hand off one of the walls of the Cove again. Finally managing to say.

"What's that mean for us? Programming wise, how much of a threat are they?" Fritz frowned, probably not happy to be asked, and Mike felt cold having to do so, but... but if they weren't safe anywhere, then the group might not have a choice but to leave them down there for as long as it took for them to figure out something to be able to handle that. Jeremy seemed to catch onto that line of thinking, clearly ready to try and make a point, when Fritz said, considering.

"I mean... It's only kids... As horrible as it is to say, they aren't an uncontrollable threat if it's just people like us, adults... or animatronics, that is" Foxy let out a little huff at that, being the only 'kiddy' as he would call it, in the room. Not that seventeen was within the range that Mike figured his father would have had the Funtimes be interested in snatching... That thought made Mike want to actively puke.

"That doesn't explain Michael being attacked though. Circus Baby was the ringleader for it, but she was very certain in trying to kill him" Mike didn't really want to make a point for any of them, but he still felt the urge to correct, even if it was begrudgingly.

"She didn't think I'd die from the scooper, she made that a very big point actually, smug even... And with the state of their shells, I can only imagine that they got hit by the thing more than a few times. Not to mention the fact it was pretty clear that wasn't just because I was the first human she saw, it was because William's a raging psychopath and I happen to share his face. As much as I'd love to hold a grudge for that and how sick I am of it happening, I can't really blame them for getting us confused when more than half of all animatronics' we've dealt with have had the same problem with me at first" Fritz nodded, suddenly speaking up in a tone of realization from something Mike had mentioned before hand.

"The parts and service room was covered top to bottom in spare parts, mostly for the shells, and there was spools all over of those wires. Why have that much on hand if it wasn't used constantly... Maybe Circus Baby just... forgot that humans can't be ripped open and still live"

"With how long they've been stuck down there, I wouldn't be surprised if they forgot or just can't remember a lot of things! I mean, no offense, but it took you all a long while to even begin to remember your times alive right?" Jeremy made an unfortunately good point, as while the animatronics in the room weren't all that interested in helping Ennard, they all could admit to Jeremy's point being a solid one. Mari spoke up next however, getting them back to the real point.

"Even if that's the case, that doesn't change anything about our current problem, where do we put them? Goldie doesn't want them at the warehouse, and I'm inclined to agree that it's a bad place for them, we can't trust Bonnie to keep an eye out on Ennard, and there are too many ways for them to leave there without us noticing. And we can't have them at the Cove no matter what because they'd be a danger to the children. Where else is left?" Mike chimed in quickly as the question was prosed in the air.

"If anyone mentions the extra rooms I have, I'll be very unpleasant" No one seemed to have even thought to point that out, but it did seem to give Jeremy an idea as he spoke up suddenly and a bit excitedly.

"They could stay with one of us! I could do it" Before instantly his energy was hit as he said right after, "No, wait, they couldn't, we can't keep an eye on them all the time either, and I live on a floor with a bunch of kids as neighbors" Fritz spoke up next, quickly clearly trying to stop anyone from pointing the finger at him next.

"My rooms are already filled, and same as Jeremy, not on the same floor, but I live in a filled apartment complex, that's not safe" And just like that they ran out of places that they could reasonably might trust to keep a wire animatronic. No one seemed to have anything to say for a long moment after that, as before long, Mike was ready to have to be the one to bring up the idea that maybe there just wasn't anything they could do about it right now. Maybe over the next few months Fritz could work on seeing if he could find those lines of code and work on rooting them out, but with how tangled up the three remaining Funtimes were, who knew just how that would go.

But before he could, Janet suddenly spoke up.

"Is there anyone else we could talk to about this?" Everyone's eyes turned to her, as she just explained, "I mean, I know you three are the ones who came together for all this, but isn't there more people out there that would know that would be willing to help? Like, that one guy, Fritz, you're friend" What she was talking about hit Mike like a ton of bricks as he said before Fritz could answer.

"Phone Guy?" Janet looked confused, but no one else was, as Jeremy and Fritz both shot each other a look, as the latter said.

"I mean, I guess he could, but he's a bit..." He didn't really need to list the many things that would keep the man from even thinking about accepting something like this, but Jeremy spoke up quickly, not willing to let the idea go away when they didn't really have anything else to work with.

"Well, I mean, he lives alone, and there aren't really any kids in his neighborhood right? He lives in that upper crust area where it's mostly just retired older people" Mike spoke up now.

"We should probably talk to him before we roll out the wire carpet for his living room," Jeremy turned a bit red, but nodded, even as Mike continued on, "But you're right, he's our best bet... Fritz have fun with that phone call"

"M-Me?"

"Yeah, you're the one who's like, actually friends with him right?"

"I mean, I guess, but, I mean you're..." Mike just waited, as he sighed, looking a bit uncomfortable as he said, "You're the one that's best at getting people to do dangerous and reckless stuff" Mike wasn't sure if he was being complimented or insulted, as he said sarcastically.

"Gee, thanks, glad to know how you feel about my ideas" Fritz winced, but offered up consolingly if not at all actually comfortingly.

"I mean, it was either that or say you wouldn't feel guilty about emotionally blackmailing him into doing this for us to be able to actually ask him" ...Mike didn't want to admit the man had a point, so instead he just sighed before finally nodding.

"Right, guess if I'm the only one terrible enough to inflict Ennard on the traumatized man, that's what I have to do... I guess me being the one making the case for the wire trio then he might take it more serious instead of just hanging up on me" Fritz seemed relieved that he didn't have to make that call, Jeremy seemed happy that there might be an out for Ennard, and the animatronics seemed happy to inflict Ennard on Phone Guy. All in all, apparently this was the best possible option, Mike wasn't really sure just how he was feeling, but the idea of being done with Ennard was something he was going to choose to focus on for the time being.

He'd make the call tomorrow morning, not now because it was late, and he'd probably need that much time to figure out just how the hell he was going to be able to convince the man to do something like taking in a proven fatal animatronic... Mike could admit he was pretty good at being a weaseling people into honestly stupid ideas, it's kind of how The Cove managed to become a thing in the first place, but he wasn't sure he was that good.

Thankfully, he didn't have to think about it for much longer, as Foxy seemed to decide there had been to much talk about animatronics that weren't involved with the Cove, as he spoke up commandingly as he could.

"Right, now that that wire business is sorted, we should discuss the actual important things we need to get up tah! Getting this ship in shape for Halloween! We only have three weeks to get everything ready and we haven't even begun to properly work on any ideas!" Mike let himself fall into the wave of conversation that came from Mari instantly latching onto the idea, as the puppet began to talk enthusiastically about some ideas he had of his own, as the fox tossed in his own, as Mike and the others quickly became the ones to actually work on how to make said ideas possible, or to strike them out purely for budget reasons.

No matter how much Foxy pouted and whined, they were not going to buy a hundred some odd massive hale bales to make a maze out in the parking lot for kids to go through.

But there was still some good ideas that were purposed, and a number of things that they would have to work on over the next few weeks to get ready in time, as it was, Mike hadn't really realized just how close they might be cutting it to get everything in order, given it was going to be a week long thing... It also meant that they'd have to spend Monday and Tuesday, the days the Cove was normally closed, actually setting everything up inside the Cove itself, while actually preparing all the things ahead of time at the warehouse to be moved later on.

It was nice... maybe a bit expensive, but at the very least it was something to do and if Jeremy was right, it should make them their money back by enough of a margin that was should be worth their while, though Mike had a sneaking suspicion that no one was going to let him do a ton of heavy lifting. He wasn't sure he was going to mind either, he had been stubborn when he had broken his arm, but he had still another one to use and hadn't been withered away at over a month of inactivity and a literal coma. And as it stood, even if he was pretty sure at this point he had recovery fully from the surgery, he still had damaged muscles and ribs that were still decently messed up, even if they were much better than they had been.

Mike figured, from what he had been told and the few phone call check up's he's had, that it would probably be the start of November when he could start to properly try and get himself back into something close to a solid shape where he could do things like heavy activity and work out without risk of any damage to himself. Of course, given everything, he had no idea if that was accurate or not, but that was a bridge he'd cross when he got to it.

They ended up talking a lot long than Mike was sure any of them expected to, but he figured just like himself, everyone was just glad to be able to discuss something animatronic restaurant related without it being something so unbelievably heavy. Jeremy had a whole list of ideas that had been discussed, and Mike figured he'd be dragged in by the man soon with Fritz to talk about the designing all the props, given Mike was basically the team's creative head when it came to things like this, as the only 'artist' in the group.

It was around the time that everyone was gearing up to leave when Janet finally brought up something that Mike himself had completely forgotten about.

"Doesn't it get hot in that mask? You never took it off" Mike blinked for a moment at her words as he realized with a faint start that she was right, the mask was still just on his face, he had completely forgotten about it, it had been... Hours, at least half a day, since he first put it on with how late into the night it was. He just hadn't realized, as he reached up and pulled it off his face and just shrugged.

"Not really, it used to get a bit warm, but I hadn't noticed anything" ...Did Mike sweat? That was an awful question, but, if his heart never really got pounding anymore, no matter the situation, and he never put his body into any real stress, then would he sweat? Unless it was sweltering out probably not right? Given it was half way through Fall, that wasn't likely to happen, but it was very weird to think about.

All the same, he just clipped the mask back to his side as he moved out to the car, waiting for a long moment before suddenly Mari appeared to his side, as he just shot a small smile to the puppet before pulling out onto the road, it was late, it had been a while since he had driven at night.

Neither spoke about anything on the drive home, but Mike was fine with that, it had been a long few hours of nothing but talking, and frankly he was a bit drained from it, so instead he just moved through the motions of getting them home, and then moving into the kitchen to get himself something to eat for a very late dinner before heading to bed for a well deserved rest. He was exhausted, a good exhausted, but all the same he had almost forgotten just how tiring rushing around and keeping track of dozens of kids to make sure they didn't get themselves hurt was, not to mention the lengthy talk afterwards.

Huh, been a while since we had a moment with Charlie huh? This scene is a bit out of place timeline wise, but that's because it took me a moment to get back to a spot where I could put this in without being a sharp break from everything that was happening with the main crew, given the last few chapters have all happened over a single week, it's hard to just toss in a completely separate moment from a little while ago, but I think it turned out well. Charlie's getting answers though, hell, if anything she's been sitting on answers for a while now, that last scene is about three weeks removed from the rest of the chapter's scenes. Makes you wonder just what all she's been up to in that time in between...

Beyond that, our favorite power couple is hitting something of a rough patch, I won't say much about that, I hope it speaks enough for itself, as well as it's going to be addressed properly soon, well, addressed well enough I guess, but that's for future stuff to worry about, in the present I think it's very obvious that everyone really needs therapy and just call it at that.

While for actual interesting stuff I can talk about, the Funtimes! Yeah, they're finally getting something to do soon, and with another character that I've slowly been building up for the last little while, mister Phone Guy! That's certainly something right? I honestly did originally plan for them to go home with Jeremy, had a whole little thing planned out, with a full other plan in mind with Phone Guy and some other things, but a while back I had the thought, and then I kept thinking about it, and then this kind of happened. So sort of like with Janet, things have been shifted around and reworked, just a bit, but I think this works out better, plus it let's me explore the two most underexplored characters currently, Ennard and Phone Guy... Probably, we'll have to see how well Mike does at convincing the man in the first place though. Anyways, beyond that, don't really have much else to add, so... See ya!