I Don't Own Fnaf

"Hey, uh, I got something to ask before everyone heads home... Well, two things actually, Mari has something as well" Mike glanced back to double check that the puppet was still alright with saying what was on his own mind, and once he got a nod, he just nodded back before turning back to look at his gathered staff. He didn't want to admit to it, but he was admittedly a bit nervous, and that made him feel frankly more embarrassed than he wanted to admit.

He had stared death in the face more times than he cared to admit, but this is what got his nerves acting up? It was embarrassing in a way he didn't want to claim, so he just kept his hands from twitching, his body and posture as still as he always was, and even though his face, as it often was these days, felt a bit to bare without the mask that was now clipped to his side obscuring his expressions, he had long since learned how to naturally keep himself from looking to much of just about anything.

Everyone's attention was on him, and he could feel the energy in the room sharpen just a bit at the long pause it was taking Mike to speak now after gathering the attention in the first place. So he just got it over with, trying to rip the words out like a bandage while still trying his damnedest to sound mostly casual.

"Thanksgiving is coming up..." her tried to get the rest of the words out, he really did, but they just seemed to pause, trailing off in a way that made it sound more like an open question than anything else, one that seemed to make the others think in a very different direction than what Mike had been hoping for, as Fritz spoke up, a hand going up to his chin.

"What? You think we should do something for the holiday? I mean, we could, but pirates don't really fit the theme" Jeremy spoke up next.

"Plus we wouldn't get any business out of it, it's not like Halloween, people don't go out and do things on Thanksgiving, it's all about staying inside with family" Jeremy sounded a bit... wistful at the description, even if he frowned, seemingly to himself a moment later, as Mike quickly tried to correct the statement.

"Ah, no, I didn't mean doing something at the Cove, we'll be closed for that day actually because of that reason... But maybe host it here thinking about it..." He trailed off again, because Mike was an awkward bastard occasionally, but the idea did merit some thought, his house, while big, wasn't that big if everyone... He was getting ahead of himself- "I was asking what everyone's plans were"

That got everyone looking between themselves, before Janet spoke up, seemingly unconsidered as she answered.

"I mean, my plan is spending the morning with my parents, I was actually planning on talking you into going with me" She shot that last part at Fritz who suddenly looked a lot more concerned, as he glanced around before finally nodding.

"Uh, right, I guess I can do that?" Janet beamed, saying quickly.

"Great! My sister's coming up from Texas so you can meet the whole family" Fritz let out a faint sound that Mike was pretty sure was terror, but he was sure the man could handle it, as he glanced over to Jeremy who just shifted awkwardly for a moment, before saying.

"Ah... I-... Don't have any plans" Mike wasn't sure what he thought about those long pauses, the way he shifted, he sounded... Not disappointed, just resigned if Mike had to put an emotion to it. It made something clench a bit too hard in his hollow chest, as he said quickly.

"Oh, right, want to come over to mine then?" Jeremy looked startled, even as Mike quickly turned to look at the other two, "You two as well, if you want after the morning is over, if Fritz hasn't been banished by the in-laws by that point" Mike didn't like the way all the eyes seemed to focus on him, as Fritz asked, almost carefully.

"Are you... inviting us to Thanksgiving?" Mike just nodded, once, saying with a shrug.

"Yeah, I mean, I already talked to Evan, and he'll be over, cause it is a family thing, Foxy will probably tag along" The fox just gave an excited thumbs up off from the side, as he continued to speak, "But I'll be cooking anyways, and given it'd just be two people who can eat... Figured I might as well spread the invite around" Jeremy spoke around the second Mike stopped talking.

"Yes!" He instantly paused, his cheeks heating up almost instantly, as he backtracked on his excitement, "I mean, yeah, that sounds nice" Mike just shot the man a smile, glad that at least he wasn't the only one feeling the awkwardness of the moment. Even as Janet and Fritz shot each other a look before Janet said.

"I mean, I planned on spending most of the day with my family, but if you want to make it something for a dinner... I'm sure we can swing by" Fritz quickly just nodded, and Mike pretended his damaged heart wasn't as relieved as it was to hear... Even if he couldn't help but glance back at Mari and hoped no one else noticed the smile he had on his face that the puppet matched. Mari had been aware of just how frankly nervous he had been about this. Inviting people around or to be honest even starting social stuff was not Mike's strong suit.

The fact it had been almost decades since his last actual thanksgiving... Maybe he had more reason to be nervous than he had thought, but no one seemed to notice, and he wasn't planning on pointing it out... Though it was around then that Evan spoke up.

"You said two" Mike blinked, as he glanced over to the bear, as his brother just repeated it, "You said two, two people who would be eating... Who's the second person?" Ah, he hadn't thought anyone had caught that, even as he shot a look back to Mari who was now suddenly looking very on the spot, glancing around at everyone who was now looking a bit curious themselves, even as Fritz asked almost jokingly.

"Did you manage to get Scott convinced to come over?" No, he hadn't really thought about inviting the man... Should he? Now that was something he'd have to think about, but instead of answering Fritz's question, he just kept his eyes on Mari, the puppet was the one who'd decide just what happened next. It had been nearly a full week since that first dinner with Charlie, and while she had been over nearly daily since, Mari had only that morning seemed ready to tell the others, but if he wanted to back off still, then Mike could come up with something to say to excuse the words.

That didn't end up needed though, as before long Mari floated up to Mike's side, the movement gathering the eyes on him seemingly still waiting on the answer, but now expecting the puppet to be the one to give it, which wasn't that wrong of an assumption. Mari had a much harder time hiding any nerves he was feeling, his hands already wringing themselves a bit in that nervous fluster Mike personally found cute, before finally speaking up.

"N-No, not him, I-... I invited my sister over" It was silent for just a moment, before everyone was talking.

"W-What? Sister?!"

"Wait, you have a sister? You remember having a sister?!"

"Is there another puppet we don't know about?" Mike sent an unamused look at his brother for that last dry answer, even as Mari let out a sharp slightly overwhelmed sound, as Mike quickly turned his attention to the puppet, placing a hand on his to steady his slightly swaying body, as Mari managed to speak once more.

"I- Yes. I- I started remembering things about two weeks ago now, but... It's been a lot, but it was actually my sister showing up that made me start remembering, we... Talked, she figured out who I was, and we've been talking a lot this last week" It was now just silent, as everyone took that information, before Janet asked a bit carefully.

"Who? If you don't mind me asking"

"Ah... Charlie, Charlie Emily" Mike could only watch as it seemed like a wave of recognition, Evan was the first to react, jerking suddenly, his head shooting to stare at Mari closely, like he couldn't believe what that meant. Jeremy was a bit after, his face wide with shock, before Fritz and then Foxy seemed to recognize the name as something important, the technician asking after a moment.

"That's... Your friend right Mike?" Mike nodded.

"Yeah, and daughter of the other co-founder of Freddy's, Henry, we talked about him... Mari here..." he trailed off for the puppet to finish the sentence.

"I- My name was Sam, Samuel Emily- I still prefer Mari though!" He said that last part quickly, like he was trying to ward off anyone trying to use the name. Mike wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but no one ever made a point to pressure Foxy about being Gabe, and Evan still went by Goldie with everyone else, so he wasn't sure why the puppet was nervous. And it seemed thankfully Mike was proven right in his confidence, as everyone looked around for a bit before seemingly just nodding along. Jeremy was the first to speak, saying with a smile on his face.

"I'm happy that you've found out, and that you still have family you can talk to about this" Mari let out a short chime, but nodded gratefully, even as Goldie said.

"Does that mean she knows about the rest of us?" Mike answered that one.

"Yeah, once she knew about Mari being alive, it wasn't hard for her to figure out the rest of the animatronics here might be possessed as well" Mike made a point to not mention that the main reason she had gotten suspicious in the first place was because of Foxy's actions or Goldie being on stage, the two didn't really need to think about that it was hardly like it was something to put blame on them for, even as he continued on, "She might visit at some point to talk to you Evan, given she knew you"

The bear just slowly nodded, but didn't seem all that invested in it, even though his eyes had turned back to stare at the puppet, almost like he was unable to look away, searching for something in particular, only to be interrupted as Foxy suddenly let out a loud shout before moving forwards to wrap an arm around Marionette who let out a surprised sound only to be suddenly asked about a hundred questions and excited congratulations as Mike just smiled a bit at the almost overwhelmed but incredibly grateful puppet who did his best to keep up with the high energy fox. He was glad this had gone as well as he knew it would for Mari, the puppet had been incredibly nervous about all this, even if he had no idea why, he just needed to support the puppet, so that's what he did, and it worked out like he knew it would.

He was glad, happy for Mari, as he watched as the puppet was quickly dragged into a talk about everything he had been dealing with the last few weeks, the others wanting to know, and Mari relieved enough to give it to them. Mike was just... proud. That was a strange feeling, but one he had in spades as he just smiled, watching Mari talk about it with the others, he was so proud of how far Mari has come.

And relieved that the puppet revelations had taken the eyes off of Mike for the awkward invite thing, even if it was much more secondary of a feeling that he still felt ridiculous for.

Jeremy didn't really want to go in with Goldie after dropping the bear off on his shift, but the animatronic said something about Bonnie pestering him to speak with the older man, so he just buckled himself up and got out of the van to head inside to the container anyways. He felt fairly guilty about how he had addressed the whole thing before, but he hadn't really considered it until after he was already leaving that he had been rushing things far too much for his own want to help than was of any actual help to the animatronic.

So, if Bonnie wanted to yell at him for a bit, or just have him be there just to give him the cold shoulder, which Jeremy honestly could see the rabbit doing, then that was fine. He needed to apologize anyways for the whole thing from a few days ago anyways, so this was probably for the best... Even if he felt more than a little nervous about it, he had thought to talk with Mari or Mike about it, those two knew the most about either Bonnie himself, or how to handle kids, but given everything that the two of them were going through at the moment, his inability to handle his own self imposed issues felt too little of a problem to try and drag the two into without justification.

Well... Maybe they'd want to know, but that wasn't the point, he could handle this himself... At least he hoped so, as he stepped up to the container, taking a deep breath to himself, before reaching up to knock on the 'door', waiting a long moment before the faint sound of shifting came from the inside and a faint almost awkward voice came from within.

"Get in here already, you've never had a problem inviting yourself in before" Jeremy felt a hit of shame smack into his system, even as he tried to not show it as he moved inside. Bonnie was standing, and Jeremy found himself trying to read an inherently unable to express face for any clues as to what was happening or just what to expect. The rabbit's emotions weren't really telling him anything, which might have been on him, he had been getting better and better at ignoring and tuning them out through his own efforts, so the muted half feeling of what amounted to vague apprehension wasn't really saying much.

Jeremy ignored the selfish part of the back of his mind that told him if he opened his head up a bit more he'd know exactly what the rabbit was thinking, he hadn't thought he'd ever miss an aspect of the ability that came from the plate in his head, but apparently he had learned to depend or at least expect something from it more than he'd like to admit. It made him feel vaguely gross with himself, even as he spoke carefully.

"Hey, I heard you wanted to talk? Uh, before that... I wanted to say sorry, that- What I asked, it probably came out of left field right? I should have... been a bit more careful with easing into it instead of just dropping it on you like that" The rabbit just looked up at him for a long moment, as Jeremy felt his hands twitch a bit and before he could stop himself, he had reached up and ran a hand through his hair, trying to make it look like he was just getting it back in order as he quickly moved his hat, that he had taken in his other hand as he did the nervous habit, back into place. The rabbit's eyes just stayed on the action before saying.

"You're dumb" Jeremy winced a bit, that felt more cutting than it probably should have as Bonnie shifted a bit for a moment, before continuing on, "Stop assuming stuff from me. I don't like it" It wasn't said as huffy as the rabbit usually was when he heard something he took as a sleight, it was more... matter of factly, like it was important, it obviously was, and Jeremy felt himself grimace, because the rabbit had a point.

"Right, sorry" Bonnie just huffed, turning away for a moment, before saying.

"What you were talking about before... What are the rules?"

"I-I... What?" Now the animatronic just seemed impatient, his arms crossing looking incredibly unimpressed as he said.

"Rules, you know, things that I have to follow. I assume no noise and no wandering around outside, what else?" Jeremy opened and closed his mouth for a moment, but Bonnie seemed to be waiting for an actual answer... The only answer was, he had no idea what he was supposed to say. He hadn't really thought about anything like that before now. It hadn't even occurred to him, not really, even if it probably should have, and he couldn't help but wonder what it meant that Bonnie had thought about it before anything else.

It probably took him too long, Bonnie was starting to look more and more impatient by the second, but he was being surprisingly quiet as Jeremy floundered over his thoughts for a few minutes, finally speaking up.

"I- uh, I don't mind noise. I assume you'll want to use the tv and keep playing your game which is fine, plus if you just ever want to talk, just don't make so much sound that the landlord comes knocking, cause I'm not really sure how'd I'd explain that... Uh, I don't really think there's much more than that? My apartment isn't too large or anything, but I have a small side room that I don't really use for anything, so you have moved your things into that... Or just take the living room, however you prefer I guess" Was he supposed to have rules?

His parents had a ton, but he hadn't ever really... done well under them, but no rules were too few right? Uh...

"Oh! Uh, don't answer the door, unless it's for someone you already know, though I don't really get many visitors... If I get any calls on the landline, don't answer I guess? But feel free to call out if you want..." Jeremy felt like he was really bad at this, he was pretty sure that Bonnie thought so too as he just stared at the man, before just huffing.

"I have rules of my own" Jeremy just slowly nodded, a bit relieved that at least Bonnie seemed to have somehow much more thought into this than Jeremy had in just a week when the man had been debating this for about a month now.

"Of course" Jeremy could feel the surprise, even if Bonnie didn't seem to try very hard to hide it either, it was the loudness of it that caught Jeremy off guard, even as muted as it was.

"R-right... No time outs or anything like that! You don't control me any, I'm not some kid, certainly not your kid. We're roommates so you don't get to order me around" Jeremy... Figured that was incredibly fair and probably something that he should have mentioned right from the start, just hadn't thought about it. He was progressively feeling worse and worse about just how unprepared he was for this, so he just ended up nodding, as Bonnie continued "Good... Next, I get full access to the tv, and I want a radio! And- And... A new game!" He nodded to himself at that, like it was very reasonable to ask one's roommate to just get him stuff... But Jeremy still nodded.

"Sure, I can do that" It wouldn't cost him much, he already had the tv, and the handheld he got Bonnie could switch out the thing in it for another game so he didn't need to buy a whole new system, and heck, he was pretty sure he already had a radio somewhere. It just mostly sounded like Bonnie just wanted to have things to do and thought this was the only time he'd be able to get them by... using this as some kind of upper hand. Jeremy decided not to mention how much of a kid mentality that was to have, figuring it really wouldn't get him any points, "Anything else?"

"I- Um... Give me a second" Bonnie turned away, and seemed to pace for a moment, clearly thinking if there was anything else he wanted, before stopping as he turned back and pointed at Jeremy, saying with a certain level of defiance, "If I want to leave then I can"

"Uh... Well, I mean, alright? I mean, not that you can just wander around or leave the apartment whenever, but if you want to head to the warehouse or Cove or wherever, you can just ask and I can bring you there, it might be a bit difficult because I don't live on the first floor so getting you in, in the first place might be a bit... difficult" Bonnie didn't seem to like that all that much, but after a moment just nodded.

"Fine" Right... He wasn't sure just what else was supposed to be said, so instead he just asked.

"Uh, when do you want to..?"

"I don't know, you're the one with the van aren't you?" Jeremy felt very unprepared for this, but he found himself nodding anyways, he didn't think this would happening, and suddenly he was viciously aware of all of the parts of his apartment that were a mess currently, but the idea of putting it off meant that maybe Bonnie would give it a second thought and he really didn't want the kid to think that being in this warehouse was somehow a better option than literally anywhere else, so...

"I-uh, I mean, if you want we can go whenever?" The rabbit just moved, grabbing a bag that Jeremy hadn't noticed hidden under the table, that seemed to budge with how full it was with the crafts that Jeremy had given to the rabbit himself, along with the game device resting at the top... Right... This was happening now then... He really tried to not have his panic show as he just gave a nod and then just like that they were walking, as Jeremy was quickly trying to figure out how the hell he was going to sneak a nearly six foot tall robot into his apartment complex, even this late at night that seemed... unlikely.

Jeremy really wished he wasn't such a bleeding heart sometimes, or at the very least his head was a bit better at making it so his heart didn't screw him over by not thinking through what he was doing at the very least.

The next following how was tense, at least for him, as he found himself parking outside of his apartment, peering around every corner like someone was going to see them at any moment, before coming up with a plan that had the rabbit wholly unimpressed, but after a small bit of convincing, he had tossed a tarp that was discorded and folded up in the back of the van over the rabbit and had gotten the dolly out to basically wheel Bonnie into the apartment, and then into an elevator he was very grateful his building had.

Within a very awkward series of minutes, a bit of fumbling, and a set of strained arms given the rabbit, while much smaller than most of the other animatronics he knew, was still fairly heavy, he had managed to get Bonnie into his apartment.

As bad as it sounded, he really did debate on waiting a long moment before taking off the sheet to try and at least wash up his sink in the kitchen or something to make the place seem a bit less... Like a someone who didn't care about their place lived here, but it wasn't wholly inaccurate either, and he felt to guilty about the idea of doing that to even attempt to actually go through it, so with a faint worry, he pulled the tarp off and watched as Bonnie's eyes flickered open, peaking at first just to make sure, before fully opening as he looked around.

"So- Uh, if you want to look around-" He was cut off as he just watched as Bonnie moved forwards, his head tilting about as he studied the place. It wasn't... anything impressive, and Jeremy couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed about it, but it was something right? The door that they were just past that led to the hallway had the small kitchen to his immediate left, further in was a very moderate sized living room that held a small coffee table, a decent sofa and a tv with an accompanying tv stand. From the living room itself there was a small hallway off to the side of it which held the bathroom, his bedroom, and a surprisingly large hall closet that he had mentioned could be made into an admittedly small room.

Jeremy was pretty sure that it used to be a second bedroom before he had moved in but someone had moved the walls around to make the room he now slept in bigger, not enough to make it actually feel big, but just enough to make the other one feel too small to really do anything with. Jeremy had mostly just been using it to hold things that he didn't really want to see in his daily life but was unable to go through with the process of getting rid of...

He'd have to move them before Bonnie could stay in there at least somewhat comfortably. He'd have to do something about that later, but for right now he was too busy just watching the rabbit himself as he moved in and looked about with a securitizing look to his wide plastic green eyes.

After what felt like too long, the rabbit just moved over and dropped onto the couch with enough force that the couch shifted a bit, and Jeremy could already hear the complaint he'd get tomorrow morning from the old lady that lived under him. He wasn't the type who made much noise, but when he first moved in she had cornered him for making a racket when he had the night before accidently dropped a bit to large piece of his still in-parts bedframe, and he had the feeling she was the type to hold a grudge about any little thing.

"Where's the remote" It... was a strange thing to request instantly, not wanting to see everything else... But then again there wasn't much else to see, Bonnie didn't really get anything from knowing about the bathroom and kitchen, given he didn't eat or anything, and he could imagine how little of interest his bedroom would hold for the rabbit, so he just moved over, reaching around to the side of the coffee table where he remembered the remote clattering off the last time he bothered to watch tv.

He honestly only still had cable at all because it was just built in with his rent for some reason and not having it felt like a waste even if he never actually used it. Bonnie just snatched the remote from him as Jeremy just shifted awkwardly for a moment as the rabbit spent a minute trying to figure out how to get the thing turned on before finally deciding.

"If you need anything let me know, but I need to get to bed soon so... Uh, keep it down, like I said, but that's about it" Bonnie didn't seem to be listening but he had when Jeremy had mentioned it the first time so that would be fine right?

...Right...

Turning he began to head to the bathroom to brush his teeth before heading to bed, when he felt himself flinch as the blasting sound of the tv rang through the apartment, only to grow louder by the second, as he just stood there, still not far enough in the hallway to even have to turn all the way around to see the tv with what looked like some late night show being played on it, the volume bar on it still being shown from when it was just adjusted, showing... one hundred on it.

He... could already tell this was going to be more difficult than he thought... And could already hear the rants he'd be enduring from his neighbors soon.

"Hey! I was starting to worry, it's been a few days since we talked"

"O-Oh? Uh, sorry, it's just been... a, uh, hectic few days" Fritz felt a bit weird about saying that a few moments afterwards, he and Scott hardly went about talking daily, heck, they barely talked more than a few times a month, most of which calls had been mostly Fritz just checking in with the man to make sure everything was alright. He worried about Scott a lot, the man seemed to have taken his experience the worst than anyone else Fritz knew, but then again, the man had dealt with much more than any of the others, hence his worry.

That was what this call was about as well to be honest, Fritz hadn't really heard anything from the man in nearly two weeks at this point, the last time he had really talked to him had been the night after Scott had gone to AR with Jeremy and Foxy, and hadn't gotten much information from the man himself about it all. So he was honestly a bit worried about both Scott himself and if the man would still be willing to go through with the Ennard situation.

"No man I get that, just... Wanted to reach out and see if everything was alright"

"Um, well, yeah, I guess so, just... Been hard to get my head around some stuff... Do you... Do you mind if I ask some questions?" Fritz's first instinct was honestly to just point the man at Mike, but he felt that this wasn't the time to pass on animatronic troubles to the 'expert' of the group, if Scott wanted to talk to him about it, then the man probably had a reason. Even paranoids and wracked with nerves, Fritz knew the man to be way more deliberate in his actions than most thought.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Well... It's just... How do you... Deal with Foxy I guess"

"...Foxy?" That was hardly the animatronic that Fritz was expecting to be talked about, as he couldn't help but ask, "In... what way?"

"The act, I mean, Foxy isn't actually a pirate or named Foxy, or anything, but he acts like it, and you just... go with it?" That was an incredibly complicated question and Fritz suddenly had to stop the instinct to toss this call at Jeremy, the resident 'expert' when it came to emotional stuff, but he was being asked so... it was hard to get the words right in his head before he said them, but he tried anyways, speaking as he continued to try and sort it right.

"I mean, I just do? It's not like it's hurting anyone, and Foxy... I think he feels safe acting like that, you know? Not having to be Gabriel, the kid who was scared... And he trusts us that when he does drop the act that we won't change anything for him just because of that... It's- I guess... It's Foxy and Gabe, they're the same person, just acting in different ways, but it's still him? I don't really get it, but names are really important and just respecting that is, like, one of the biggest things when it comes to animatronics"

He felt incredibly unhelpful, any of the others who actively went by several names would have been infinitely better about being able to explain it, but Fritz understood why Scott would have a difficult time in being able to just call up someone like Goldie, with their shared past, and ask why he didn't like going by his 'real' name by anyone else than his brother. Frankly, as it stood, even Fritz didn't know why the bear did that, he just did, and Fritz learned that just going with it was usually the best when it came to the animatronics and their quirks.

"I... I see... So respect what they want to be called, and don't question any... personas?"

"I guess that's the best way to put it... Look, this is kind of personal to be talking about, but I wasn't kidding about Foxy doing it to feel safe, at least I think so. Gabe was a kid who got hurt badly, Foxy is a brave and confident captain capable of whatever he wants. I'm not saying it's probably the healthiest option, if he was just a normal kid, then I'd probably just say he needed therapy and hiding from his issues wouldn't do any good, but... I mean... He is Foxy, in a very literal sense, has been for most of his life now and that counts for a lot I think with how he sees himself, and frankly I think we're all underqualified in this stuff, so as long as Gabe, or any animatronic really, knows they can be whoever they are whenever they are comfortable or just because they want to, then I think that's good enough... Not really sure how that translates to your situation though, given the mishmash you got" He probably shouldn't have mentioned that last part...

"No, no, it's good to know... En-... Err, well... They've been really talkative but it's hard to figure out just what I'm being told, and it's hard to... Know what to say back"

"You're trying, that's more important than anything else. They haven't, like, tried to kill you or anything though right?"

"Well... I mean... I don't think so? They've... chased me a few times, but it's going... better?" Fritz wasn't all that sure that it was supposed to be comforting, but he figured if Ennard hadn't tried anything to the point where the man at least got injured, then he was probably fine... probably... It really did seem like Circus Baby had been the source of all the main issues. That usually seemed how it went with Freddy's, there was some ringleader who really hated William and took it out on Mike, it was a repeating cycle given what he was pretty sure Spring Bonnie put Mike through.

Still, she was the one with a big enough grudge against William at least to try and kill Mike from what he knew of the situation, and Scott didn't fall in either of those categories... Well, there was the whole thing with that body that was down there... Not the Fritz had any idea just what to do with the knowledge that there was just a corpse stuffed in a vent...

Probably the same knowledge of the corpse that was entombed in a hidden room at Freddy's, just ignore it and pretend he didn't have nightmares occasionally about it. Thinking of-

"Have you heard from Circus Baby yet?"

"Ah, that's the one that separated right? No... They like to complain about her though?" Well, that was probably a good thing, but Fritz mentioned to the man to keep on the lookout anyways, not that Scott seemed all that inclined to not do so already, but a little bit more wouldn't hurt right?

The phone call ended soon after, it wasn't like there was much more to talk about... Well, Fritz could ask if the man knew of any other handunits that he could get his hands on, because the one Fritz had was being... difficult. It was just broken, he already knew that, settings changed themselves constantly on it like it was on shuffle, but that had been fine after he had finally gotten the files in an order than didn't instantly shuffle themselves about, which Fritz still didn't understand, but wasn't complaining about, especially since he didn't need to go digging through them much anymore, hadn't had a reason to at least.

But that didn't change the fact that it seemed to have a habit of not staying off. Once it got a charge in it, the thing made a point in showing that the power button was just for show. Obviously something was wrong with the control board in the thing, probably just worn down so a bunch of inputs happened in the background at random points and times, but it was still a headache. Especially after the third night he had woken up to the thing turning itself back on, its volume maxed, screaming about the login procedure for what felt like the hundredth time.

He had just ended up tossing the thing into his closet, bundled up in blankets to mute the sound, and just forgetting about it until whenever it was he had the displeasure of having to deal with the thing next. His honest hope was just letting it run itself would drain the battery and it would just shut off fully until whenever said next time was, where he'd only charge it enough to get what he needed done and not all the way to the max. Janet thought it was hilarious, but if it worked then that's all he cared about in the end, it was a pain but a fairly manageable one at the end of the day.

It was just a malfunctioning handunit after all.

The phone was ringing, Goldie was quick to move over to pick it up, it had been weeks now since he had heard anything from Samantha and he was worried, he hadn't said much about it to anyone else, beyond mentioning to Foxy about getting the calls in the first place, but he was beginning to wonder if that was a mistake. It wasn't like the others would be able to do more than he could, it was just a random number, but maybe something could have come of it?

Now however he was just hoping, as he moved over to the phone, picking it up and speaking into it, hoping more than he thought he should.

"Hello?" The line was quiet for a long moment, just long enough for an old sense of dread to try and creep itself way into his springs, when the voice spoke back over the line.

"H-hello? Evan?"

"Sam-antha-" He had nearly said Sam, but that was the name of another person he knew now, a name that when he said it caused faint crashes of remembrance to flood his head, like fragments of awareness of another boy to shy for his own good, only instead of crying when faced with the scary world, he shut done and went quiet. Now wasn't the time for that however, no matter the fact that the bear felt like he was constantly thinking about it, remembering those old days, and all the things that came with it, "It's... Been a while" The words felt lame on the bear's voice, not enough said with a tone too dull to be inquiring as he knew he really was.

"Yes... I'm... Sorry about that, it's just... Things haven't gone as smoothly as I hoped" She sounded different, not quite... wrong per say, but the tone was lighter more... Melancholy than before, lighter as well in a strange way that didn't sound quite as genuine as it once had. It was strange, but the bear was more relieved than curious, and more concerned than anything else, as he asked carefully.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No... No I don't believe that'd be a good idea... Things have gotten a bit more complicated than I thought they'd be"

"I take it the reunion didn't go as planned?"

"Ah, no... Well- No in the fact it hasn't occurred yet, I'd say I've been putting it off, but the fact is I was worried of how it was go and now... Now I'm afraid that I won't be getting much of a choice in a face to face meeting. Issues I had been told were... resolved have come back up, but I think it for the best" She... Her voice had been settling into something different, an almost unfamiliar cadence, not quite an accent, but not the same accent she had been using before either.

Evan felt something shift and pull in his chest in continuous worry, half away he should be confused out of his mind, should probably be asking way more questions, it didn't sound like a good thing, whatever it was that was happening, but... But all he could ask was something else.

"Are you safe? Do you... need help?" He had no idea what compelled him to ask that last part, it wasn't as if he could do anything about it if she did, he had no idea where in the whole country she could be calling from, and even if he did, what was he going to do? Rush off and board a bus to who knows where? Send his brother and friends off for a person they never met, that he himself only had held a few conversations with? That was ridiculous.

"No, don't be silly, I can handle myself fine... Thank you though, for offering I suppose" Evan wasn't sure if that was supposed to be reassuring, but if it was, then she sucked at it.

"Are you sure? I mean... It's just..." He didn't know why, it was dumb, he shouldn't care this much, she was a practical stranger to him, but... "You sound worried" She didn't, but he got the feeling she was anyways, which made no sense given he was the least empathetic person he knew.

"Ah... I'm sure. You have nothing to worry about Evan, just... I probably won't be making many more calls anytime soon, just... Keep yourself safe please, and... And take care of your brother alright? He sounds a bit like a mess" Evan wanted to laugh, that was a first, no one ever thought Michael was the one that needed to be looked after, much less that he'd be the one to manage something like that, even if he tried... Still...

"Alright... Just... Don't wait, talk to your brother as well, get him to help you, protect each other, trust me it goes a long way" The line was silent for a long moment, before it simply disconnected into nothing... Evan tried to not feel like it was as final as he felt it was. She sounded certain, but... But for some reason he just couldn't believe it.

He tried to ignore it, but the feeling stayed, like a weight in his hollow chest that just refused to go away.

One year! Seventy-seven chapters in fifty-two weeks, 525k words in 365 days. On average just with that alone, not including the backlog, that's 1.4k words written every single day. That's 0.01 off literally one word per minute for an entire year.

What the actual fuck?! Like, that's a lot right? It certainly doesn't feel that way, but looking at the stats... what the hell me? That's, like, a lot in not a long time. But it's been so worth it, this story has been such an amazing project, I honestly hadn't had thought about continuing it past the first twenty, and yet here we are, almost sixty chapters later, and another twenty-three till we've officially reached the point where I really can't justify even to myself keeping this into one work.

That's right, I'm making the 'announcement' here. This story is going to be ending at one hundred chapters, because, frankly, that's more than enough, but that doesn't mean that it ends here, we've only covered four games so far, that's not even half of the fnaf game list, and we're not even close to wrapping up everyone stories at this point. Meaning, that this work is over with, in... twenty-three week? Holy shit that's actually a while away... Anyways!

This story was always planned for one hundred chapters after I decided to keep going, with four acts to it that had been planned, and I'm sure I've mentioned before that we're getting pretty close to the closing of this 'book', but that doesn't mean I'm done with this story, not even close. Because I am an absolute writing psychopath, I'm committing myself to the next one already, because I've already started making plans for the next part as I get closer and closer to the end, given I'm currently starting on chapter 90 at the moment, and let me say it feels wild to be so far ahead, I'm nearly done somehow? This is just to mostly let people know I'm insane to be honest, and so there is a long time for everyone to be aware to know that a new work will be posted to people who are keeping up with this as it comes out. As a one year anniversary announcement, I'm letting everyone know I'm probably going ot be going for at least another year at this point, cause, well, I'm psychotic.

Now, that my gushing and planning is over with, time for the actual chapter notes which were written with this chapter and not the notes I've show horned in above at the last minute. My, what a chapter...

So much to address, where to start? I guess with the top, Mike is just a bit silly and kind of awkward at times, he sees basically everyone as almost family, but he's very much embarrassed a bout that fact even if he's said it plenty of times to other people, so inviting them over feels... Big for him in a way that I'm very happy with. Mari telling everyone about his situation isn't much more of the puppet being brave than him just getting it over with, but I think it's good at he is doing it, that he's willing at all to share this new part of himself with the others. Remember the time when he literally didn't speak at all? Or when he only spoke to Mike? Wild isn't it?

Then there's Jeremy, who has no idea what he's doing but has officially begun his reassignment to as dad friend. Both him and Bonnie are in a weird state, and we'll get more into that later, but for right now it's just showing where they stand and how they think. Jeremy wants to help incredibly badly... but is incredibly bad at planning out his actions for the most part. Big gestures bad follow through, sound familiar? He was the one who unprompted said they needed to kill Purple Guy after all, even if he had no idea how he would have accomplished that after all. While Bonnie's first point was to make sure Jeremy knew that he was not a kid and did not want to be treated like one... Before instantly demanding a bunch of 'childish' things, which could be used to make a whole informed decision about his mind and priorities... And maybe just a tad about his life before being Bonnie.

While Fritz is just making sure Scott is alive, I wanted to get more into what happened with Scott... But before honest, I got, like, three more chapters left of this arc left, and I need to focus up on what's needed and what I can get away with from context clues... So of course Fritz is the one I focused on and gave an idea of what Scott's doing in a short phone call before focusing on the hand unit for... You know... Reasons... Don't worry about it.

Then there's Goldie and Samantha... I'm writing this section of the notes a bit before chapter sixty-eight has been posted, so I haven't seen any theories yet, but I'm betting at least some out there thought Charlie was the mystery caller and are now very confused... And if people have guessed who it actually is, then I will be very sad that the twist was guess right away... Kidding, obviously, if I could go literally sixty chapters of people calling Mari being Sam before actually revealing it, then this is nothing.

Anyways, See ya!