I Don't Own Fnaf


The arrival came without much in the way of fanfare, then again, Janet wasn't really sure just what she was supposed to be expecting with just how much she's been told, she wasn't sure just what it was that she should be feeling either. Probably not the small level of anticipation that she had, it wasn't really anything she meant to have, but life didn't become a fantasy overnight without some level of interest and intrigue to know just what it was all going to probably be like.

Sure, she wasn't looking forwards to whatever it was going to be that broke her sense of safety and wonder about all of this, because she wasn't naive enough to think it wouldn't happen, but so far they were just standing in front of a building that she had only heard things about and a not so small part of her was curious to see if it would live up the things she had been told... Was it offensive to say live up when most of the people she was with were dead?

Looking around to the people she was just thinking about, Janet did her best to not feel a bit weirded out by seeing the animatronic trio that she was slowly getting more and more used to, being out in the middle of the open, it was just so outside of the environment that she was used to seeing them that it was hard to connect it in her mind. Glancing over to the others, Janet chose to not stare at Mike, the man looked... better? than the last time she had seen him. At least he wasn't quite as grey looking, which was a strange sentence, and it might have been the proper sunlight that made his skin look a bit more healthy.

It could be because for the first time in a while it looked like he had put some amount of effort in what he looked like, the jacket being back on his shoulders weirdly enough completed the image of the man in a way that it made her realize she had thought he had been missing something the last time they had talked. It was one of those things that someone doesn't notice but once it's missing from the picture it was something that felt off.

Either way, whatever it was, that did nothing to help the frown that was marring his expression as he turned and looked towards the doors, the puppet was hovering a bit too closely to the man than Janet herself would admit would have been comfortable with. Mike didn't seem to notice, instead just glancing around for a moment before moving towards the doors, saying as he walked.

"Well, let's get this over with" The others were quick to follow behind the man without a second thought, Janet found herself almost falling behind in the first second if she wasn't as quick to move as she was, it was almost like everyone had been waiting on the man himself to take the first step. It was like a silent, already understood, understanding between them all that Janet didn't know because she wasn't there when it was agreed upon.

Everyone just... clicked, in a way that Janet never really got, until now it had just been between Fritz, Jeremy, and Mike, seeing the way they all just divided roles, talked about things, brainstormed together and worked as a team that she could only watch from the outside of, it was like disagreements just didn't happen, they just talked, then worked towards something, and then it happened. A well oiled machine she had once suspected had come from years of friendship, of what kind she hadn't known with just how different they were.

Fritz was pragmatic, Jeremy was kind, and Mike was rough, they filled out each other's roles in a way that came from experience, they didn't fight because there wasn't ever something that they came across that was worth fighting over compared to what they've already dealt with. She had assumed some interesting theories admittedly, none of them involved ghosts and a shared experience at a haunted restaurant's night shift, but it caused the same end effect.

Perhaps she was over thinking it though, the animatronics added a whole new element to all of their friendships that she just didn't know enough about to act like she knew anything about it, but maybe she wasn't, though in the end it didn't matter right now as she followed along all the same, moving through the doors just as the lights were flickering to life, and Mike's dry tone spoke out to fill the air.

"Oh, I was wondering where all it went, it doesn't really work well as a floor decoration does it?" Janet had no idea what he was talking about until she moved past the wall of golden fluff that was the bear, and saw the long thick trailing line of dried up red that moved from an elevator to right under her feet. She hadn't noticed it before and now she was actively trying to keep from staring at it, even as her mouth betrayed her.

"This looks like the set of a horror movie" She winced a bit at the unamused look most of the group sent her as Janet felt her hands fidget with the need to cover her mouth, like it would do something to get the words back in there and not already said. Thankfully Mike, who she was uncomfortably now aware was the person who all the blood came from, said back casually.

"Well, let's see here, we have two zombies, three haunted machines, and a young couple, in an abandoned building filled with previous inhabitants' suffering, with a monster in the basement... I'm pretty sure we are a horror movie" Janet... couldn't find anything in there that was incorrect, even as Jeremy said, trying for casual, but was obviously just trying to go along with it to keep Mike's mind off the streak of his own blood on the ground.

"I don't think I'm technically a zombie" Mike just hummed, speaking even as everyone moved forwards and spread out around the room, Janet found herself stuck between listening in and looking around at the place and comparing it to what she's been told while keeping her feet far away from the red on the ground.

"What do you think then? Cyborg? You're part metal right? Think that qualifies us as sci-fi?"

"If that's the case does that make the animatronics' androids?" Fritz tacked onto the conversation.

"No, androids have to have human appearance not being human inside, Mari might qualify but I don't think Goldie or Foxy falls in that line"

"Oh, right. Makes sense I guess, probably a good thing, better than dealing with even more terms for all of this stuff, I prefer ghost, animatronic, and zombie, less confusing" Surprisingly it was the bear that spoke up next, with the same dryness that Mike had let fade away for a more faux curious tone.

"Yeah, because those ones are so simple" That got a snort out of Janet before she could hide it, even as the man being targeted shot his brother a somewhat amused look, before looking around, the humor in the air draining sharply with the next sentence.

"Right, well, let's get crammed into the elevator and get this over with" Janet was almost tempted to say something about it, as her focus was unfortunately brought back to reality enough to remember the massive streak of dried blood that led to the elevator in question. Mike had been joking to keep the air from being what it was now, but it felt wrong for her to try to do the same, so instead she just followed along once more as they all crowded in, staring as the elevator opened.

Mike didn't bother, or more accurately, actively ignored the much deeper dried pool of red that painted a portion of the floor and wall of the elevator, Janet just gulped, the sight of it on top of the knowing she was about to descend along with the clear police tape marking parts of the elevator suddenly plummeted a block of icy dread in her lower gut, as she felt a hand grab onto her's tightly, as she turned to see the washed out face of Fritz, staring ahead with a grimace being held back by the skin of his teeth. He needed her just as much as she needed him as her hand held on just as tightly back as they stepped in.

Mike hadn't been kidding when he had said it would be cramped, the elevator was clearly a big service based one, but there were seven of them here, and nearly half were well over six feet tall and a bit bulky. They weren't squeezed together or anything, but there wasn't much in the way of personal space. Janet used it as an excuse to press herself a bit more than necessary against Fritz, it seemed to help him keep himself steady and ignore the faint scent of copper in the lift, and frankly it helped her as well. She wasn't quite actively regretting this yet, but it sure was beginning to properly sink in just where she was and what was going to be expected of her to see.

She only jumped a bit more than everyone else when the echoing almost robotic voice demanded some kind of identification as Mike just moved to wave the card, and before long they were sent down below. The creaking and whirling of the fan held above them wasn't all that comforting, but Janet had the feeling that nothing here was exactly supposed to be. That thought doubled as she watched with mute horror as the lift landed, opening up to reveal a blood covered crawl space that looked like it went into the ventilation system. Jeremy spoke up first, looking slightly faint.

"We really need to find a new way to get in this place, this can't be the only opening" Fritz spoke up, though he was actively trying to avoid staring too much at the sight, instead looking up at the ceiling.

"This has to be some kind of service entrance, I bet there's another way in, and that's the way we're leaving" Mike just moved over, bending down slowly as he looked over the entrance, surprisingly fine with the amount of red still, as he looked back, seemingly considering something for a moment, before saying simply.

"Bold assumption we're getting in this way either, looking at it now, I'm pretty sure Evan would get stuck and I don't feel like crawling around with broken ribs" The bear in question- and boy was the multiple names something she needed to adjust to sooner than later because it took her a second to remember who that was, spoke up next.

"I could probably force my way through" Mike just shook his head.

"I'm not going to be able to pull you out when you get stuck bud, it's at least a twenty foot straight crawl" That seemed to take the willingness out of the bear, as he said simply back.

"Right, I'm not doing that" Foxy spoke up next, sounding a bit impatient.

"So what, we go back up and look for the porthole?" Mike just shrugged.

"You can go on if you want, but I frankly don't want to go through that crawl space and Evan just can't" The man sounded more annoyed about that fact that he seemed to want to admit, though Janet was almost sure there was something else going on, as he just stared with that annoyance at the vent opening like it had done something to personally offend him... Given everything, it probably had. No one though looked all that willing to go through before surprisingly of all people, the puppet was the one who spoke up next.

"I'll go through, I'm sure there is a layout or map somewhere with the actual entrance, everyone can wait up at the top and when I find it we can go through that way, so no one is split up" Janet wanted to focus on the puppet voice, this was the first time she had heard him talk, and she had not been expecting his voice to be so... soft? Musical? It was a pleasing voice either way, boyish in a way that Foxy's accent and Goldie's tone kept them from having for being the two youngest of the three. Before she could actually think about that and the natural thoughts she had in response, if that musical lit was natural or like Foxy's accent, Mike spoke up, quickly, nearly right after the puppet had finished talking.

"You aren't going through this place alone" Janet wasn't sure why she was startled with how protective the man sounded, but she was, as she watched as the two had something of a staring contest, even though she wasn't sure just how one of those were suppose to be won when one didn't blink... Maybe they both don't, cause Mike didn't even seem to notice the minute beginning to pass by, before Jeremy awkwardly spoke up, right around the point that Janet was sure Mike was about to break by actually just moving down to go through the vent in spite of his earlier words.

"I can go with, I have my taser and it's better than someone splitting off on their own" Both turned to stare at him as the man shanked back just a bit, before Mike just grimaced, looking away from everyone entirely, before nodding, saying clearly and begrudgingly.

"Fine, just... Be safe, the both of you, I don't feel like fighting off any more wires, and I don't have an axe this time around" The puppet let out a chime of some kind, though Janet had no idea what it was suppose to mean, even as Mike gave something close to an apologetic look to the marionette all the same. Before long they were gone, well, not before one last thing, as Mike moved to stop Jeremy before he could follow the already moving puppet.

The man just gave the other a confused look before everyone watched with a bit of surprise as Mike pulled off his jacket, revealing a long sleeved, slightly small for the tall man, black shirt and handed it to Jeremy, as he said in way of an answer.

"You have short sleeves on" Janet hadn't thought it would have been a big deal, but... glancing back at the vent... she was much more glad that she had long sleeves on herself, looking at the crusty red streaks. Jeremy just took the jacket, gave a grateful nod... then did his best to not look awkward in a hoodie that was several sizes too big for him. Janet had to admit though, he didn't look bad in it, the baggy look worked, even if he looked faintly embarrassed as he rolled up the sleeves more than a few times and even handed Mike his hat before getting into the vent to follow after the puppet.

They all just stood there for a moment, before Fritz broke it by hitting the button to send them back up to the surface, Janet was a bit to busy worrying, somehow the idea of following them in didn't seem quite as daunting as just watching one of her friends and the... puppet roommate of her boss? vanish away into the dangerous unknown. Clearly she wasn't the only one who thought so, Foxy was pacing around now with the little extra room they had and Mike was frowning ahead at nothing, his arms crossed over his chest, as he stared at the wall in front of him. If Janet hadn't known him well enough to know the man hardly reacted to anything more than just raising an eyebrow, she'd think he was unaffected.

Fritz was still squeezing her hand all the same, and he looked more than worried enough for the rest of them put together, honestly the only one that didn't seem all that affected was Goldie, but Janet didn't figure him to be the type that paced, and that might be because she just didn't know how to read the fact of facial cues, given he was, well, a metal bear. Either way, they all were thinking about what was happening down there, some a bit more harshly than others, but all the same. Even as Mike said after a long moment, as they found themselves standing around the main lobby area.

"We're getting radios next time, I'm not dealing with this in the dark stuff about what's happening with the others" Fritz seemed to speak in spite of himself.

"Glad to hear you're already planning the next field trip out here" Mike just huffed, as he reached up and for the sake of getting his hands free, placed Jeremy's hat onto his head.

"Yeah, well got to look forward to something right? My shows been boring recently anyways"


"...This place is horrible" Jeremy didn't mean to really say it, but the words were out of his mouth before he could help it as he looked around the frankly gross looking control room, the green lighting above made everything just look... unclean. Mari to his side just let out an uneasy but trying to be light chime.

"Well, you should see it during the night, the hours really age it"

"If it's all the same, I'd rather not. Let's find the entrance and get the others down here"

"Right. I'm sure there's a map in here somewhere, better than just scouring about... I think it would either be in Baby's or Bellora's section" Jeremy just nodded, moving around, looking at the strange desks, and cabinets, before deciding there wasn't much else to do but see if there was some kind of map like the puppet had suggested, better than wandering around in the dark. He had a flashlight on him, but admittedly the horror movie comments from earlier had him a bit paranoid to be the one walking around in the dark. They could probably find the light switches quickly, but it wasn't something he was looking to try and do right now.

He might have preferred that after opening up the closes drawer and instantly regretting it as he let out a sound of disgust that had the puppet moving over before letting out a sound that Jeremy was pretty sure supposed to represent horror.

"W-what is that?!" Jeremy, in spite of himself leaned in just a bit too closely, before saying with a morbid kind of interest.

"I-... I think it used to be a bag of candy?"

"How does that come from candy?" Mari honestly sounded like he was on the verge of hysteria, if it was in a different place Jeremy might have thought it amusing the sheer amount of affronted offense the puppet was exuding at the sight in front of him.

"Leaving it out in a place like this I guess, desert can get humid at night, and while it's freezing down here, I doubt anyone's opened these drawers in years, plenty of time for a little mold colony to grow" Mari let out a distressed chime at the words 'mold colony', as he just reached forwards and slammed the drawer shut, and quickly moved away to another, Jeremy couldn't help but smile a bit, even in situations like these, they all who they were, it was a strange comfort of all things to see the puppet worked up over a mess of all things while down in this place.

Moving on from that, they continued to look around for a long moment, before finally Jeremy let out a sound of victory as he held up a very dusty but fairly intact map, as he held it out to the puppet to see, even in the poorer lighting, over what was written on it. It was an employee building outline it seemed like, mostly it seemed to have directions that guests, if this place ever had any, wouldn't ever want to see. Such as the general room names, outer offices and secondary rooms, even a workshop from the looks of things.

Clearly the above section was not at all just what AR was, not even a facade, clearly it was just the place for the paperwork and numbers, down here was where the real part of the animatronic factory was held, it seemed that they had only seen the very basics of it. That didn't really feel Jeremy with much in the way of confidence, the idea that there were just that many more rooms to search and have to look over, but it was something at the very least.

It also had a few service tunnels listed, which was what the vents to move between the rooms were, but there were actually hallways and paths built throughout that actually made sense to be there. The way Jeremy had come in was probably a very backdoor way that was not supposed to be the actually normal way, which was something to the sanity of the people who had built this place at least.

Thankfully even more so to the sanity of the people who had made this map, it even had the real 'front' door listed, though Jeremy had no idea just how they would have missed that, given from what he knew there weren't really many buildings around, AR wasn't out in the middle of nowhere, it was off the interstate sure, but go another ten minutes in either direction and there was at least something, not a lot of somethings, but enough that at this point, he and the others knew what was around.

Sharing a glance with Mari as the puppet pointed at it with one of his long fingers, their eyes traced back down the path showing... it was set off a fair bit from Circus Gallery, the pathway in front of them... Made sense, Jeremy guessed, Circus Baby was supposed to be the star of the show, so it made sense that her area would be the one that was the first to be walked through.

"Seems like you were right" Mari just let out a relieved chime, before glancing up at the wall that would lead them towards the Circus Gallery, before saying.

"I'll go first, I haven't been in there yet, there might be something waiting on us" Jeremy just nodded, it made sense, though if he tried, he was pretty sure he would be able to notice someone before the puppet, Mari was just faster and could teleport, if something was wrong, he could be back here in the time it would take Jeremy to freak out and realize he'd have to crawl backwards to get out. So with that he watched as the puppet floated off as he looked around the room once more with that uncomfortable weight filling itself back in now that he was alone.

It wouldn't last more than a minute, Mari would look around, if anything happened he'd be right back here and even if there wasn't the same would hold true, but Jeremy still felt himself shift around anxiously as he looked up at the windowed walls, moving over to the stands for a moment, before frowning at the buttons... Maybe they were for the lights? The idea something could be looking in at him while he couldn't see back ached at some kind of nerve in the back of his mind. Reminded him of his time as the nightshift a bit too much, that feeling of being watched when he was the one supposed to keep an eye out.

The monitors over head covered in static didn't do much in regards to helping him get that feeling out of his system, so he just ignored them, staring out into the darkness, before... frowning to himself. It was fragile, but he could of sworn he just felt something... something that felt a lot like fea-

"It's clear all the way through" Jeremy only jumped a little as he gasped and spun around to see the sight of a now apologetic looking puppet, as the man just stared ahead, a hand going to his chest as he shot the animatronic a short look before saying.

"R-right... Uh, let's go get the others I guess" Puppet nodded, apologizing as the two moved, going through the vents, the voice was somehow louder this time when he moved through some invisible sensor, as they came out in another room that looked like some weird sci-fi control room. Apparently they were onto something, the multitudes of colors kind of hurt Jeremy's eyes, though...

"It looks like someone went on a rampage in here" Mari just gave a tense nod, looking around the room once more at the sight of the wreckage, one of the control panels looked like it had been ripped straight out of the wall mount it was apart of, a number of things had seemingly had dents smacked into them by something heavy and with great strength. He's seen what the outsides of those metal doors looked like after a few shifts, this reminded him of that, Mari seemed to agree as he said in a low tone.

"Not just any someone, this is animatronic damage" Jeremy winced, but just nodded.

"Yeah, someone wasn't happy I guess... You sure no one is here"

"I'm sure, I looked around, there's nothing in here but more damage, it looks like someone tried to rip apart the stage in here, but that's about it, everything's been moved away" Jeremy just slowly nodded, trusting the puppet as he pulled out his light and the two moved, finding a small little hatch that let him move into the room itself, as he shone the light around, it was... nothing much. More than anything it reminded him of Freddy's because of the checker patterned flooring, which was not a great reminder of just where he was, as the two continued to walk ahead.

Jeremy did his best to not wince at his own footsteps, but he was the only one walking, and he wasn't nearly as quiet as he wanted to feel like he was when he was in a big empty room underground, every movement made an echo that made the chill already present on the back of his neck grow. After a moment he couldn't really take it much more as he said in a tone that was aiming for conversational but mostly fell flat.

"So... haven't seen Ennard yet?" That maybe wasn't the best thing to say as Mari let out a not so pleasant sound instinctively at the thought of the animatronic, his emotions spiking with... well, frankly it was so mixed up with so many things Jeremy didn't want to put in the effort of trying to sort them all out when his own emotions were a bit fraying already. He didn't do great in places like this, and he seemingly had been over estimating Mari's ability as well.

"I- No, I'm... Is it... Is it wrong to say that I hope we don't find them?" Jeremy was not sure just how to handle that kind of question, so he just shrugged and asked.

"Why do you not want to see them? Is it because of Mike or because of yourself?"

"B-both? I-... I don't really know... I can't forgive them for what they did to him, but... But can I forgive myself then for what I've done if I don't at least try? It's just... It feels easier to just not have to address it, address them" Well, that was a very serious situation. Jeremy just frowned, his footsteps still echoing but now more distant as he tried to think over just what to say to that, what was he supposed to say to that? It wasn't his place to tell Mari what to do, but at the same time, they all built the foundation of what they had now on the idea of second chances... But what did that mean when that foundation was rocked because of something like this?

Mike had died, Jeremy knew that, he spent that first week out of his mind with the memories of his own experiences, of everything he had gone through and the horror of thinking that Mike would have to go through something similar, and he did, honestly it might have been worse for the man, in different ways for sure, and that... Jeremy wasn't okay with that, he was scared for his friend, he was scared of this monster down below that had been built up so much, but at the end of the day, were just kids the same as Foxy and Bonnie were...

Could he forgive Mangle? If that animatronic was still around, would he have it in him to be able to say they should have a second chance as well?

No.

It was simple, Jeremy wasn't sure he would have had it in himself to be able to do that. Because for a moment, he thought Mangle had been back, he didn't know about Toy Bonnie, not in those first moments, in that panic at seeing that pink abomination again, in fact he had made sure that animatronic would never be functional again, he shocked the thing into near pieces, and he certainly hadn't cared at the time. Fritz had told him later, Mangle was beyond repair now, well beyond it. He only felt relief, knowing that they could never come back to hurt him again, because they still haunted him more nights than he cared to admit.

Jeremy felt like the last person Mari should have been talking to about this, but then again, maybe that's why he was talking to Jeremy about this. He still wasn't sure what to say, even as he began speaking, knowing it was important for the puppet to have something before they did eventually have to talk to the wires that nearly took one of Jeremy's best friends away from him.

"You shouldn't link the two together. You've become better, same as Foxy and Goldie, and if we're lucky Bonnie as well. Whether or not you can forgive yourself shouldn't be linked to if Ennard can be redeemed as well. They might have no interest in becoming something better than what they were made, like Spring Bonnie, and if they do want to become better... You don't have to be the one who heads it, neither does Mike, you two don't need to be the bigger person when there's more than you who are willing to help" Jeremy spoke the words, though a not so small part of him knew he was to close too this, they all were, to probably ever be able to help Ennard in the way they needed, if the pile of animatronic wires even wanted help.

But it wasn't a matter if they wanted to or not, it was a matter of doing the best they could, it wasn't fair, it wasn't nice, but nothing about this was, and yet they still had to deal with it anyways.

Mari just let out a low chime but didn't say anything more for a long minute, instead they just walked, reaching a hallway covered in old and now dusty advertisements for the Pizza World that never went anywhere... Jeremy wondered just why this place had such a big underground area, stages and all, if this was never meant to be the place where people were supposed to come out to... Maybe they were supposed to be like showrooms or something? It didn't really matter, as Mari finally spoke up.

"You know about Toy Bonnie?" Jeremy... hadn't expected that to be what the puppet grabbed onto, but just nodded, as the two found what looked like another lift, much less terrifying and industrial, though with the slight dust all over the thing that wasn't saying much for the creepy factor.

"Uh, yeah, he's... wandering currently, ran into him when I was dropping Goldie off. I'm was kind of surprised Goldie left him alone at all at the warehouse, but I guess he wanted to be here more" Mari just let out a soft sound as the two moved into the lift, Jeremy hitting the button to send them up, all while wondering just where in the world this was going to put them. It wasn't a particularly short walk, all things considered from where they had started.

"How was he?" Jeremy just shrugged, unsure what to say.

"He's... better I guess, I mean, he was awake, aware and all"

"Nothing more?" Jeremy frowned, this felt leading, as he glanced at the puppet and said a bit more firmly.

"Nothing that's my right to say" Mari flinched a bit, but nodded quickly, they had already had this conversation, and while Bonnie might hardly be Jeremy's closest friend, they literally hadn't even had a conversation, that didn't mean he was going to break the privacy of someone they were trying to help.

"R-right... Sorry, my thoughts are all over the place" Jeremy let him have that, much more unsure just about this lift as with the hit of the button, while the entire thing groaned for a moment, he was sure he was somehow going to plummet to the depths, but after a second it started up, much less loud and obnoxious as the other one, but not all that silent as some music played over the speakers. He blinked as he glanced over to Mari though as the puppet began to fidget a bit.

They didn't say anything more, instead waiting the short moment for them to reach the surface, and watched with matching confusion as the doors opened up to what looked like the inside of a pretty trashy shed that had been built around the elevator which was just a big metal box that was in the middle of the shed.

"Huh"

"Where are we?" Jeremy just shrugged.

"I guess out behind AR by a few hundred feet, come on" The two walked out, and sure enough, while it was in a bit in the distance, Jeremy could see the back of the building from where they were standing, it wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but it made sense, no one had exactly looked out in the back. Glancing over at Mari, he just asked, "Want to go get them?" The puppet just nodded and in the next moment vanished from Jeremy's sight as he just looked around the shed a bit more, once more alone but not quite in as creepy a place. Maybe they meant to make a proper place for this entrance but it got shut down before that could happen?

Either way, it was just weird.

Then again, all of this was weird so maybe it was just to be expected at this point? It didn't really matter, he just waited out by the door of the shed as he watched as the two vehicles moved around the corner of the building and quickly made it's way over to where he was standing. Thankfully the ground was fairly flat, even if a bit sandy, and soon Jeremy watched as everyone piled out, them all looking at the shack Jeremy was standing beside with varying looks before Mike broke the silence as he walked forwards.

"Right, any horrors beyond our comprehension down there that made themselves known?" Jeremy turned, ready to answer the question, probably trying to keep the almost light mood Mike was trying to hold with his answer, when instead he found himself blinking and just staring at the man, or more over his hat on the man's head. He just blinked as he stared up at it. He didn't look bad in it per say, but the brim of the foxy-themed cap casted a shadow over Mike's face that made him look... Well, it was a look. Shaking it off, Jeremy said quickly.

"Beyond some mold? Nothing much" Mike just nodded, his lips quirked upwards just a bit as Mari let out a displeased sound to his side as the group headed in. A few comments had about the state of the room where the lift was stationed, but nothing that Jeremy hadn't already been expecting, as they moved into it. It was a bit tighter than the other, but they fit well enough. Jeremy made the mental note that the couples seemed to be the ones that first willingly squished themselves against each other. Jeremy just ignored the feelings around him and the ones that came up as a result on his own.

It wasn't good for his nerves, even if he was a bit more at ease about the place now that he had walked through it, that hardly meant he had gotten a good look at anything or knew for sure it was anything close to something safe.

It was around the time that the elevator dinged that Mike spoke up again, his voice a bit more absent, like his focus wasn't fully there.

"Not to keep the cliche alive, but we're going to have to split up to cover the entire place in at all a reasonable amount of time, but we really shouldn't be alone, so does anyone have any preferences about who we're splitting up with?" No one spoke for a long moment, probably thinking about that question, before Goldie spoke up saying blandly.

"I'm sticking with you and Mari" Jeremy should have expected that, and neither Mike nor Mari seemed willing to say they weren't going to be sticking together, so that decided one group, Jeremy glanced over at the other three before asking.

"Fritz, do you have a taser?" The man frowned but shook his head.

"No, haven't replaced it yet, too expensive" Jeremy grimaced but nodded, they had a habit of going through them. Mike made mention at this point.

"Mine is down here in the scooping room... I'm not going in there to get it, but if anyone's interested"

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Mike just shrugged.

"Not really, I took the scoop with me last time, and even then it's probably pretty easy to avoid when you aren't being flooded with a few thousand volts" Mike himself absently reached up and rubbed at his chest at that part, looking a bit uncomfortable for a second, but it was Mike, he went back to looking unphased a second after as Fritz said with concern.

"How?"

"The floor, there's a panel that's conductive, just avoid that. Oh, and stay on the lookout for any piles of wires and you'll be fine" The man slowly nodded, looking uncomfortable but eventually firming up to say with a faint reluctance.

"Right, I'll get that then, look around while I'm there... Janet?" The woman in question jumped a bit at the sudden prompting before just nodding, as the two moved off after getting the general directions, as Jeremy found himself jumping a bit when a heavy red arm was awkwardly slung over his shoulder, given the height difference, as Foxy proclaimed.

"Then you're with me laddy! Let's explore!" Jeremy didn't have much time to say anything as he was already being moved off. He eventually just decided to accept it with a faint sigh as he was moved off to the side, as the three groups now established all moved off to look around and explore. Jeremy did his best to not think too hard about the frankly way too much darkness, as he looked around before saying as he found himself moving into a hallway off to the side of the Circus Gallery that headed off to... somewhere.

Glancing back in time to see Fritz and Janet moving off in the vague direction of Funtime Auditorium as Mike, Mari, and Goldie all moved in the other direction towards another door that probably led off into Ballora's gallery. Jeremy quickly moved his eyes back ahead as he began to look for a proper light switch, it would be nice to be able to have a good sight of the things happening around him. Foxy being at his side helping the unease or not, he was not comfortable here, something about the walls themselves seemed to just... radiate a sense of pain that wasn't quite real but not hidden enough that he couldn't not think it.


This somehow became a Jeremy chapter and I have no idea how, frankly I just got super invested in the moment between him and Mari and had their conversation go on for much longer than it was needed, it really stretched out this chapter in a way I wasn't really wanting, this was suppose to be much more a four part chapter, focusing on the arrival, and the three groups that are now exploring, and if I was lucky about it, then this would only be a one chapter visit and then I could move into the next section, as it's going, and with just how much is involved with AR, I think this might just be another two or so chapters before we get to that. Not sure yet, we'll see.

Beyond that, actually talking about the chapter now, this was a fun one, Jeremy is just a really fun character to write for, he's got a lot going on and at the same time he's just such a damn good person. I'd honestly say he's the nicest of the entire group, maybe tied with Mari on a bad day for him and a good day for the puppet, cause, well, Mari's kill count kind of puts a mark against him. But at the same time, while nearly the most nervous and as the nicest of the group, he's also honestly incredibly brave. He's the one that always steps forwards when the situation calls for it, and I think that's just really admiral about a character I made that way. I want to explore him more, he's honestly the one with the most going on that has gotten the least attention among the three men, Fritz had his moment recently with the Janet situation and I default to his POV more often than Jeremy's, and Mike's the main character, so I want to correct that at some point. But that's for later, in the mean time I don't really have much else to say, this entire chapter was mostly just set up for the next one, so I'mma leave it off here. See ya!