I Don't Own Fnaf
Mike couldn't quite describe the uncomfortable awareness of the lack of metal and felt fabric in his bed, or the strange pull of disappointment and confusion at that fact. Mike didn't move much in his sleep, and he was a very light sleeper, unless he was nursing some horrific injury, so the chances that Mari had just not gone to bed were likely. He was... not concerned but something close to it that he didn't know just what to label, especially because it was light out from the single window in his bedroom, meaning it was morning.
Getting up and moving through his morning routine felt... off, but he exited the bathroom quick enough and found himself moving down the steps into the living room, looking around for a moment before turning to head to the direction of his old room, now the puppet's though Mari hadn't used it for more than storage in a while now. Opening up the door, he peered inside for a short moment before pushing it open fully as he walked inside, looking around at the tidy bed before his eyes strayed to the box.
Walking over, Mike wasn't sure why he was doing this, there was a chance the puppet was in another room, the kitchen most likely given they really only used the living room and kitchen. But all the same, he reached down and tapped lightly on the side of the box before reaching up and pulling the top open to reveal the sight of Marionette staring up at him... He... he really had chosen to go back to his box last night.
Something about that hurt nearly as bad as some of the things he had been thinking about yesterday. But if there was one thing that Michael Afton was good at, it was hiding the pain he was in as he said casually to Mari as the puppet moved a bit to straighten up.
"I was wondering where you went" The puppet let out a low chime before pulling himself out, looking around for a moment before saying.
"I, uh... I wanted to see if I could sleep alone now" Mike found himself dreading a question he hadn't even asked yet, but he forced it out anyways.
"And?" The puppet shrugged.
"I got some sleep in, it was... nice" He didn't sound fully convinced of that fact, but the fact it was said at all made it feel like the ground underneath Mike just cracked, just a bit, as he found himself saying back with enough ease in his voice that he kind of hated it.
"Oh, planning on making it a routine thing?" Marionette didn't answer for a long moment, instead seemed to be more interested in getting himself awake as he lightly moved about before finally saying as the two exited the room.
"I think so"
"Right... Okay" Mike's voice sounded pathetic to his own ears, and he really didn't understand just what about the situation was hitting him so hard, it wasn't like he had particularly held strong opinions on sharing the bed with Mari, at least he hadn't thought so. When he agreed in the first place, he had figured it would be asked and if not then Mike would have brought it up himself, it was just logical and it helped the puppet out, but now? Logic seemed to have fled at some point, and now he was left irrationally just... sad. But not the sadness he was used to, it was frankly a bit disturbing.
"Do... you mind?" And now Mike felt bordering on humiliated that it seemed Mari had noticed something was off with him, he had thought he had been doing well to hide as he said back with a faint hum of faux thought.
"No, I'm glad you've got this far with your sleeping issues more than anything," That was a lie, but there was some truth to the words, this had been something the puppet had been striving towards for a while now, and he refused to not be proud of it for his friend, but he couldn't help but add onto the end, "Even if I think I might miss having a sock monkey I can use as a pillow"
The puppet let out a faint chime sound before saying back a bit teasingly.
"You can have this one" He moved over at that to the bed to pull out the Marionette Sock Monkey that Mike had sent in as a joke, he hadn't known what had happened to it, it was nice that the puppet held onto it even though it was clear he hadn't been amused with the joke, at least not nearly as much as Mike had been. Mike wasn't sure how he felt about taking it though, as he said back.
"I'm good, better to not mess up the gang" The puppet just shrugged, placing the item back as Mike looked between the animatronic and the toys for a long moment before saying casually, "Was that the realization you had?" It spoke loud enough from the puppet's reaction as he straightened up with a faint shock before looking back.
"Uh, what?"
"That you didn't want to share a bed anymore, or that you could sleep on your own? Is that what you realized yesterday?" Marionette fidgeted a bit before slowly nodding, Mike just nodded back, looking away as he said, "Right, well, I need to head over to the warehouse to talk to my brother for a bit, I'll be back in a bit and if not then you might have to get yourself to the diner" The puppet seemed to pause for a moment, turning to give a look at Mike as the man had moved to head to the door, calling out after him.
"How are you feeling?" Mike paused just for a second before calling back as he left the room.
"Fine" And just like that he was gone and the puppet felt like he had just made a mistake. But... But it was what he had to do, so he pushed his feelings away from the moment and instead just felt himself sink a bit before looking back at the plushy collection as he moved over to place the sock monkey back down, looking over it for a moment before placing it behind the plushy version of Marionette.
Mike on the other hand was... dealing.
It was confusing, why he was having such a big issue with this was frankly out of his grasp, but he managed to think it through and come to some kind of breakthrough yesterday right? He could do it again if he thought about it hard enough, so that's what he did on the drive over. The answer that he eventually was able to come to was not one that he had been expecting.
He was jealous.
That wasn't a hard emotion to pinpoint, Mike had been jealous of plenty of people, he was used to the feeling, frankly when you spent as much time as Mike has in a state of life or death, jealousy was just common to aim at the people around you that just didn't have it as bad. Or, envy might have been a better term for it, but the two were close enough that he could link one to the other without making too big a leap.
So, yeah, Mike was jealous, of what or who that was the real question, but it had something to do with Marionette, that was the only obvious thing. If he had to put a guess on it, it was Jeremy. Marionette was suddenly focused on the man and before Mike knew it, the man was invited over for dinner, getting cupcakes, and being asked personal things apparently, and asking to be together more often with the desire to help him, along with some kind of realization on the puppet's side that caused that to happen and suddenly wanting to sleep alone...
Mike wasn't stupid, he could see a picture when it was being painted in front of him. It wasn't a picture he had exactly been expecting to see, but one he was being forced to watch be painted all the same. As for the jealousy, it was... not great, he didn't like to think about it like that, but yesterday he had been kind of... vulnerable as much as he hated to admit it, and reasonably he still was a bit, meaning his emotions were just playing with him, it would fade away and then he could talk to Mari about this, talk it out like they always did.
And if... And if Marionette wanted something to happen there, or if anything did happen then that would cause things to change... Then Mike would handle it.
His words from yesterday uncomfortably creeped back into his mind, whispering to him about telling the puppet about how he wasn't sure he could handle losing the animatronic before forcefully pushing the thoughts away, pressed down the coldness in his chest, and decided that he had nothing to lose, nothing was happening, nothing was different. They were fine, they were still friends, best friends even, just... nothing more.
That thought really came out of left field but just like with the rest he pushed it down without a second thought as he finally realized after a moment he had been parked in front of the warehouse for nearly five minutes, just letting the car idle.
Belatedly realizing he had been to busy caught up in his own drama he hadn't even had the time to think over what he was going to say or do now that he was here, the day after, he let out a huff at the situations before deciding that thinking was overrated right now, as he pulled himself from the car and headed on inside. He saw Goldie before his brother saw him, as Mike moved over and knocked on a nearby crate to cause the sound that made the bear spin around for a moment before relaxing at the sight of the man.
"Oh, hello there"
"Hey Goldie, are you doing alright?" The bear considered that for a moment before saying.
"I'm alright, what about you, you seem...off" Mike waved off his brother's concern.
"It's nothing, I hear the day went well with Foxy?" The bear tilted his head, studying his brother for a moment before deciding to let it go as he replied.
"Yeah, it was nice to talk to him again, it's been a while"
"The phone line should be up and working here in the next week or so, I'll let you know because someone's going to have to come in and do something so you know to avoid them, but afterwards you can call up to the Diner all you want to talk to him after or before hours" Goldie seemed to perk up a bit at that information, before nodding.
"That would be nice," Mike nodded.
"Yeah, figured, sorry it took so long, I've been meaning to get it done for a while now but either the company was stalling or something happened. Can't imagine it's been fun to be stuck around here without anyone to talk to" Mike watched in real time how Goldie rolled his eyes at that.
"Not all of us need to constantly be talking" Mike raised an eyebrow and said back with a hint of smugness.
"Maybe not, but that would be depraving the world of my voice" Goldie huffed, looking incredibly unamused for a moment, which was enough to get a smirk out of Mike, before the bear said back with a bit more genuineness to his voice.
"Thanks Michael" The smirk shifted quickly into a small smile as he moved forwards to give a pat onto the bear's shoulder, as he said simply.
"Of course buddy, let me know if you need anything else as well" The bear seemed to consider that for a moment before asking plainly.
"You could tell me how it was yesterday for you?" Mike tensed a bit at the blunt request and had already found himself opening his mouth to give some kind of excuse to not talk about it, while Goldie said before he could, "And don't say you were fine, just... Tell me about it" That took the wind out of Mike's sails as he paused for a moment, before nodding, using that time to think of just what he wanted to say, before finally getting into it.
"It was... honestly it was the best the day could have been for what it was, the last few years this whole week would just knock me down hard, so I'm honestly a lot better than I had any expectations to be. I thought I'd have to pull myself together a lot more than this, Net was a massive help, we talked for a while about some stuff and... It was alright, not great or anything, but, you know, better than it's been" Goldie nodded at that, a second later saying.
"I'm glad, it... It was really nice to have Foxy with me, we talked a bit about some things too..." He trailed off for a second, just long enough that Mike was ready to say something when the bear continued, "Could... Could you do something for me?" Mike felt a mix of confusion and worry settle in with how uncertain the bear sounded, which wasn't like Goldie at all, the bear was about as dry as Mike and often even more blunt, Afton traits if there ever was any.
"Of course bud, what is it?"
"Could you... Could you call me Evan? Just, you know, once" Mike... wasn't sure just what he was feeling, but surprise was definitely near the top of the list of whatever convoluted mess was going on in his head. Instead of thinking about... any of that, he just said.
"Sure, are you alright with that though?" That got a much more expected look from his brother.
"If I wasn't sure then I wouldn't ask" Yeah, that was fair, Mike himself just took a moment before saying.
"Yeah, I guess that would be the case, Evan" The bear didn't flinch or tense or even move, it seemed like the textbook definition of a nonreaction, Mike was concerned for that reason for a moment, knowing just how his brother reacted the last time he heard his name being used by Mike. After a moment however Goldie simply said.
"It... Why do you choose to go by Mike? You didn't even change your first name, it's still Michael, so why?" Mike was pretty sure he knew what they were talking about now, though the timing was a bit weird, he still found himself moved over by Goldie, pushing himself up onto one of the many ledges and tables about to sit on as he thought over what to say. He had answered that question, or at least the idea of it, plenty of times, about why he changed his last name... But no one had ever really asked why he hadn't changed his first.
"I... Originally it was because I just couldn't get anywhere near a Freddy's with the Afton name, but there was no point in trying to learn to answer another one, Mike was something I already got called occasionally, so I only had to change my last name, that's where Schmidt came from, it was the first thing I had come up with... But as for why I kept with it after everything with Freddy's... I wanted to be a new person, different from who I was, but I also knew I couldn't be anything more than what I was, so... I just kept with Mike, it's still me, but a bit different, a bit better. I ditched Afton, on paper at least, just because it didn't feel like it was who I wanted to be anymore, the Afton family all either died tragically or wasted their life away. I want to keep our family's legacy alive through the Cove, but I don't want to be what we were either, a house barely standing and filled with fear, instead, make it something better as well... Does that make any sense?"
"Some, do you mind being called Michael?" Mike shook his head easily at the question.
"No, it's a bit surprising to hear it nowadays, but it's still my name. It's still me, no matter what I'm called, what I'm named, it's always still me, just now... it's a different part of me, Michael and Mike aren't different people, just two versions of me from different parts of my life that occasionally get crossed. At least that's how I can best explain it, you and Charlie, and even Foxy occasionally, all call me Michael for example as people from my past still in my present, but Mari, Jeremy, and Fritz all don't, because they never knew me as Michael"
The bear seemed to take that in consideration for a long moment, while Mike just waited and watched, he wasn't quite sure just what this was about or just where it had come from, but knew it was something important to his brother, so he would wait and save any questions he had for the end until Goldie, or perhaps Evan, had his mind sorted out. After another long moment the animatronic spoke up.
"Would... Would you call me Evan for a while? I want to... I want to see if I would feel the same" Mike nodded quickly enough.
"Sure, if that's what you want, then I can do that Evan" The bear still didn't seem to have much of a reaction, but Mike supposed it would be weird if he did now, instead Mike asked softly, "Want me to talk to the others about-"
"No, just... Just you for now, I only want to see where I land before dragging anyone into this"
"It isn't dragging if it's something that you want to know to make yourself more comfortable Evan. But I get it, just let me know" The bear nodded as the two sort of just fell into a small silence before Mike suddenly spoke up, changing the topic completely on its head, "Foxy's birthday is coming up next month, I don't really remember the day, and I can't really find his family to ask, but I figured we could pick a day out of a hat if he doesn't know himself"
Gol- Evan seemed to get caught up in the surprise of the tone shift, before suddenly asking.
"What brought this up?" Mike shrugged.
"Just thinking about birthdays still I guess, part of the job I guess... Mine's already passed, though Fritz and Jeremy's are later in the year, and I have no idea when Mari's is, we still don't even know who he was, not that he seems all that interested in finding it out... Oh, thinking of, Marionette talked to Jeremy about something to get his whole feeling thing under some sort of level of control. I wanted to ask if you could help him with that instead of Net" Evan tilted his head to the side and turned to study Mike for a moment before asking.
"I can, does Marionette not want to or something?" Mike didn't fidget, though a small part of him did want to as he answered back casually.
"No, just... Figured he's doing a lot already, and you might want the company" The bear continued to stare at him for a short moment before asking plainly.
"Is something still happening between you two?" Mike refused to admit he sounded defensive as he asked right back.
"What's that mean?" Evan gave him a look before saying right back.
"Something is always happening between you two" Was the two of them that obvious about it? Thinking about it, they were kind of the only ones that were constantly somehow having something happen weren't they? It probably came from the fact that they lived together, but still... Was he willing to talk to his brother about this incredibly private and frankly kind of embarrassing thing the morning after the worst day of his year?
Surprisingly the answer he arrived at was... yes. What was the point in not talking to his brother? Being embarrassed about being a bit emotional? They had been in way more uncomfortable situations, Mike has literally cleaned Evan's suit of his own greymatter, this was so less traumatizing and heavy, and Mike had humiliated himself plenty in front of the bear so that was a nonissue, plus Gol- Evan wasn't the judging type, or, well, he was but he was like Mike, he'd say it to his face and then move on. Plus Mike has over the course of the last year learned pretty quickly that having a second opinion on things could be pretty handy when his mind was being a bit dumb, just this time around he couldn't have Mari do it for him.
"It's not so much between me and Mari right now, we're fine, just realized recently that I kind of am jealous of other people spending time with him. The whole thing with Jeremy and Marionette wanting to help made me realize that" Ok, maybe he was holding a few things back, but Mike wasn't going to be spilling everything out in the open, especially given Marionette's situation wasn't one he was going to go behind the puppet's back to talk about with someone else, that felt like an incredible breach of privacy, one that he refused to do to his friend.
"No kidding" And there was the blunt honesty that Mike was expecting, though the bear did follow it up quickly enough, "You two practically revolve around each other, I barely hear or see either of you without each other or at the very least talking about each other" Mike would like to say that was wrong, but it really wasn't, so instead he just shrugged.
"We live and work together"
"I know, just you seem to be a bit to invested in him, but you get like that, so it isn't to surprising"
"And what's that mean?"
"It means you obsess over things and have control issues" Yeah, that wasn't a wrong assessment, but Mike still felt himself wince a bit at that.
"So, you're saying I'm being overdramatic?"
"I didn't say that, you both do it, Marionette literally hovers around you as constantly. I wasn't kidding, you're always together, if I had more experience I'd say you were more like a married couple than roommates" Mike let out a small laugh at that.
"Yeah? You know much about married couples Go- Evan?" He really needed to get that sorted out, thankfully the bear didn't seem to care as he answered back easily enough.
"I watched a werewolf marry a man last night" What... Oh, did Mike miss an episode? He'd have to watch the rerun sometimes, it sounded like Lupa finally got that idiot Carl to put a ring on her. About time really.
"I don't think that makes you an expert bud..." Mike slowly trailed off from there though when something familiar about the idea came back up to him. Hadn't he said something similar not even last week? It was the night before he grabbed lunch with Charlie, he had mentioned they weren't married or anything so Mari couldn't get jealous... Wow, Mike was a huge hypocrite wasn't he? Moving right along from that bad thought, "But speaking of that episode what did you think? Good show right?"
"I had no idea what was happening" Mike could hear a hint of amusement though at the thought of the episode, so he jumped at it.
"That's because you just started in the middle of season fourteen, you have a lot of things you need to catch up on before you can understand the details of it, werewolves only got introduced two seasons ago, before then it was just the vampires, the occasional thrall and this weird Halloween special with this troll who was light blue, it was weird, but the point is I can bring over a box set and get it set up so you can watch it"
"I guess that wouldn't be horrible, I might have some questions though"
"It's pretty good at explaining what's happening, but feel free, I'm kind of an expert on the show at this point" It was almost embarrassing to admit, but not enough to hold back from his enjoyment of it and the idea he could get his brother into it as well so he could have another person to talk about it with, Mari mostly just humored him and liked to poke at the bad writing with him more than actually liking the show for the show itself.
"I'll do that then... Should you be heading for work soon?" Mike blinked at that before glancing over at a nearby wall before wincing, yeah... he was going to be late at this rate, guess he wasn't going to be giving Mari a ride.
"Right, well I'll get out of your fur then" The bear rolled his eyes at the play on words but waved him off as Mike headed out to get to the diner, he was going to have to rush a bit if he wanted to get there to have enough time to do the prep that would be needed for the day in the kitchen
Even if their conversation had ended with a small more upbeat note, the two still talked away from it more contemplative than anything. Goldie now considers his identity more and more, starting from his talk with Foxy and then his talk with Michael, and Mike who was slowly building up a picture in the back of his mind of his roommate.
The day from there progressed averagely enough, he got the occasional look from Fritz and Jeremy, both knowing what the day before had been like, but he avoided any questions and just did his job. The only thing that really happened was there was a small fight between two parents, but once Mike stepped out of the kitchen things got quiet real fast, so it had been a non-issue thankfully.
But that doesn't mean Mike's mind hadn't been busy, instead he thought through everything about yesterday and realized something after the third time Jeremy gave him a look before glancing back at the Prize Corner, the man knew about Mari's feelings, and from the looks of things was incredibly awkward about it. That wasn't overly surprising, Mike had been talking about the man's ability to know things just that morning, but for some reason it played something bitter in his mind at the idea of it.
It was a mixed bag, one he wasn't particularly proud of, the idea that Jeremy was acting way to awkward too have any feelings back was one he knew his weird jealousy was preening at knowing, but at the same time there was a weird spark of familiar anger at the idea that Marionette was probably going to be hurt from this because of the fact that Jeremy couldn't see what was in front of him... Ok, that was a weird thought, one that Mike immediately discarded.
Still, he'd have to talk to the man about that at some point, instead of what he had been doing, which was usually just tossing or giving the man random snacks he had around the house that he brought to the Cove. But for the time being his mind was admittedly focused on something else as the man finished up closing and soon found himself and Mari back home, in their living room, the two standing around, both knowing what was about to happen and being silent for two different reasons. Mike because he was anxious and excited in equal measure to finally get an answer about something he had been wondering about for ages now, while Marionette was simply anxious about the topic at hand that he was going to have to address.
Mike was the one who finally broke the silence, "So, gifts? What are they?" Marionette fidgeted a bit for a long moment before finally answering.
"Gifts... It's, well, to be honest it's kind of complicated, there's more to it than just an ability, but I can explain that if you want to know, but in simple terms, it's gifts to give life, or in it's most technical term; Give Gifts, Give Life" Mike could hardly say that he knew exactly what that meant, but the weight of the words as Marionette spoke them was real enough that he felt himself straighten up a bit, a faint set look pulling on his face as he asked.
"What does that mean, give life?" Marionette's fidgeting hands slowly moved to his side as he took a short moment to collect himself and his words, before explaining it to Mike.
"It's the ability to move a soul into the body of an animatronic, or other things, but those are... much less likely. The process is simple enough, my ability... only really makes the odds a bit more likely, but there's never a guarantee. To do it, I have to put the body that still has its soul in it, which is at the end of its life or in the moments just after, into or near a new vessel close enough that the soul moves to the new body and inhabits it. The best way of making sure it happens is to make sure the two bodies are as close as possible" The puppet trailed off slowly as he watched as Mike's face slowly lost more and more color, and almost like in contrast the familiar purple streaks across his head grew brighter in contrast, as he asked quietly, "Mike?". The man muttered out his thoughts in spite of himself.
"Y-you're the one that stuffed them?" The puppet slowly nodded, still concerned.
"Yes, it's... it's how it works, to make sure they could stay, to be here. My gift gave life back to them despite it being taken away before they had the real chance to live... It was... so many Mike, so many children, so many just like me" Mike felt his shock and honest horror course through him at the thought of his friend having to be the one to do that, to move those bodies into those machines, an act he thought had been cruelly done by a monster instead done with care by a friend, along with the realization of his own actions, coming to a head before he noticed the way Marionette trailed off, a small look of grief pulling over his face that was clear the puppet was trying to hide.
And suddenly Mike was so infinitely aware of just what that meant, in full detail, the numerous times his friend, a gentle and kind man, a kid himself at the time, having to know this was happening, over and over, and only ever being able to do the one thing he could, moving... moving dying children into suits. Flashes played in the back of Mike's mind, and while he knew it was under different circumstances, the idea that Mike could stand the idea of having to do that, over and over, when he had been broken by the one time he saw something like that happen...
"Oh, Marionette" The puppet let out a surprised chime as he was pulled into a sudden and tight hug, before the animatronic's arms looped around and quickly wrapped around the bigger man, seeking a comfort he hadn't known he would need. He hadn't ever talked about it, not really, but he had thought so much about it, had thought nothing more than the knowing sadness of his gifts, that he hadn't expected any kind of pain to talk about it, but saying it into the air, to see how Mike reacted, it made everything feel so much more real and horrible than he had allowed himself to admit and it was suddenly all coming out. Maybe he had been holding back from talking about it for so long for more reasons than even the puppet himself had realized.
"I-I didn't think it would be hard to talk about"
"It's death, whether they got to come back or not, that's... so much, too much for anyone much less how young you were, I'm sorry you had to do that, had to be alone with that" The puppet's long arms tightened around Mike as he just held onto as he felt the animatronic lightly shake in his grasp, as he felt something in his chest hurt just a bit at knowing he was the one that caused this, constantly asking and pressing, he felt like shit.
"It's been so long, it... It shouldn't matter, it's the past, it's gone and over and I shouldn't be crying like some baby!" Mike hadn't even noticed the tears but the fact they were there made him feel something painfully clench in his chest as he said.
"Come on Mari" Moving the puppet slowly over to the couch, the two found each other sitting and half hugging onto each other while Marionette just huffed.
"It's fine, I'm fine, I just... I don't really know where that came from"
"You held it in until you finally talked about it, and then everything came rushing out, I get it Mari. Trust me, I kind of know a thing or two about hiding yourself from your emotions until it blows up in your face" The puppet just huffed, tightening his grip a bit more, not that Mike minded but he was pretty sure his ribs were going to start protesting soon, given Marionette was way stronger than most people realized.
"It's the past, it shouldn't matter, it's done"
"It doesn't get to work like that Stripes, we're all held down by our pasts, no matter who we are, it'll always be there, that doesn't mean it has to hold itself over us, I figured that one out pretty recently" Mari didn't say anything for a while, just laying there against where Mike had him held on the couch, the shaking had long since stopped, and he was pretty sure so had the tears, though he found himself reluctant to pull the puppet away. After a second Mari said quietly into his chest.
"This is so much better than us pretending we're fine" Mike felt himself smirk just a bit as he asked teasingly.
"Yeah? Better to just jump straight to the hug huh? I can't say I mind" Mari just huffed.
"It still feels childish to still be so affected"
"Yeah, well it's not, so stop thinking like that. Unless you're saying you think I'm childish for still being traumatized over being the one to have to give my brother his 'gift'" Mike felt sick at those words, but they were the best to use to get his point across. Mari just tensed for a moment before saying with a faint voice of mild surprise.
"You're right... You gave a gift, you gave life... I never really thought about it, but you're right, Goldie was before me, even if we hadn't known about each other for a time" Mike just felt himself this time be the one who tightened his grip at the uncomfortable topic even as he felt himself continuing to talk, deciding to lightly press into the topic a bit more to help let the puppet get it out of his chest so they wouldn't have to have this talk again later.
"Yeah, I suppose so... How... What gave you your gift? How did you end up in the marionette?" The puppet tensed in his arms before saying.
"Ah, that's the, uh, more complicated answer for Give Gifts, Give Life" Mike let out an interested hum as the puppet slowly moved and pulled away, until the two had separated by about half a foot, Marionette now staring down at Mike's chest, where a fair sized stain of purple tears was. After a second of staring, he seemed to snap back to himself as he said while looking back up at Mike, "Give Gifts, Give Life is a program, it's a part of my code. I was designs to protect children, and I failed, letting the me before Marionette be killed, and the marionette found me just as I was dying, and... then I woke up like this, but the program, this overwhelming urge never went away, it became something else, giving the the ability to help the process along, the program now having a way to save them, like how the marionette saved me"
He explained it so casually, but once more Mike couldn't help but feel a faint confusion, and a bit of worry about the programming, but it was a part of Mari, it was a part of all the animatronics, even his brother had some in there, but that wasn't where the confusion was from, no, that was from what Marionette had said.
"I- No, yo- The Prize Corner Marionette wasn't made for protection in mind, it was made just for the corner, I- We had a Security Puppet and everything for that role. I knew you had some, but for that protocol, it doesn't make sense" Mari just shook his head.
"Well, I'm certainly not this 'Security Puppet', so of course I also had those programs and was built for it" Mike just said back, still confused.
"No, I- I mean, maybe, but that makes no sense, Henry would have had to be the one to do that, Dad had no idea about what was in your programming or designs. So, Henry would have... He would have had to not trust dad to make something that would protect the children..." That was a strange realization, a weird hit in the back of his mind that suddenly had everything snap in a way into his head as he drifted off into silence, silent enough that Marionette now looked confused.
"What is it? Is this something big or...?" Mike found his voice after a second.
"I- Dad never looked after the twins..." It was a startling realization, but one that suddenly played back in his head, Marionette let out a confused chime as Mike went to explain, "Dad never looked after Henry's kids, it was always me, I was the babysitter, but sometimes I was with Henry, we all were, heck we even went on a trip with the Emily family without dad once, but... I can't remember it backwards... I- I don't even think the twins ever came to this house after Mom died"
"And what does that mean?"
"I- I'm not sure, just... Henry didn't trust my dad with his kids, and went as far as to make the marionette to do the same job as another puppet that was being made at the exact same time for that exact reason, without telling anyone? So... Oh" The next realization hit hard as Mike felt something deep and ugly twist up in his chest so violently that it was nearly painful as he let out a faint gasp of pain while Marionette was suddenly next to him, holding onto his side asking with concern, lacing every word.
"What is it? What's wrong Mike?"
"He knew... Henry knew"
"Knew... what?" Mike spoke before he could think about it
"That dad hit us" He could feel the way the puppet tensed, but he couldn't find it just yet in him to care, instead a sense of deep, painful betrayal ripped in his guts, anger flooding back harsher than he thought possible, almost as blinding as when he saw Dave, as he felt himself snarl out, "He knew, he knew what that bastard did, he knew and he didn't say anything, he didn't... He just left us like that!" He hadn't thought highly about his dad, but the idea that someone knew, someone had been aware, someone he had looked up to, had known, and instead of helping him, made a fucking puppet and just kept his own and other kids safe? It made something hot and burning come to the surface so harshly that it made it hard to breathe.
"M-Mike? Mike, you need to calm down, come on, just..." Mike only became aware of Marionette's words after a moment along with the pulling on his arms as he belatedly realized he had been digging his fingernails deep into the palms of his hands. Letting out a sudden wince as an ice cold feeling washed over him, breaking away the anger that was quickly pushed down as hard as he could manage it, because he refused to let his temper go around Mari, Mike felt out a hissing sound as he opened his fists up to reveal the mess he had made of his hands.
"Shit" The puppet let out a low worried chime before fidgeting about, grabbing onto his hands with his own as Mari turned them over to look at them over himself.
"We need to wrap these up... Are you...?"
"I'm ok, I just... bad thoughts"
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mike shook his head.
"No, nothing to talk about. I just put some pieces together and it pissed me off, but I'm alright, promise" Marionette hovered about for another moment, looking unsure, before deciding that Mike either really was fine or at the very least wouldn't be talking about it even if he wasn't, so instead he just flickered for a moment before vanishing, and before Mike knew it, Mari was back with the first aid kit that Mike knew was in the guest bathroom. He held his hand out to take it, but he got batted back gently by Mari as the puppet said.
"I got it Mike" Mike opened his mouth to say something, but eventually stopped himself as he instead just watched as Marionette carefully and patiently moved to wipe his hands off before gently wrapping them up in bandages. They were silent after that, whether it was for the realizations both had just unwillingly had about their own pasts or something to do with how the other reacted to them, it didn't really matter, it was quiet, and it was during that quiet Mike was forced to confront an ugly concept.
Was Henry truly so worried about William hurting any child, that he made Marionette with security protocols?
Mike had always thought the two men had been such good friends, but... if that was true, then what did it say about his father that one of the man's best friends was that worried about what he could do?
Hmm... Henry and William lore, interesting... Beyond that, these two really just some times take turns just having break downs don't they? This chapter was pretty heavy, but then again, a lot of chapters recently have been pretty heavy so I'm pretty sure that only makes this about average in terms of angst. Beyond that, yes, Mike is a bit dumb, but that's because he's dummy who reads into things to much, he'll figure it out soon enough, probably, but even if I'm against dumb drama, that doesn't mean there can't be some minor dumb conflicting emotions occasionally. Beyond that, Goldie, or more accurately Evan, is having some problems to. He's having some thoughts, some big ones that are weighing on him, but he'll also figure it out, just have to give him some time and for him to let himself be willingly enough to try, but that's another thing or another day. Anyways, See ya!
