I Don't Own Fnaf
It was an hour past midnight when Jeremy finally managed to get himself standing in front of the door to his apartment. The conversations he had not even half an hour ago still replaying themselves in his mind, on something close to a loop, certain things catching and playing back more than others, but all in all, it hadn't been great, and if he was being honest, he wasn't really sure how he was feeling in a more grand sense.
But what he did know was that he was exhausted and worried and tense all over in a way that made everything uncomfortable and his shoulders uncomfortably tight, so he was hoping, if a bit flutily, that Bonnie would already be asleep for the night, the rabbit had been in his room when Jeremy had left, so he was hoping to slip into the apartment and then into his bed before anything could happen.
He just had a lot on his mind that he needed a rest to be able to really be able to think through if he was going to be able to figure out just what he should be feeling, because the idea of a new Freddy's was still more forcing a faint sense of dread in his chest than it was something real just yet. Honestly, he was glad everyone else had managed the talks without him getting too involved, because for most of it all he had largely just had static rolling through his head.
Of course he wasn't that lucky, as he pushed open the door and was immediately cornered by the animatronic. Well, cornered wasn't the right word, but after the talk of a new Freddy's, opening his door to see the glowing green eyes of Bonnie in the barely lit space that was his living room, peering over the couch at him, wasn't really comfortable.
"Where have you been?" The question was asked with an almost bored tone, but the curiosity was still more than loud enough for Jeremy to hear it, as he moved further in, closing the door behind him as he took a deep breath to himself, before turning back to Bonnie.
"The Cove, Mike got told something and he needed to share that with everyone" Bonnie made something of a face at that, Jeremy still wasn't really sure what the animatronic had against Mike at this point, if he was to make a guess it would be the bunny was just being stubborn. The lack of any talks between the two probably didn't help.
"What, and that was important enough to leave at this time of night?" Jeremy grimaced, but nodded, moving inside further, trying to decide as he went just what it was that he was going to say, as Bonnie just huffed shifting a bit as Jeremy found himself leaning up against the couch as Bonnie moved to basically flop against the right side of the couch, as he turned to continue to stare at him easily. Saying in a slightly grouchy tone when Jeremy didn't say anything more, "Well? What's the big deal?"
"I'll tell you in the morning, I need some rest" Bonnie didn't seem particularly happy about that, crossing his arms, and for a dreadful moment Jeremy was certain that the bunny was going to make this a whole thing, he never really took well to being dismissed, and while the two were doing better. Or at least nothing was being destroyed anymore and the volume was kept at a respectable level, Jeremy didn't really hold as much hope as he wanted to believe that Bonnie wouldn't shift back into that attitude when he thought it would get him something. Instead, the rabbit just stared at him closely before just huffing.
"Whatever, but I want to hear about it tomorrow alright?" Jeremy just gave a short nod, slightly surprised but thankful, only to end up pausing for a moment, and sighing...
"It's... It's not good news"
"I thought you were going to go to sleep?" Bonnie seemed more annoyed about the turn around, but Jeremy could still here the curiosity, as he moved over to sit on the arm of the couch as he looked up at the ceiling.
"I want to, but this is important, and it's not fair for me to not tell you when you're already awake" He would have felt guilty and probably had left his room in another twenty minutes to tell the rabbit anyways, might as well get this out of his system now and to get this whole conversation over with as soon as possible... Thinking about it, that was probably Mike's exact reasoning for calling them all to the Cove in the first place.
"Well, get on with it then, I'm on commercial right now, and I don't want to have to catch the recap to know what happens to Vlad" Jeremy felt himself huff a little bit at that, Bonnie was always like that, when he wasn't throwing a fit for no reason, always bordering on impatient but never really being pushed over the line.
"Right... It's not good news, I guess I should lead with that" Bonnie just rolled his eyes, like he hadn't guessed that already, which was fair with how Jeremy was acting, as Jeremy just took a deep breath, before forcing it all out at once, "A new Freddy's is opening"
The rabbit just stared at Jeremy for a long moment, before suddenly letting out a sharp loud curse, that admittedly made Jeremy finch a bit, glancing down at the floor, hoping uselessly that, that hadn't woken anyone up, the people that lived right below them were the ones that liked to complain the most. Of course Bonnie continued on speaking a bit too loudly.
"What do you mean they're opening again?1" Jeremy made a shushing sound, but Bonnie was already standing now, and Jeremy swore for a moment the rabbit was about to stomp his foot like a tantrum throwing kid, only to seemingly holding himself back at the last moment, as he crossed his arms in a big huff, as he glared at Jeremy, like the man had an answer to the question. As he just sighed, before looking away, trying to get the words in order, before starting before he really was ready.
"I- I don't know what else to say, Mike only just found out about it before telling the rest of us. But Scott, well... He got a call, and it seems like they're trying to open their doors again. Obviously we aren't happy about it or anything, and right now we're trying to figure out what we can do, but... But it's something that you deserve to know about, with everything that happened" Bonnie just slowly shifted about, none of the animatronics were all that expressive naturally, they had secondary kind of eyelids and brows that worked well to mimic expression, Bonnie was no expectation, but it was harder to tell than Jeremy liked, he had felt like that a lot in recent weeks since he learned to tune out other people almost fully. He still wasn't used to it.
He didn't like how suddenly it was just so much harder to know what was happening, it was like suddenly needing glasses, something he was already familiar with. But he refused to go peeking behind the curtain, and instead just waited, as a long minute passed on before Bonnie just dropped back down into the couch in a slump, asking after another long second.
"So... How long until someone comes knocking to drag me back?" Jeremy felt like the floor had dropped out from under him with just how... Resigned Bonnie sounded. The rabbit was temperamental and stubborn, more than that he was constantly aggravated and complaining, even if it was about nothing, now that he wasn't shouting it all, he still made random comments from everything from the windows to the temperature of the apartment, if he had something he didn't like he talked about it immediately and without remorse. And frankly, Jeremy kind of appreciated that blunt honesty over simple things.
It wasn't like Goldie who was bluntly honest and direct about the heavy things, and yet never seemed to even think about complaining about the minor stuff, Jeremy could still remember Mike's efforts in drowning the bear with things to do when Goldie hadn't even so much as mentioned caring about having something to keep his mind busy with. It gave Jeremy something to focus on now that they were over whatever major hiccup had been there before, it gave him things he could actually work on fixing and helping.
Bonnie was acting like there was nothing here to do, nothing to help, it was just a matter of time. And Jeremy decided he really didn't like that, as he moved a bit closer, unsure of himself and just what his own body should be doing, before just giving up and going for it, as he reached out and placed a hand on the animatronics' shoulder. Bonnie tensed immediately, shifting a bit and Jeremy just held himself back from feeling like an idiot as he moved back enough to let Bonnie shift further away, as he said with as much conviction in his voice to work past that slip up.
"It doesn't matter, even if someone does try, we aren't going to give them anything" Bonnie glanced up at him, confused, and perhaps a bit startled by the tone in Jeremy's voice, even as he quickly went back to normal, shooting back idly.
"Yeah? How are you planning on managing that?"
"We already did it before... I guess no one really talked about what happened to the last Freddy's, but we got away from them, nothing they can do or say will take any of the animatronics we know away" Bonnie just looked away.
"You sound pretty sure of that"
"I am, you're safe here, you'll always be if I have anything to say about it" The animatronic just huffed, looking away still, before apparently tiring of it all, as he said back.
"Yeah, sure... Go to bed, I can practically feel your exhaustion from here. We can talk about it more when you're less tired and blindingly optimistic" Jeremy smiled a bit at that, saying a bit teasingly as he got up and began to move away.
"I can do that first part, but I'm afraid the optimism isn't going anywhere" The rabbit muttered something under his breath that Jeremy couldn't quite make out, as he moved into his bedroom, ready for sleep to take him. He was worried, of course he was, but he hadn't been lying when he said he would make sure the rabbit would make it through this alright. It's not like there was much to worry about on that front anyways, after all as far as anyone knew from Freddy's, the toy line was completely destroyed.
Fritz was spending too much time working on Funtime Foxy.
He could recognize that, but he also recognized it was better to focus on the work than going into a paranoia spiral, and he had already finished the spool crank the same day he got the parts in, after more than a few hours working on it, it was now in Scott's hands, and his empty to do something else. Janet was worried about him, but he just kept himself busy, she didn't get it, couldn't understand it like the rest of them did, and that was alright, frankly Fritz preferred it that way.
It was better to not know what it was he was avoiding from thinking about. It was easier than he thought it would have been, especially for what he was working on, something that looked so much like Mangle. An animatronic that only existed in one location, but one where most of his nightmares came from.
Funetime Foxy though was more a gift from the heavens than nightmares, at least for his technical mind. The Funtimes were complicated, after the handunit, after almost to long, had finally finished running it's basics in making sure everything in the funtime where it was supposed to be, and now he could actually used the handunit to look over everything inside of the animatronic to know more about what was going on with it.
At least that was the plan, but the code was a mess and the handunit, while being more operative than he was really used to, was still not making it easy, the thing occasionally turned on and started to run it's own 'handy-man protocols' as the thing proclaimed at a way to high volume about repairing the animatronic. It had actually been somewhat helpful, of course Fritz had no idea just how much stuff was hidden in the handunit's routines and programs of it's own, but it was surprisingly helpful in prompting him to look at certain programs that weren't working right when Fritz did isolated tests over the animatronic's base functions.
All of them had been normal ones, stuff like calibrating the wires to the shell they were now in to be able to properly work together to do things from as simple as moving the arms around, which had started as incredibly janky and sharp jerks and gradually moved into much smoother and almost startlingly precise limb movements and mobility, by the end of the calibration in the limbs. It was what the handunit was made for, and Fritz was for once glad to have the thing on hand, even if it always seemed to take way longer than he remembered it being if he was being honest.
Each individual test took hours to run though, in which the animatronic would jerk about and move slowly but surely a small part of it's body in minor ways until the code had properly calibrated to the new wires and the shell type. And while it was happening the handunit was practically locked out of any other function, that hadn't been great, but he kept himself busy and working on other things, the crank spool for one, that's when he got that done when the parts had come in, though it hadn't lasted long enough to be anything more than a day's worth of work... Just it had been the entire day's work.
Once all the basics were done, then hopefully the handunit would open up to the other systems in the funtime animatronic, allowing him to get a good look at the codes and find the 'routines' that needed to be removed before the thing could be safe on the Cove's floor. If he was very lucky, it all might be good to go by the end of February, and at worst the end of April, unless something really went out of left field with issues cropping up.
Most of that just depended on how long it took the handunit to work it's magic, the processing times on the thing was honestly awful, but that wasn't surprising either, it was just a lot of waiting work, so he spent most of it looking over the plans of the funtimes, and running out the code when he did have access to the handunit to try and figure out what all was what.
It took a while, admittedly the pathing of the handunit for files and information was only getting worse, things were starting to just show up all over the place, but as long as it continued to work he had mostly gotten used to having to play scavenger hunt every time he had to look for something. In the end he had managed to find the routines list and after a while of messing with it came to something of an understanding of it all, even if it didn't make much sense.
The routines were all sub-processes, always running, and tied up with everything else. It was just weird and not at all efficient use of space, and made Fritz very happy that he hadn't actually ever turned the animatronic on fully, only ever in diagnostic and set up modes, with only the very specific thing he was running calibrations on being the thing that could move or receive power. Otherwise... Well, probably nothing bad would happen, given there weren't any kids around in his apartment to activate any death/murder routines, but it was still worrying.
The way that it was all set up it was like all the code had been done in one place, one... folder if it made it easier to visualize, and in that folder was everything, from movement to show routines to diagnostics and battery life reports and camera feed and stored voice lines and, well, just everything, with it all tied together and in a mess of dependents, at least from what he could tell, everything had to be there or else nothing would work. The handunit was able to pick at the files that were needed, but without it, it would be like digging in a pile needles looking for a specific one, and even then, the handunit wasn't really meant for modifying the files, and as it was, unable to really search them out and open them up like Fritz wanted to. He was half certain he shouldn't even try because of just how awful the file pathing was, if he did open one of them, he wasn't sure just where the hell they'd go.
So he couldn't find the routines that were hidden programs from Purple Guy, couldn't really modify them with any level of ease or ability if he could find them, and couldn't delete anything directly without potentially causing the entire system to break down. And while he might, and he had to really stress, might be able to code everything back in, it would take him easily months if not years to do so. He was not a programmer, standard animatronic technician training and experience could only get him so far.
So the whole thing was going to be slow going, but... but it was something to do. It was a welcomed distraction and a difficult one at that, even if it was kind of infuriating in its own way, it was safe as well.
Goldie had been lucky to manage to catch Jeremy in the last few days, the man was always nice enough to listen to if he or Foxy needed anything, usually without any questions. He wasn't sure what the man thought about his request, but he couldn't handle not doing anything while he was standing around in the Cove making sure Foxy didn't just run off to try and find a certain building to claw at in hopes it would do something beyond put him on the evening news.
Either way, there was a map in his hands now, and with a bit of help from Foxy, they had managed to get it unfolded and laid out on one of the tables they had, as Goldie pulled out the list of addresses that he and Foxy had gotten a few weeks ago, the thing was more than a little crumpled now, the effects of having the thing shoved into a wedge on the inside of his suit, but it was still useable, if moderately unpleasant to actually retrieve from his chest. At least being hollow had some perks to it.
So, with markers in hand, and a lot of leaning over to try and read the words on small map of Hurricane.
It took a while, none of it looked familiar to either of them, and there was more than once where Fritz and Goldie both was sure something on the map had to be wrong, only to have to come to the conclusion in the decade they had been absent from the world a number of places had no only closed down but had opened up as well, with the map reflecting that change in status quo. It was a bit weird.
Goldie had never really considered that he cared much about Hurricane, or how it would be different, but for some reason his eyes still traced around for landmarks and stores that he had the barest memories of anyways, and found himself almost... not upset, but something bordering on it, when he realized they were no longer there.
He wasn't sure if it was the same with Foxy, but he couldn't imagine it was something much different. He wasn't blind to the way that the other teenager had paused, frozen, staring at a particular house on the other side of town where Goldie had found his eyes drawing to as the place he had been raised, a place he still occasionally visited, because he could. Foxy... couldn't.
He never wondered how that weighed on the fox, nothing ever seemed to ever actually weigh on Foxy's shoulders, the animatronic had an almost enviable talent of bouncing back from just about anything within seconds with more energy than Goldie thought he himself had ever had. But it had to effect him still right?
Should he say something? Was he suppose to say anything?
"Did you live there?" He had said something, the only problem was he hadn't meant to. The words had come out without his input and he was quite miffed about that, as he watched with an apprehension as Foxy jolted, his eye shooting up to stare at Goldie, who was directly across from him at the table they were standing at, before it moved away just as quickly.
"Aye" That was it, the only thing said, and somehow that just made Goldie worry even more. Foxy was a story teller to his very core, he could take the most bland of days and recite them like it was some grand epic tale way past how long it should have taken him to explain everything. If he wasn't monologuing at every chance, much less speaking in full sentences, then it was something that warranted the concern the bear was feeling.
"Do you ever think about seeing if you can go back?"
"No" Well... that didn't work, as Goldie frowned, as he watched as Foxy quickly seemed to decide to just ignore that whole part of the suburbs of Hurricane and instead walked around a bit to be able to quickly and more aggressively than needed, marking the spots that were listed. The bear just frowned. He had no idea what to do here, usually it was Foxy who was talking him through stuff like this. There had been a while after Bonnie broke the Cove that Goldie had helped right? But then he mostly had just called out Foxy on his bullshit and the fox bounced back to his normal self, and the bear realized this really wasn't something that would work the same here.
Hell, he was pretty sure Foxy hadn't even taken his advice back then anyways, he had mentioned Foxy being able to ask the others about the business side of the Cove, and he knew for a fact if the fox hadn't ended up asking after that talk, Goldie would no doubt would have heard all about it from Foxy himself after the fact. Needless to say, he didn't have a good track record about this sort of thing.
But he was the one here, and frankly, he was pretty sure he was the only one that Foxy might listen to and actually talk with. Which wasn't that just a terrifying thought?
Was he suppose to ask anything more though? After all, this wasn't really his business right? If Foxy didn't want to talk about it, should Goldie ask or was he just wanting to distract himself from focusing on the map? He wasn't really sure... But he did know that Foxy had always been there, every step of the way that the bear took. Foxy had been there from when Evan couldn't even consider using his old name, when he had still hated and distrusted everything but went with it anyways, Foxy had been there for all of it, without complaint or want, even when Evan himself didn't want Foxy there or to be talked about things he didn't want to discuss.
...But he usually gave in and felt better afterwards, even if he never really wanted to admit it, or the fact that he was also confused as hell with his own emotions by the end, it still helped... Damn it, he was talking himself into this wasn't he?
"Do you, uh... Want to talk about why not?" Foxy paused again, and for the first time ever really, Evan was suddenly realizing just how... unemotive the fox could be. it didn't really make sense, Foxy always was moving, his face, as little as it could, almost shifting and moving to express whatever one of a hundred emotions he was feeling at any one time on his face. He looked like he did when he was on stage during his time in that hellhole, Evan decided he hated the look.
"What am I supposed to do? Go up and knock on the door?" The accent was gone again, this was fully Gabe, Evan still never really figured out when the teenager wanted or was willing to drop his persona or not. It also, in an admittedly selfishly inspired thought, made it a bit harder on him, Even didn't know how to deal with Gabe as much as he did with Foxy, not that the two were exactly all that different, being the same person in all, but in a way they were as well, Foxy was larger than life, loud, and brash, Gabe wasn't.
"No... Well, maybe, it would certainly get the biggest issue out of the way"
"Yeah, scare my mom into a heart attack? Traumatize my brother if he's still around?" Foxy let out a huffing sound that showed just how little he thought of the idea.
"I mean, Charlie took the whole thing pretty well"
"And how much time does she actually spend addressing who Mari is and not trying to act like he's still the exact same person she remembers?" That struck Evan harder than he thought it would, as he instantly opened his mouth to try and defend his old friend, as Foxy just continued on, bulldozing through, "I've seen how she acts, don't pretend like you haven't either. She isn't like Michael, you were lucky Evan. He sees you as you are, but we both know Charlie doesn't do that, and if she can't for Mari, then how the hell would my family react when it's Foxy they get back instead of Gabe?" He spat that last word, like he hated the way the word was formed through his voice box.
And with that they were firmly into something Evan had no idea how to address, as he stared at the fox who was now glowering at him with more than a little fury.
Because... Because Foxy had a point, Michael was a pretty big outlier when it came to previous family learning about animatronics, the man took things in stride so much that he went from learning about ghosts being real to willingly working at Freddy's within the same week. He didn't want to say the fox had a point about Charlie either, but... But he did.
Evan hadn't mentioned it, he hadn't been asked for his opinion on the matter and he wasn't sure it was his right to give it anyways to the puppet, but he wasn't blind, he had been going over to Michael's, spending hours talking about their childhood... He had no doubt it had started as a way to jog Marionette's memories, and it no doubt helped, even if the puppet was still recalling things at an incredibly slow speed compared to all others, but that's not what it felt like, not what it continued to feel like. Evan was glad he hadn't been asked after recently, after Christmas Michael and Marionette had simply left, and then they were too busy, and now he was pretty sure the two were avoiding having to tell Charlie what was happening.
So no more get-togethers.
No more times where Charlie would bring up memories that only she could recall perfectly without anything hanging over them, be it Evan's spotty memory, Marionette's complete lack of recall, or Michael's much less pleasant point of view. She talked a lot about who they all were, stumbled still with calling Marionette the right name, stumbled with calling Evan Goldie, and never, ever, wanted to talk about the Cove.
He was sure Michael had noticed it, but wasn't sure about the puppet, Marionette was just to happy, caught up in learning about himself, to notice that Charlie never really asked about his present, about his day, about what he was up to, what he was doing for the Cove, never visited his place of work. She was trying, in a way. Mari was more than willing to bring those things up himself and she didn't stop him, but she was still only trying in the most comforting and easy manner to herself, she was trying to live in the past.
He wanted to say something, Marionette wouldn't listen, the two didn't butt heads as often anymore, but only because they didn't bring up the things they knew they'd fight about. This was something he was certain the puppet wouldn't be able to see what he did from an outside view. He had wanted to ask Michael about it, the man had to have noticed, he always noticed, and was way more suited to it than the bear was. And Evan had meant to, but... recently the two hadn't been talking much, and the thought slipped away.
It wasn't this time, because Evan knew what Foxy was getting at. Marionette was the most 'normal' of them all, aware and capable right from the start, the kindest and most well adjusted if Evan was being honest, and even his own twin couldn't truly see him as he was, not yet at least, not even after months. Then how would Foxy's family react, when presented with not the child they lost, but a lost angry teenager who hid behind the guise of the personified machine his body had been hidden in?
Was it fair to do that to them? Almost a decade later, rip at the scars until they were pried open once more about the kid they had lost?
Not everyone was Michael, who was unflappable in the face of anything, or Jeremy who was so easily compassionate that it was almost nauseating, or Fritz who was brave enough to stay and learn in spite of everything Evan and the others had done to the man. Evan hadn't ever really considered just how lucky it was that they were the ones that had come together to save the animatronics from their trapped fates. Even Janet, who had known about them for months now still couldn't quite easily fall into rhythm with any of the animatronics by herself. She tried, and Evan knew he and the others appreciated that, but he still hadn't had a real conversation with her, and she was someone who had no stakes in this, any of it, it wasn't personal, it didn't hurt her, and yet there was still that wall.
Evan had never thought about it that way...
He got the feeling Foxy never stopped thinking about it.
Evan couldn't imagine what that was like, he wasn't sure he wanted to either, as he finally glanced back up at the fox, more than a minute had passed already as the thoughts had tossed themselves around in his head. Most importantly though, he realized he had no idea just what the hell he could say.
He brought it up, and now that the fox had answered, and the ball was back in his court, he felt like he was frozen in just what he was supposed to do next.
"I'm sorry" The fox, who had been doing the bear's work for him, marking off the rest of the addresses in the time that Evan had been staring off into space, just said in a slightly to gruff tone to be normal.
"Whatever, let's just focus on this right now, look at this?" Evan didn't want to focus on the map, Samantha was a friend, one he was worried about, but Foxy was his best friend, and he felt like he was doing worse than nothing, but at the same time he had no idea what there was to say, what could possibly be said. Everything he had tried never seemed to make things better for the fox... So he just nodded, and turned to the map, looking at the work that Foxy had put in.
He had labeled them at some point, numbers by places that had been circled showing the order in which the calls had come in, and now Evan was feeling abashed for not noticing and at least helping the other in the effort, but instead just focused on having his eyes shifted around and stare at the locations circled, they all were around the outskirts of the town, starting from the north east and slowing moving west... before the last call came in from right in the middle of the town.
He just continued to stare at it for a long moment before finally noticing something.
"Some of these are just streets?" Foxy nodded, leaning over and tapping on the map with his hook.
"I think they're payphones, and look at these ones, most of these are gas stations" Evan's eyes flickered up and noticed the same thing as he felt his head tilt as he just continued to stare at the map.
"It makes sense, Samantha was calling from different numbers, they had to be public lines, no way she was just going through a bunch of phones, not if I couldn't call the number back right?" Foxy nodded, as Evan continued to stare at the map, he felt like there was an answer to be had here, but not one that was readily available as he continued to ask questions.
"Why a different one each time? Why not just the same one that was closest from wherever it was she was staying?"
"Maybe... Maybe she couldn't stay in one place?" Evan just frowned. He had no idea what was happening here, but he was beginning to like it less and less. The more he learned the more confused and concerned he got.
Mike sighed as he dropped down onto the couch next to the puppet. Mari had been incredibly silent over the last few days, not fully going back to being mute, but he didn't engage in conversations as easily anymore, his answers were short and clipped, and he never started a talk by himself. It was incredibly worrying if he was being honest, but there wasn't much point in trying to push him to speak when the puppet didn't want to, they could get by fine without it. Which had been as surprising as it wasn't if Mike was being honest.
It honestly reminded him a bit of those first few weeks together, when it seemed like Mari had forgotten he could speak occasionally, and just mostly communicated through chimes and gestures, it hadn't lasted that long, Mike was a talkative person, and they bonded quickly over banter and teasing each other until Mari was just comfortable with speaking completely and fully with the man. But Mike had gotten to know how to read the strange body language of the puppet in that time and he had only gotten better over the year that followed.
So, while it wasn't quite as quick and easy as just being able to hear what was on Mari's mind, they still got by and through the days with minimal talking from the puppet and a lot of talking on Mike's side to make up for it. They hadn't really... talked about everything yet, Mike had tried, but Mari hadn't taken it well, and when Mike tried to get the puppet to open up, he had spent the night in his box and Mike alone in his bed for the first time in too long to be comfortable.
Any further attempts hadn't gotten much in the way of progress for them, and the last thing he wanted to do was push the puppet away right now, so they just pretended for a little while that nothing was happening after that. He was pretty sure Mari regretted it the next morning, but he hadn't said anything, just was a bit more touchy, literally and emotionally, Mike decided to not mention that either, as the week passed by without much word from Phone Guy. Mike wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing if he was being honest.
The few things that he had been told was just Manager Guy wanting Phone Guy to see if he could track down any animatronics that were either for sale or people who might be willing to sell anyways. Apparently Phone Guy had given Manager Guy, Bounce Palace Guy's information. Mike also recognized he needed to do better at remembering names when he recounted this to Mari from the sheer look of disapproval the puppet gave him, even if there was a hint of humor there as well.
The Cove hadn't come up yet though, which Mike was thankful and apprehensive for, there was no way anyone in Hurricane didn't know about the Cove, just from the sheer negative reputation they had at the very start, and then the amount of advertisements they had pasted over just about every viable surface they could find in the first few months. Obviously they weren't a staple of the town, not if Freddy's sheer existence could threaten to drag their own reputation down into the mud, but they were still decently known as a nice family restaurant.
Not to mention, to Manager Guy's knowledge, Mike had the other three of the original four just in storage along with who knows how many other animatronics. So the fact his name or the Cove not having come up in conversation at all was... suspicious to him more than he liked to admit, he just couldn't believe it was a good thing, even if Mari seemed to relax about the lack of comment on their business, Mike didn't have the heart to bring up his thoughts up yet, not when they were still not talking about it.
At least, they weren't, it was the end of the business week for the Cove, Sunday night, and Mike was already looking forwards to the next two days of peace, it was the last week of the month, meaning they had no private birthdays or parties scheduled while the main floor was closed, and Mike was looking forwards to just sitting down and not moving for a while, maybe make a day out of just laying in bed with Mari wrapped around him like a sloth.
He hadn't done that in a while, and it was a nice thought, to be able to just not move for a while without it being because of the crushing weight of his own guilt and depression. Both of which he was surprised hadn't yet made a massive comeback in the news of Freddy's being reopened, not that that news would cause something to flare up, freddy's itself wasn't really apart of those two main emotions of his, but he had felt it would be the worst time for something like that to happen, and therefore with his luck, granted to happen. But nothing yet, at least that he had noticed, which he was decidedly glad about.
Currently though, he was on the couch, laying across it, his legs hanging off the side his head tilted over to look over at the screen of the tv where instead of the normal shows that would be playing at this time were, instead was a game level, with Mari sitting down, his long legs crossed in front of him as he played the level. Mari had gotten into the games almost as much as Mike had been in his youth.
He wasn't really sure if it was because the puppet really wanted a distraction to keep himself busy with, or if he just really did like playing the games, from what Mike could tell, it was probably both. Mike liked it, it was nice to have something to share an experience with Mari, games had improved a lot and Mike hadn't really kept up with them, so it was fun.
The puppet had gotten onto him a few times for trying to micromanage him when Mari had the controller, but Mike decided it wasn't his fault that he had a better sense of things than the puppet did when it came to games. He was much more interested in getting the levels done as fast and efficiently as possible while Mari much preferred exploring around and taking his time looking over every little thing.
One of the few things that got the puppet to actually talk in the last week was the two arguing over each other's methods of play, Mike got a number of snippy but endearing comments about how he rushed through things, and Mike in turn needled at Mari about how he had been on the same stage for nearly twenty minutes. He was actually getting ready to do that again, as Mari spent a bit too long just staring ahead at what looked like a waterfall, when the puppet surprisingly was the one who spoke up first.
"I feel guilty" Mike blinked a bit at that, the surprise of Mari speaking enough to distract him for a moment, as his eyes flickered from the screen to the puppet, as he spoke before he could really think about it.
"What do you mean?" He was already going through the motion of mentally kicking himself, while Mari just took a moment before finally saying softly and quietly into the darkened living room.
"I... I shouldn't be here. Something is happening and I'm just... sitting here... I should be at this new Freddy's, I should be protecting it" Mike was frowning, as he quickly managed to get himself pulled up into a sitting position as Mari didn't move from where he was sitting, still just staring aimlessly ahead at the tv screen.
"That's- No, Mari, you shouldn't. That's not your job-" Mike was interrupted by a sharp edged tone that he hadn't heard in a long time from the puppet.
"But it is! I was the Protector! I am, I- I failed last time, I always failed, but- But maybe if I'm there from the start... Maybe I can-" Mike was pulling himself off the couch now, moving over as he reached down and placed a hand on Mari's shoulder, the words stopping from the puppet in an instant at the sudden touch, as Mike just lowered down, his voice cracking just the slightest bit as he asked, seriously.
"Are you... Are you asking me to- To, what? Sell you to Freddy's?" The very idea of that made Mike's stomach twist and a feeling of repulsion raced through him, like he was a step away from a dizzy spell. Just saying the words felt disgusting. He was speaking the second he realized the silence was lapsing too long without an actual answer, which was answer enough in Mike's mind, as he almost yelled out, "No! No way in hell Mari!"
The puppet spun around, a look of anguish on his face, but a determination as well.
"Why not? Someone needs to be there! I should be there! It would be easy to get an excuse to slip in and see what's going on, to be able to stop anything! I need be there Mike, it's my-"
"Don't you dare say it's somehow your responsibility, and don't you ask me to do that. Mari, if you're not... If you go to that place then you won't be here with me" He hated how that was his biggest concern, that selfish want to keep the puppet safe. Mari could defend himself, could get out of any situation the second he wanted to, if anyone could act as the spy, Mari would be the perfect animatronic for the job. But Mike couldn't handle that. Couldn't willingly let Mari go to a place like that without being able to protect him.
"We need to do something! I- I can't... We can't trust nothing is going on, it's always something with them!" Mike didn't want to acknowledge just how much it hurt that Mari seemed to only double down in spite of the near pleading Mike had done, as he just gritted his teeth, before saying sharply.
"No, end of story. You aren't going there" Mari didn't seem to take that well, his voice raising and sharpening as well.
"Why not! Do you think I can't handle myself?" The accusation hit hard as Mike tried to back peddle, because that was the last of his worries about all this.
"Of course not-"
"Then why not!" Mari didn't yell nearly ever, and Mike wasn't not in the headspace to not match the same energy, as he said back just as quickly and way more honestly than he wanted to be. As Mari had begun to rise off the ground so had Mike, the two face to face, standing now in the middle of the living room.
"Because the idea of you being alone with anyone involved with Freddy's is already giving me a damn panic attack!" They both were yelling properly now, as Mari didn't waste a second, his voice rising to a new volume, before suddenly breaking half way through.
"Y-you should get it! I know you get it! I should be there, I need to be there, what good am I if I can't even do this?!" The anger on the puppet's face broke like glass into one of helplessness and desperation and just like that Mike felt the anger and frustration beginning to build up vanish in a flash like a vat of ice water had just been dumped over his head, as he watched like it was in slow motion as the puppet's body tensed up as familiar trails of purple began to run down like globs over the already painted lines on his face.
"Oh Net" They were already close, they had practically been screaming in each other's faces, so it was easy to reach out and pull the puppet into his arms, as Mari just more or less fell into his grasp, as he held onto the animatronic as Mari pressed his face into his shoulder. A long moment passed before Mike continued, "We'll figure this out, you know we will, we always do... But don't go thinking about sacrificing yourself for the greater good or whatever idea you got stuck in your mind. I think I fill the role out of self-sacrificing dumb ass enough for both of us"
That got a wet almost laugh out of the puppet, and managed to ease the pressure on Mike's soul just enough that he could start to relax. They still stayed like that for a long moment as Mike managed to get them moved over time back to the couch, back into familiar lands, as he had to ask.
"Did you... Have you been thinking about this the entire week?"
"I- I wanted to think of something else, but I couldn't think of anything..."
"We'll figure something out that doesn't involve that... If we're lucky we won't have to in the first place. I know we don't think a whole lot of Freddy's, but there is a chance it's just some idiot trying to make a quick buck. From what Phone Guy's said, it's like they're just trying to grab anything they can get their hands on without a fight"
"Do you really think that?" The puppet's words were still muffled with how he was practically pressing as much of his body into the mass that was Mike's chest as possible, but he could still tell just how serious the question was, as he took a moment to really think that, but in the end he just didn't know...
"I mean, Purple Guy is gone, that has to count for something, at the very most we just have to deal with a shady company not a monster" He had been going for optimism, Mike wasn't really good at it, but figured it would be nice to try it out. Sadly, it seemed Mari was seemingly trying his hand at pessimism, as he slowly pushed himself up and again, until he was more leaning on Mike than literally on top of him, speaking as he did so.
"I mean... Are we sure about that?" Mike froze for a second, a faint dread in just how uncertain the puppet sounded as he found himself asking.
"What do you mean?"
"I- Well... I- I never really thought about it, but... but if Purple Guy found out how to Give Gifts... Wasn't it... Wasn't it always a bit weird that he willingly climbed into Spring Bonnie? I mean, he didn't know she was possessed right? So why then... Unless..." Mike felt like his heart had stopped for a moment as what Mari was saying clicked into place, as he finished the thought for him.
"He thought it would bring him back, one last back up plan that didn't work, but..." The words went unsaid, and yet they could still be heard.
What if it did?
Hmm... Nah, bet nothing's going to happen that will be need of concern... Definitely.
Segmented chapter here, just getting things up and going with the new news and everyone's reactions in the time following.
Jeremy and Bonnie's whole situation is slowly getting better, this was a very tense moment for them, obviously, but it wasn't because of one party's failure, it was a sick circumstance that the two managed to talk through in a reasonable, if a bit heated way, and came to a reasonable conclusion. Jeremy's going to do his darndest to protect Bonnie, and Bonnie, maybe for the first time in a long time, might just think someone's genuinely looking out for him. Which is just great for the rabbit, proud of that little brat.
Fritz is doing what he always does, distracting himself from what's happening with big overly complex projects, in this case Funtime Foxy, with even more boring program speak and technical information that serves no one but me because I think to much about the small details of how these things work.
While Goldie and Foxy are still hard at work with cracking down and getting more and more information on his mystery caller... before Foxy drops a heavy character bomb on the bear. Foxy... he's incredibly complicated, the only character in this story that hides almost fully behind an act, and while over the last eighty some off chapters he'd slowly come more and more out of that persona, or at least let his real self influence the act in a way that I hope feels more real, with the heavy pirate speech over time fading out to more a mild accent, there's still a lot of things going on in his head that just hasn't been explored. It will come up... Eventually, but that doesn't mean these cracks can't be seen and haven't been shown over time, and that his fears don't have a real and valid justification to them.
Shit's complicated.
Speaking of complicated... God, I'm doing, awful awful things to our main lads. Mari is... not having a good time, in fact he's having a real bad time, but thankfully Mike's here to talk him through it... If by talk, I mean have a screaming match, that was... oof, it was rough, doing that to the two, but they're both stubborn and at the end of the day butting head's is bound to happen at times. Usually it's for little debates and banter in good humor... But there's nothing to make light in a situation like this. This... I think this is their first real fight in about thirty chapters. And it ended off, thankfully well... Just with a horrifying thought about everyone's favorite golden rabbit... Yeah, bet nothings going on there... Totally... Anyways, See ya!
