I Don't Own Fnaf
Tears were indistinguishable from the rain, it was pouring down so hard and he was so cold, the torrent coming down shouldn't have been there. Dad had promised it wouldn't rain today! He never liked the storms, they were too loud, but everyone was having so much fun that he could almost forget about it... Until the other kids thought it would be funny, it was a dare, a stupid dare, he didn't even want to go out there.
But they were insistent, and now he was wet, and scared, and it was so loud he couldn't even think! The doors wouldn't open, and the only light was the sign above him which did nothing along with the damn lime green bracelet he and the others were forced to wear for some reason, even though when it was put on his wrist it was too tight, and even now he could have sworn it still hurt.
He was crying more and more, pounding on the windows with hands too small to make much sound and legs too short to really pull himself up enough to be seen by anyone inside. He just wanted inside.
Had no one noticed that he was gone for too long? Was anyone looking? Why weren't they looking? It was his birthday, it was supposed to be a happy day, he was promised...
He was scared.
Jumping in terror at the sound of a roaring engine, just for a moment, as he twisted around, his back slamming against the wet wall of the diner as he was blinded by the sight of two beaming headlights as he let out a startled cry, blinking and looking away from the spots as the sound of a car door being opened and slammed shut filled the air as he slowly was able to get his sight back to see a figure standing next to a familiar dark purple car.
Relief, a burning sense of it that made him want to blabber about how horrible it had been, about how he didn't want to be here, about so many things, his words were a jumble in the base of his throat as he croaked out something as the figure approached. Massive and towering past any other person he had ever met, closer and closer, silently as he tried to speak.
Yet that relief turned cold, the terror rushing back within an instant as the looming figure, adorned in purple clothing and a security cap on his head, was finally close enough as the lights of the window above his head lit the man up... Showing a horrible, twisted expression of mollified wrath as the man stared down at him with that haunting expression, as he felt tears burn down from his eyes again, as he stumbled back, trying to say something, trying to understand why the man looks so enraged, trying to understand what he had done...
As a pair of large hands shot down, and he screamed, just for a moment, before they closed tight around his neck as the sounds of roaring thunder echoed through the air as the gripped tightened, and tightened, and tighte-
*BOOOOM*
The rolling crack of thunder was accompanying scream laced with broken chimes, as Marionette shot up, his arms flailing wildly against a threat that wasn't there, wild frantic dots of white within the eyes of his mask searching in the darkness for him, the cracking distorted and frantic tunes of Pop Goes The Weasel blaring out so loudly it nearly was able to drown out the sounds of crashing rain from the outside. But it did nothing to stop the screech coming from the puppet as he felt a pair of arms try to pull him closer, as he pushed and swiped wildly against it, pushing himself away, unable to hear the sound of a pained grunt, as he shot himself into the air away form the bed, spinning around wildly just in time for a crack of lightning to light up the room to show that face staring at him from the darkness of the room.
It didn't matter that the expressions couldn't have been more different, it was him, it was him it was him itwashimitwashimITWASHIM-
The puppet didn't know what he was doing didn't know what was happening, he just needed away, he needed to not see that, as he backed up in terror as the man was quickly pulling himself out of the bed, words being said but not heard, as Marionette's hands flailed behind him, trying to find something, anything, only to catch on a handle, as he didn't think twice before twisting it open and finding himself pressing into the closest of the room, as he slammed the door shut in front of him, holding onto the handle while pressing himself against the door to try and keep it closed.
It was terrifying, those moments, scared and powerless, huddled in the dark, waiting for the doors to rattle for the small space to shake, as it tried to get to him.
But... But nothing happened. For a long time, he was just there, waiting in fear, for something that never came, minutes passed, stretching on for what felt like an eternity, only broken up by the muffled rattle of thunder and crack of lightning from the storm raging on outside. Time passed more and more, and finally, Marionette slowly began to realize what was happening, what had happened, what he had just done and just where it was that he was huddled and hiding.
It felt like something broken in his chest, even as he slowly eased his grip on the inside handles of the closest, and leaned back into the mess of shirts, sweaters, and jackets that the closest was filled with, pressing his thin back against the back wall as his long legs came up to his chest as he just hugged onto them. He was still shaking, his entire body trembling with a low hum of static coming from it that he hadn't noticed before then, and if he had a mirror and some light, he was sure he would have been able to see the mess of purple he was staining everything with.
He couldn't bring himself to leave, but... But after a long moment he felt himself weakly call out to the door.
"M-Mike?" His voice broke immediately and it sounded so weak that the puppet felt ashamed of himself, even as he instantly got a response back.
"Yeah, I'm here, what... What happened? Are you alright? Can I come in?" Marionette had never heard the man so concerned before, the desperation cracking and doing something to the normally unshakable voice that made something in the puppet's chest clench in a way that ended up with a pained chime, even as words spilled from him before he could hope to control them.
"N-NO!... No, I- Don't come in, please..." He couldn't deal with that right now, he couldn't handle that, and he hated himself for it, but he couldn't.
"Al...Alright, I'll, uh, I'm right here, if that's okay, I'm right here Mari, just tell me what you need" He sounded desperate, and worse, he sounded hurt, no matter how he tried to hide it, as the puppet let out a weak chime as he asked, feeling pitiful.
"I- I don't know... I just... I can't look at you right now... Can we just talk?" There was a faint hitching sound of breath from the other side of the door, but after a moment Mike's voice came back.
"Yeah, sure... I- I uh been looking into places for our trip, Zion's nice this time of year you know?" Mari just let out a small chime and the man just took it as what it was, and just talked, fumbling over a few words, pausing at times trying to think of what else there was to say, and at times it was next to nothing being said, Mike talking about anything that came to mind, to the point he started talking about the posters of the bands that were hung up in the bedroom that the puppet had fled from.
He had no idea just how long they sat there, it didn't really matter, but after the third time Mike had to pause to cough, his voice getting more and more hoarse, Marionette decided it had been long enough, as he slowly rose on shaky legs, his grip on himself looser than it had been in ages, as he moved to the door, slowly cracking it open and peering out. Mike was sitting, his legs splayed out in front of him, his back against the side of the closest, his head turning to look right at Marionette as he exited, only for the puppet to let out a short chime of surprise... It wasn't Mike's face he saw when the man focused on him, it was the mask, the foxy mask, with those bright blue eyes peering through them.
The puppet was ashamed of how relieved he was to see that instead of... As he slowly moved over and sat down next to Mike as the man stumbled for a second, his arms twitching about like he was uncertain of what to do with them, before asking.
"Are you... I mean... I figured," He sort of waved at his covered face, before seeing there wasn't going to be an answer, just asked instead, "Can... Can I hold you?" Marionette didn't like how timid the man sounded, like he was afraid of something the puppet couldn't put a word on, as instead of answering, he simply just leaned in and felt himself nearly fall against Mike's shoulder, as in an instant an arm was wrapped around his shoulder as he was pulled closer against the man.
And the puppet... Didn't flinch, didn't feel anything other than relief as he felt his body start to tremble once more as his own arms moved to wrap around the man as he clung on for comfort, for safety, for... for everything Mike was willing to give him in that moment.
They didn't move for a long, long time.
Eventually though, something had to be said, no matter how much Marionette didn't want to, as he quietly muttered into the air, the sound carrying as at some point the storm had finally lapsed outside, leaving the sound of crushing silence in it's wake to be broken by the puppet's words.
"I- I remembered him... He... His face when he... When I..." The words just couldn't come, but Mike understood them all the same, as he said quietly.
"I'm sorry"
"It's not your fault at all Mike, you can't control when I remember stuff... I'm sorry. I probably scared the heck out of you" Mike just let out a humorless huff as he said.
"Nah, I'm just glad you're alright... Think we're going to get anymore sleep tonight"
"What time is it?"
"Umm... oh... It's half past five"
"I guess that's a no"
"...Want to see if there's anything on tv?"
"You sure you can't read my mind?" Marionette let out a small but real chime of laughter, it wasn't much but it was... better, as the two stood up together, Mike's legs were a bit shaky underneath him, as they moved, as Marionette asked carefully, unsure just what answer he wanted to get.
"Are you going to take the mask?" Mike just shrugged, saying back casually as they headed out of the room.
"Too much work to put it back" They both knew that was a lie, but Marionette couldn't find it in him to ask for Mike to take it off, not yet, not when it was still so fresh in his mind, and he hated himself for that just a bit more, as they made their way down stairs, and before long flicked on the tv.
The hours passed, at some point the rain came back in another wave of sound, but now, half cuddled up in blankets that Mike had pulled from somewhere, on the couch, the two playing at who could make the most ridiculous commentary about whatever mess of a show they were watching, the nerves lessened more and more, and Marionette relaxed, fully. Mike at times got up, moved around to get something to eat, though the man didn't return to the couch until he had finished. Marionette hadn't questioned it until the sun had begun to peak through the curtains.
Mike was still wearing the mask. The puppet wasn't sure how he was going to address it, but after the night they had, he wasn't sure he had it in him to ease into either, as he finally just asked.
"Are you going to take the mask off at all before work?" Mike paused, just for a moment, before asking.
"Do you want me to? Would it... Be alright?" He sounded uncertain, Marionette hated that as instead of answering, he just leaned over closer to the man, and reached out. Mike didn't move away, even as the puppet's hands came up and slowly lifted the mask off the man's face, revealing...
"Oh Mike" The man's eyes just flickered away, and yet the fear remained, he was scared that Marionette was going to react poorly, no, he was terrified of it, even as he let out a humorless huff and said.
"I'm fine" He seemed to try and force his normal stoic look into place, but Marionette just leaned in and just hugged him, saying softly.
"I'm sorry... I'm not scared of your face Mike, it just... caught me off guard earlier because of the similarities and the nightmare, that's all" Mike just shrugged, turning to pull himself away, but Marionette just reached out, grabbing onto the man's shoulder and said as earnestly as he could, "I'm not scared of you, I never will be" That finally seemed to do something as the man gave a brief nod, even as he let out a shuddering breath for a moment, saying.
"Right, yeah, I know" The puppet wasn't really sure if that sounded like the truth or not, but he didn't want to press it, instead just leaning in and placed his forehead against the man's own, just for a moment, before saying softly.
"I love you" Mike responded quickly.
"I love you too" And that... that sounded like the truth, Marionette was certain of it.
Mike didn't want to make the call, not in this moment, he was tired and so emotionally beaten down it felt like from the last night that he didn't want to do much more than just curl up into a ball in bed and not move for a while, but life wasn't nice enough for that, and it was hardly like he had the worst night, so he put on his big boy pants, picked up the phone, and went to another room while Mari continued to rest on the couch, bundled up in several blankets like a puppet cocoon. He needed it.
Mike just ignored how bare his face felt, Mari had kept his mask, holding onto it like it was one of his plushies, not that the puppet messed with them as much anymore, too busy with all the merch prototypes that occasionally came in. Or at least that was the reason he gave, Mike wasn't entirely sure about that, but that was something to think about later. Right now he had probably done enough mental stalling, as he worked over the words he needed to say, the parts he needed to mention... And the idea he had on getting the man to do what he needed him to.
Mike was pretty good at that part, even if he already felt a bit bad about it as he hit dial over the number on his phone he had been staring at for a long minute, even now still debating in his head about it, but he didn't have any other ideas, and at the end of the day... Those kids down below were victims, so he tried to focus on that more than anything, as the call connected as a voice spoke over the line.
"H-hello hello?" Mike took one last deep breath... and then he spoke.
"Hey, it's Mike. I need a favor" He could already hear the tension rack up in the man from the sudden shuddering intake of air, as he began to talk.
He had planned these words, but they still flowed like acid, his throat still rough from the hours of talking he had done in the early breaths of the morning, making him have to pause at times, as he recounted the latest tragedy they were trying to help mend.
He sugar coated it a bit, but still told it all, what had happened to him, who had done it, why they had done it, and where they were now... And why he was telling the man all of this in the first place.
It had been a few minutes of talking, but once he was done, the line was silent for a long, long minute, to the point Mike was ready to break the silence to ask if the man on the other line was still even there listening to him or had just dropped the phone to not have to deal with the situation. As it stood, Mike wouldn't have been shocked, but that didn't do anything to change the surprise that flooded through him as the man's voice came back after a long moment.
"I-... Is there no one else?" Mike hadn't thought that would have been the first question, honestly he had been expecting instant denial and a long hour of worming the man into it, but instead he just answered back honestly.
"No other place that would be safe, for both them and any kids nearby, Da-... William made sure they couldn't be safe around kids, and we can't risk that, but at the same time, we can't just abandon them all down there for no other reason than the idea that they might be dangerous, if that was the case then none of the others would have made it this far" The man was silent for another long moment, and while Mike liked to think himself decent at knowing what was going on in other people's heads, he was at a lost of just what Phone Guy must have been thinking.
If he was being truly honest, he never expected it to be easy, he honestly didn't think that the man would go for it at all, that this would be more than one conversation, that it would be at least of week of working on at guilt tripping with this just being the groundwork that Mike would use later to try and convince the man that this was for the best for all people involved... Well, maybe everyone involved that didn't have the nickname Phone Guy, but that point stood. So he really was caught off footed, when the man finally answered with a question of his own.
"D-Do you mind if I think about it for a while, and... Uh... Maybe come by the Diner soon? M-Maybe not today, but... Soon" Mike gathered himself as quickly as possible as he said back.
"Of course, you know where we are... We're have an event for the last week of October if you want to catch the place looking festive" That got something of a strained chuckle out of the man, as he answered back.
"T-that's a bit far away... I'll try and come over the weekend, I- I'll try to have an answer for you then, just... I need to think some things over"
"Take your time, if you have any more questions then just let one of us know alright? It'd be a massive help, but it's still your call at the end of the day if you want to help us and, uh, them, out like this" Okay, maybe this was going a bit to easy for what Mike had expected, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to double down on a bit of guilt tripping to make sure the man wouldn't try and bounce himself out of this, given he still had a chance to go back with more time to think about it, the weekend was still a few days away.
"R-right... I-I'll let you know" That was all Mike could hope for as the phone call ended as he just sighed, flipping the cellphone closed as he leaned in, a bit a hand coming up to press against his head as he tried to push back the pressure that was building once more. He was fine.
He had to be fine.
Goldie wanted Bonnie to be tossed in a particularly deep hole, the damn rabbit had continued to get rowdier and and more of a pain as the days passed, and he had no idea why. Every time he bothered to ask what the hell was wrong with him, the animatronic would just make some mocking sound and leave before Goldie could wring his little neck. It was beyond aggravating, and he was beginning to think about ways to get rid of the nuisance. Fritz had been talking about finally fixing Bonnie's suit fully, maybe Goldie could make an argument about making him stay at the Cove.
...No, that implied they could trust Bonnie with being there, he wasn't Ennard and that whole mess, but it was very clear what the animatronic bunny thought about the place, and he had no wants to deal with the place being wrecked again. Besides, he wouldn't want to inflict Foxy having to deal with the rabbit either, given he was pretty sure the fox wouldn't have the same amount of patience the bear was forcing himself to have. Foxy was very impulsive, and he was sure Fritz would be on both of them if Bonnie needed repairs right after being fixed finally.
Still, he was slowly going mad again, and at this point he was going to break the rabbit down into a mental break if this continued.
The office was the one room that Bonnie seemed to realize that he should not mess with, and as such it was the place Goldie spent the most time in, like it wasn't already, but now that wasn't as much of his own choice and that burned something fierce in the bear's chest. He wasn't good with choices being taken away from him, and it was slowly driving him closer and closer to an edge.
And edge he was suddenly distracted from as the phone near him on the wall suddenly rang out as his head turned to stare at it for a short moment before moving over towards it. Wondering who it was now, maybe Jeremy? The man had mentioned before that he wanted to come by and look over the inventory to see what they already had for that whole Halloween thing that seemed to sweep over the other animatronics, Marionette had recently gotten really into it for some reason.
Picking it up, he held the line up to his head and said drily down the line.
"Hello?" It was quiet for a moment, before a familiar stranger's voice came.
"Oh, uh... Hi?" Goldie tilted his head to the side at the woman's voice, she seemed... not sheepish, but something, as he said back.
"Got the wrong number again"
"Uh, no, actually. I... Um, I meant to call you this time, to, you know, apologize about last time" That... was a bit surprising, as he said back.
"Apologize? I don't think you did anything that warrants something like that"
"I guess... Just figured it must have been weird... Is this more weird?"
"Definitely" That got a surprised laugh from the other end of the line which for some reason surprised Goldie even more than the woman apologizing. People didn't really laugh at what Goldie said, besides the kids at the Cove but Goldie didn't count that... Mostly because they knew that unlike his brother who did it for dry humor, Goldie was just that bluntly honest and wasn't doing it to be joking.
It wasn't a bad feeling though.
"W-well at least you're honest, if it's that weird I can hang up?" Goldie found himself saying back a bit quickly.
"I'm not doing anything anyways... I could use the distraction if you're that interested in making up your apparent slight against me"
"Oh? What do you need a distraction against?" Goldie turned a bit, the sound of faint creaking he hoped would be heard over the phone line, as he glanced at the door that led out to the warehouse proper where a certain pest was.
"Roommate problems"
"Oh?... Uh, what are they doing?"
"Nothing specific, just being a general pain because he knows he can get away with it. If I wasn't morally obligated not to, I'd probably have thrown the brat out already" It was weird to talk about this with a stranger... But admittedly the words just flowed faster than Goldie could really work on stopping them, it was... just easy, in a way it wasn't with the others, because they knew him, he had to be more careful with what he said, because of his past... But a stranger didn't know any of that, didn't know how serious or dangerous he was.
"That's, uh, a shame? Is he in a spot where you can't just ask him to leave or something?"
"Or something, he doesn't have anywhere else he can stay, so I'm the one picking up the slack for it"
"If that's the case, have you tried to talk to him about it? I mean, it sounds like you're doing him a favor right? If you talked about what he's doing that's annoying you then maybe you can find a way to sort it out" Goldie doubted that, as he made that known.
"No, the brat just likes to be a pain in spite of what everyone is doing for him"
"Well, I don't know the situation as well as you do, but if it's that big of a deal you can't just not do nothing" Goldie huffed at that.
"You sound like my brother"
"...Really?" Goldie wasn't sure why there was a pause there, but while it was happening he had glanced over and grimaced at the sight of the clock on the wall.
"Yeah, listen, thanks for listening to me complain I guess, but my ride for work is going to show up soon"
"Oh! Uh, no problem, listen, if you still want to talk about it, I could call... back?" Goldie... wasn't really sure why the woman wanted to do something like that, but he had to admit it was nice to just say stuff without having to care about how the other person would react to it, plus the woman seemed fairly sensible, so it was fine, as he said.
"Sure... What's your name anyways? You didn't answer me the last time" There was another long pause before suddenly she said, if a bit blurting-out.
"O-oh, uh, Samantha, it's nice to meet you...?" Now Evan had to pause, what did he want to say his name was? There really was only one answer, though it still felt weird to say it.
"Evan, it was nice to talk to you Samantha"
"S-same, Evan" And with that the line went dead, as he just pulled it away and looked at it for a moment... And wondered if this was how normal people made friends... It was a surprisingly giddy feeling.
"Are you alright?" Jeremy was concerned, so he felt the need to ask, it felt a bit silly afterwards, when Mike glanced over at him with a faintly confused look. But, the way the man had been acting... It's just... Mike seemed tired, exhausted even, and they weren't even fully through the day, and Jeremy was a bit worried that the man was going to fall over while carrying a cake at this point.
"I'm fine" Jeremy just slowly nodded, unsure about the truth of that, but being unable to tell anymore when it came to the man, and with the mask on, he couldn't hardly read the man's face either, not that that was something that was easy, given it was Mike. But...
"Alright, just... What about Mari, he seemed a bit..." Mike tensed a bit at that, and Jeremy wondered if he crossed some line for a moment, before the man suddenly just slumped, like he was deflated, as he said with a creeping edge of exhaustion to his tone.
"It's-... What do you think about my face?" Jeremy had no idea where that had come from, as he blinked and glanced over at Mike, who seemed to shift a bit, like even he wasn't sure just what he just had said, as he backtracked quickly, saying, "No, never mind, I'm just... really tired, it's nothing you have to worry about" Frowning, the concern building up more and more, Jeremy just looked away for a moment before saying whatever was in his mind before he could think if it was a good idea or not.
"I'm not really sure what you mean by your face, but... I mean, it's a face? You're not bad looking if that's what you mean, I- well, the grey is a bit of a look, but it's not a bad one, just... takes a second to adjust to knowing you're, not, like, sick or something" That surprisingly got a snort from the man, as he leaned so his back was pressed up against a wall from where the two were standing, observing the the main floor.
"Do I look infectious?"
"I mean... You're grey, but as long as you don't develop a craving for brains I think it'll be fine" Jeremy got the impression Mike was smirking to himself at that, at least for a moment, before his demeanor shifted back into something more subdued, as he said back.
"Thanks"
"Don't really know what I did"
"You called me hot, and all in all, an ego boost is always nice" Jeremy... felt himself blush a bit as he stammered something out as he shot Mike a look, who he was just oh so certain was smug underneath that mask, as the man finally managed to get out a dry and way to late sarcasm.
"I don't think that's how I said it, but sure, if that's what you need to hear" Mike just hummed, as Jeremy paused for a moment, before saying back a bit more teasingly, "Does Mari not compliment you enough?" Mike blinked, his head turned a bit to stare at Jeremy for a long moment, before suddenly saying a bit too loudly in a tone that wasn't really a question.
"You know" Jeremy just... blinked, before nodding.
"Uh... Yeah, Mari told me a while ago. Did he not tell you?"
"No, but I guess it just slipped his mind, a lot of stuff has been happening... You're... cool with it right" He didn't really say it as a question, Mike didn't really do that often, it was a weird trait of his, always assuming he was right, if it was anyone else, it'd probably be more infuriating, especially because the man usually was. In this case, Jeremy decided he really didn't mind, it was nice to know that Mike just knew Jeremy wasn't like that, even if he didn't really know... all of it... Well, if there was ever a time.
"It'd be kind of hypocritical" Mike just stared at him for a moment, before letting out a small sound.
"Huh" Jeremy waited a moment, to see if there would be anything else, but Mike just didn't say anything for a long moment, before asking casually, "So, do you think I'm hot?"
Jeremy choked on nothing and spent the next minute coughing his lungs out while Mike snickered off to the side, clearly not really caring about the answer, just Jeremy's reaction to the sheer shock factor of the question, as the man shot the taller of the two a dirty look. At least before there was a crash of a kid who seemed to think it was a good idea to run about with a bowl of ice cream in his hands, as the two shared a look, before moving to take care of the situation before it escalated.
Jeremy didn't notice until a while later that the man never really answered his question, just deflected until something dragged them away.
He figured that was answer enough as to answer if the man wanted to talk about it, but it did make him concerned, he couldn't tell with Mike, but Mari was the same open book as always... In the end, nothing happened, he couldn't bring himself to say anything, and by the time closing came around, everyone was too busy continuing their talk about the Halloween event, which was getting closer and closer, and Mike bringing up the call he had with 'Phone Guy' that morning.
Jeremy just let himself feel relieved that the man was at least considering it, though he did get the feeling that maybe he shouldn't keep his hopes too high, as Mike went on to mention that the man would be coming around in a few days to the Cove to give them his answer personally. Jeremy... wasn't sure just why the man wanted to do that, maybe see for himself just how better the animatronics that he knew were once murderous were to help keep himself reassured perhaps? Either way, Mike mentioned it, and then gave a pointed look to the animatronics in question, clearly saying without needing words that he needed them all to not cause the man any reason to not want to take the wire problem off their hands.
Mari agreed easily enough, but both Foxy and Goldie seemed a bit stubborn on the idea of playing nice with the man, Jeremy really did wonder just what all the animatronics seemed to hold against the man in particular, none of them had ever really mentioned any real hostility to any of the Freddy's staff beyond Purple Guy, for very good reason, and Phone Guy, for... some reason that was never explained. It didn't seem like the right time to ask however, so he just kept that to himself as the conversation continued, and he found himself asking the bear if he minded if Jeremy stuck around after he dropped him off at the warehouse to look around for those supplies the two had talked about previously, for the events at the end of the month in question, which was already seeming closer and closer than Jeremy was comfortable with with all that they had come up with.
He'd have to know what they needed to order soon if they wanted this to work out like they wanted it to. The bear agreed easily enough, and Jeremy just ignored the faint weight that always came at the end of the day, when everyone was to leave, vanishing at the idea of having company for a bit longer. He ignored even more so how ridiculous that was to feel, like it always felt when the feeling came up.
Before long they had all split for the night, with the fox waving him bye, as Jeremy loaded up the bear out at the back of the Cove, before pulling out onto the road, the drive going silent as it usually was when Jeremy cabbed Goldie to and from, the van usually ended up being his main mode of travel these days, not that he minded. Someone had to be the one to drive the bear back and forth, and it was good advertising.
He was broken out of his thoughts a few minutes later as he pulled up to the warehouse, pulling up to it, before fiddling with the little remote opener to be able to drive the van in through the big door, it had been fixed a while ago, and it had been a massive help for getting Goldie loaded up without having to worry about prying eyes as much, as they drove in to the small area just big enough to act as a carport, as he killed the engine, and before long the two were out, with Jeremy moving to head to the office, to grab the inventory sheet he had spent weeks on ages back to see just what all they had to work with.
Goldie followed after him, not that he minded the company as they entered the office as Jeremy moved over to the cabinet, opening it up and searching through it for a moment before finding it with a small sound of victory. Pulling out fully, he looked it over before moving over to the desk as he set it down and scanned through it for a moment, pulling out a notepad from his pocket as he marked the locations of all the things that they had and putting check marks over the already listed things to remind himself that they did in fact have them already. Noe he just needed to look them over, just to make sure they would actually work.
"Did Freddy's ever do holiday events? I don't remember during my time and Fritz didn't mention anything" Goldie seemed a bit startled by the sudden break in silence, before answering simply.
"I don't know, that's a question for Marionette or Foxy, I only ever really... checked in during the nights" Jeremy just hummed, before asking curiously.
"What about the diner? Was there ever any kind of events back then?" Goldie paused at that, as they reached the first shelf where a large box of supplies should be held, as Jeremy stretched himself up to try and reach up to the thing above his head, the bear answered at the same time he reached up and plucked the box off with ease, lowering it to the ground so Jeremy could properly search through it. The man did just that, as he listened to the bear while lightly lamenting the fact that everyone he knew was taller than him.
"Not at the C-... Diner, but I remember when I was younger Spring Bonnie and Fredbear being on a stage outside for some festival thing in Fall... I don't remember much more than that, Michael would probably be able to tell you about it" Jeremy hummed for a long moment, thinking that over before making a faint sound of realization.
"Oh! You mean the Fall Fest?" The name seemed to trigger something in the bear as he just nodded, as Jeremy let out a faint laugh at that, "Yeah, Hurricane has this thing yearly during Fall and Winter they have little festivals, I used to love going to them when I was younger, I don't remember anything about a family diner doing performances... But if there were, I probably wouldn't have been that interested in checking it out, it sounds kind of lame without context" The bear just huffed.
"Not interested in fantasy and fun for the whole family?" Jeremy just snickered.
"No, can't say I was, honestly I was kind of a trouble maker back in my teenage years" The bear let out a disbelieving snort at that, saying casually.
"I can't see that at all" Jeremy shot the bear a look but it was without any heat as he told back.
"Well, maybe not that much of one, but I got into some trouble, mostly for the attention if I'm being honest. Got sorted out though by a police scare when I was around seventeen, honestly the scariest thing in my life up until that point. Made me reevaluate some stuff, went to college afterwards, worked a bunch of jobs while doing so, and... Uh... Well, I got a job at Freddy's and the rest is history" Goldie had just been nodding along up until that point as Jeremy absently fiddled with his hair while his eyes stayed down to look over the decorations that he now had laid out in front of him. It wasn't a ton, but this would be enough for some basics, and there should be more somewhere else...
"You're lame" Both men jumped a bit as Jeremy half stumbled up at the nearly unfamiliar voice only to relax a bit at the sight of Bonnie, half leaning against a wall giving Jeremy what he thought was supposed to be an unimpressed look... The faint... feelings echoing off the animatronic was a bit weird, as Jeremy focused more on them, and the appearance of the animatronic, he was looking better as the man just coughed a bit and said awkwardly.
"Nice to see you're doing better" He tried his best to put a good foot forwards, even if he was just being insulted, lame was a pretty tame one all things considered, though that ignoring only seemed to irritate the animatronic a bit more as he just huffed, staring at them, as Jeremy watched with mild confusion as the two new green eyes in the animatronic's head flickered back to voids of darkness with those familiar spectral whites in place for pupils. He just waited for a moment to see if anything was going to happen, but not all that worried, the sight was so commonplace in his life now it didn't really warrant a reaction... From him at least, he could hear from where the bear was standing next to him, the sound of creaking gears and the very faint sound of springs being wound.
After a long, and suddenly tense moment, the animatronic just huffed again, louder, before turning and walking away like nothing had just happened, as he was just stuck there, watching as he walked off, before glancing up at the bear, curious.
"What was that about?" The bear just glared off in the direction of the animatronic, and Jeremy faintly realized Goldie had moved a bit, standing a bit ahead of him... like he was being shielded almost, as Goldie answered the question.
"The brat likes to try and get reactions out of me... Usually by trying to piss me off, he probably just wanted to spook you. You alright?" Jeremy just blinked, still... confused, but just ended up nodding, nothing had happened after all, there was no intent to cause harm, in Jeremy's eyes at least, it is like the bear said... It was more just Bonnie trying to puff himself up to... get a reaction...
"Uh... Yeah, I'm... Good. Let's get the rest of these boxes down and moved over to the main tables, so we have it all ready to move when we start decorating the Cove" The bear just gave an easy nod, moving ahead of Jeremy to heft the box up to move like the man said, as the man just stayed there for a second, glancing in the direction that Bonnie had stomped off towards, before shaking his head, as he gave a smile to Goldie when the bear gave him a curious look as to why he was just standing there, as the two moved to continue the gathering of things for this project.
Oh boy this chapter was rough on the soul to write... That's a lie, I love angst, and the writing of the first part, aka the heavy shit, went by in an instant, the trauma flows through my fingers like water! But, uh, yeah, it was rough on the reread to make sure it had everything I wanted it to, these boys need all the help. It's heavy as hell, and honestly this kind of moment has been building for a while, but this situation is so complicated that I have no idea what to even think to say to talk and be able to discuss about it really, it's heartbreaking to watch, and of course there's the fact that they just refuse to really address it properly, but with everything happening... To much is happening, it's a whirlwind and it's easy to just put your own shit on the backburner and just try to deal with the biggest issue until it's to late to realize waiting has only hurt you more. But that's something to later.
Onto the others, Goldie has a phone friend, that's nice and I'm sure in no way worrisome, and we got to learn some Jeremy lore! Jeremy lore is best lore honestly, he's just a lad. Honestly Jeremy is one of my favorite character's to write, it's probably why he has the most, if not tied for with Goldie, screen time out of the main two characters, Mike and Mari. He's just really fun to write. And of course there's the background bunny in Bonnie who's just being a little menace which is honestly pretty fun as well.
All in all, character development go brrrr, especially with the Phone Guy Conversation, can't wait to see how that plays out. So many things are in motion that it's honestly been really fun to write out. Anyways, See ya.
