I Don't Own Fnaf
Evan was bored, a newish feeling, he had thought the emotion would have burnt itself out of his system after the eight years he had spent sitting trapped and alone in a backroom, with next to nothing to do for the entire time beyond torment people.
Yet, here he was, Foxy had ran off the second they had gotten back from the Cove, to one of the back corners were the fox had built with a few crates and a bit of needling fort Evan himself to help, where a small makeshift stage now stood where Foxy liked to be to go through the motions of a new show routine he was thinking up. Evan had no idea just how the fox kept track of them all, much less how he could come up with a new idea at a rate of what felt like once a week. It was kind of ridiculous.
He also knew that he would be no help whatsoever, he was fine with remembering the lines for his own parts, and had been suckered into rehearsing more than a few times at this point of whatever ridiculous idea the fox had, but he very much did not have a creative bone in his body, their 'brainstorming sessions' were more the fox himself just using the bear as a sound board, to which he would just vaguely nod or give bland comments which the fox usually ignored.
So, he wasn't planning on going to search for the animatronic just yet, he would later, if only to get the animatronic to take a break, something Foxy seemed almost incapable of giving himself, the fox had even gone as far as trying to convince Michael to add a whole extra time slot for the stage to be opened up. Thankfully for the bear's own energy levels, Michael had managed to talk the fox down to keeping it to the five routines they had going a day.
One for opening, one for lunch, another two for the space between lunch and the dinner rush, and a closing act. Five spread out over a ten hour opening period, with each show lasting about an hour each, meant that Evan was playing 'Goldie' for at least five hours a day, with only about forty minutes of a break between each show. Which was already exhausting.
He was aware that the human staff, and Marionette, who all were on the clock for the entire ten open hours probably had it worse, especially because they actually had to interact with the kids. But the bear just didn't have as much energy it felt like as the rest for this kind of thing, he enjoyed it sure, but that didn't meant he wasn't exhausted by the end of every day. Plus acting so over the top, at least in his own way, not Foxy's, drained him like nothing else.
Thankfully the days where they rented out the Cove for big parties were often much faster, only having to do anywhere from one to three shows depending on however much the people paid. Today they had done two shows and it was only a little past noon, and as such the bear wasn't in fact feeling dead on his feet. And from what he knew they didn't have anything tomorrow either, a first in a while, which he was playing on using to relax as much as he could.
Still, Foxy was busy doing his own thing, and as he approached the door of the office, the sound of chiming notes and a now familiar hushed voice caused him to pause before brazenly walking straight in. The twins were talking.
He didn't really consider what he was going to do now, but after a second he just found himself turning and walking off to a new direction, not really sure where, maybe the small row of arcade games that had been set up by himself and Foxy over the last year to have something to do. There weren't many most had over time found a way to be crammed into the game corner at the Cove, but anything was better than just sitting around doing nothing.
Hence the boredom he mentioned.
Better than being anxious or worried, he supposed, of which there was plenty of reasons to be with everything that it felt like everyone else was avoiding from mentioning. He didn't really get that luxury, his mind often got caught up in that tangled mess of thoughts. Even with the warehouse being more full than ever, no longer being the days were it was just him and his thoughts, there was always at least five others with him now, often six with Foxy, it did nothing to distract him from the two that he knew were still out there.
Before the thought could get a grip properly on his head as he messed around with the controls of some racing game, he felt a small, barley there tug on his leg, as he glanced down to see a minireena, one of three that inhabited the warehouse now, they were always... somewhere, they loved to explore from what he had learned of them.
Trying to tell the difference between the three of them had been a fools errand, but that hadn't stopped any of them from trying, Foxy himself had gotten a bit creative had had pulled out an old sticker pack from one of the many old merchandise boxes that the warehouse had in it from when it was owned by Freddy's, and had marked the three with a sticker each to tell them apart.
Goldie was pretty sure they were swapping the stickers out when no one was around, because the fazbear top hat sticker that was on the top of this particular minireena's mask was a bit crooked compared to the last time he had seen them. Goldie didn't really care or mind, if he figured it out then it would be something, but if they wanted to confuse everyone else, then the best way to not be caught up in that was just to not care.
So instead of thinking to hard about it, he just looked down and said.
"What?" The little animatronic just held their arms up high above their head and did a little half hop, letting out a little demanding-
"Uh!" They couldn't speak, or at least Goldie didn't think they could, otherwise he was pretty sure they'd make another sound than just that. But the point was made as the bear just rolled his eyes, as he reached down, holding out a hand that was quickly grabbed onto and scaled, so by the time he had straightened himself back up the 'mini-tronic', a silly term of course coined by his brother, had managed to crawl themself up and was now sitting on his right shoulder.
He didn't really get why, but occasionally one or two of the little ones would like to hitch a ride. More than once that ride had involved them trying to crawl into his empty suit which was definitely something he had done his best to curb. His insides were a lot more fragile than any of the others, while springlock suits could be incredibly durable, his hadn't had the required maintenance for years on end to actually keep up that level of durability. So having them root about and press against those springs, frankly put, ached like hell.
That comment and a few choice threats seemed to help in keeping the trio away from trying to get into his hollow chest cavity, they didn't do it as much anymore, but if Evan was being honest, he was pretty sure it was only because they were trying to figure out ways to do it without being noticed.
It was a hassle, but he was pretty sure they didn't mean anything by it, nothing that Fritz had found in the programs list for the three showed anything that would let them actively harm anyone, they were just... distracting, but frankly harmless.
It was kind of nice as well, not that he would ever tell Foxy this, but it was nice to be able to have another person around and not have some kind of obligation to talk to them. Foxy was his best friend, of that there was less than any doubt, the fox had been there more for him in the last year and a half than even his brother had been, but... The fox was also really talkative, so having a small break occasionally to have some peace and quiet while not being completely alone was nice in it's own way.
That peace lasted at most a few minutes, but as was a habit of his brother's, Michael seemed to know just when Evan was getting into the groove of something to show up, in this case being just as he was beginning to make progress at the game he was playing, potentially having a contender for a new top ten score, all of which already had his initials covering the screen from months on end of having nothing better to do but to play the same dozen games, his focus was pulled away by the minireena who had been watching twisting about and letting out a sound, as Evan just ignored it until-
"Hey bud, mind if I hang out for a moment" Evan felt his hand slip a bit and just like that one of his lives were gone, as he withheld a sigh and instead just said back.
"Waiting on Marionette?" There was a slight huff, and Evan noticed the way the man seemed to appear in the corner of his vision, leaning his back against the front of another one of the machines, as he said good naturedly.
"I'm not that predictable, I didn't even know Mari was here until I showed up, thought he was heading home" There was a faint tremor to the man's voice that the bear only just barely noticed this time around. His eyes flickered over to actually look at Michael, he was holding himself tightly, not obviously, no, but Evan could still see it. By the time he turned his eyes back to the screen, he had lost another life. It felt a bit less important this time.
"What are you doing here then?" Michael just hummed, saying back casually.
"Can't just talk?" The bear just rolled his eyes.
"You would be talking already if that was the case, not trying to lead me into asking what's wrong" Michael had the decency to wince at being called out, not like the man was all that subtle about it, or maybe the bear was slowly but surely getting used to the way Michael directed the conversations he was apart of.
"Right... Jeremy got questioned by Burke this morning, it... went..." Evan felt his springs tense up and coil in that inherently uncomfortable way his stress manifested itself, the faint creaks of his suit letting themselves be known to the two. He didn't know much about Burke beyond the idea that the man was no doubt going to be a problem at some point, a problem the others were trying their best to just ignore to his own annoyance, and as such he asked back.
"Alright? Why do I get the feeling that's not a good thing for us?" Michael just shrugged, not looking to stressed out himself, but there was a definite air about him that made the bear unable to actually relax. If it was important enough to bring up to the bear enough to warrant a visit in person, then clearly there was something that had happened.
"Nothing that dramatic, Mari got brought up which might be a problem later, but I'll talk to him about that when we leave, no, it's something else... Burke brought you up to Jeremy, well, not exactly, he brought up my prison sentence apparently" And given Evan was the reason Michael had been in prison... Well, that wasn't true, Evan was involved, and definitely the reason, but that made it sound like he had tattled or something on his older brother, not the actual events that happened.
He suddenly understood just what this was about, as he ignored the way the screen flashed a game over as he turned and actually looked at Michael with a better eye, the way his arms were crossed, the pinched expression, it wasn't nerves or anxiousness, no... Michael was angry and trying very hard to act like he wasn't. He found himself saying back in a tone that was surprisingly calm for what the subject matter was about, that of course being his death.
"It's fine, it's not like Jeremy didn't know already" Michael just huffed, saying just a bit too sharply back.
"Yeah, that makes it peachy. He brought up my dead brother to my employee, if this was any other situation this would have crossed so many fucking line that-" He cut himself off hard, clearly knowing whatever he was going to say next was to much, as he took a long deep breath in, his hands leaning back and pressing themselves into the arcade cabinet seemingly in an act of trying to ground himself.
Unsure of what to do, if there was anything he could do, Evan just waited the moment out until, after a long minute, Michael just sighed.
"He has no right to use... that, to bring this stuff up" Of that Evan could definitely agree, the feeling had been bubbling up under the surface the second Michael had mentioned it, but now that he was focusing on what he was feeling himself, the idea that anyone was using his death, the events around it... Once upon a time he would have probably been pleased to know it was being used as a weapon against his brother, thought the man was worthy of the guilt trip and problems it would cause him.
Now though? The thought of using his own death, the single worse moment, event, day, of his childhood as a way to try and rip into the life he now had... Burke had no way to knowing about Evan, but the idea he was using a dead kid to do his dirty work to make Jeremy, a friend, a good friend, of both Michael and Evan himself... It felt disgusting. It had felt for a long time that the world had simply just forgotten him, clearly that wasn't the case, though he wished it wasn't that man in particular who seemed to remember him.
...Hell he might not, for all the bear knew, Evan Afton wasn't even a name Burke remembered, just the act itself that landed Michael in prison for four years. That thought was somehow much worse. Clearly though, no matter what, this was meant to be an attack on Michael, be it making the people around him suspicious or just to try and have the word move back to him and try and claw at him with guilt of his past actions, the bear wasn't sure, but he had to admit, it made him slightly curious as he asked.
"What did you do to cause him to go after all this with such... focus" Michael looked away, while the bear just decided to wait until the man realized he wasn't going to say anything first. It took another moment, but Michael broke first, saying quietly.
"I honestly don't know... After I was released, it's hardly like I stuck around Hurricane, it was just to painful, sure I was around occasionally just... for things," That meant crimes as far as Evan could tell, the man had been a criminal once upon a time as much as Evan didn't hear much about it beyond vague references, "I think he's trying to make up for not being able to pin anything on our father. A lot of blame went on him I'm sure after it all went to hell with Freddy's after I... left"
"That's stupid" That got a short but genuine laugh from the man, Evan hadn't exactly meant it to be funny, but it was a nice break in the tension, as Michael said back.
"Yeah"
"What are you going to do?"
"Nothing. He doesn't have anything on me, if he did he won't be poking our friends to see if I was acting suspicious. As long as I don't do anything dumb, then there is nothing that I need to worry about. He'll have to give up eventually, the man actually does have a job he's suppose to be doing after all" Evan found himself frowning at that.
"And since when has any of our problems gone away on their own?" The bear had a point, but Michael didn't seem to bothered by that, saying back a bit more reassuringly.
"Our problems are usually trying to kill us or dangerous if we don't deal with it. The man's still a police officer, a stubborn one, but he does take his job seriously, he's not going to do anything that's actually going to be risky to us, and once he figures out I'm not doing anything illegal to pass the time, then he'll give up" Sadly, Evan had no idea if the man actually believe that or was just saying it to keep Evan himself from worrying much. In the end he decided it didn't matter because it didn't exactly quell his concerns.
"I think that's stupid" Another laugh from Michael, this one was a bit more annoying, he didn't like his concerns being laughed at, thank you very much. The man didn't seem to notice, instead just pushing himself away from the machine, as he turned to look more fully at the bear.
"Maybe a bit... Don't worry, out of everything that's tried, I refuse for Burke of all people to be the thing that get's me" ...Evan ignored the fact that those words actually did make the tension still rolled tight in his springs loosen a bit, as he instead said.
"You should still tell Fritz and Janet about this, they'll be next" Michael nodded.
"Already did, I talked to Janet for a few minutes before she left after dropping you and Foxy off" Oh...
"Right... Well, you told me, you going to pick your puppet up now?" Michael shook his head, turning back and leaning over to look at the machine that Evan had been standing in front of for a while now, and said.
"Nah, it's been a while since he was here, I don't want to rush him any. Besides, it's been a while since we hung out, mind if I give this a go?" Evan just sighed, but stepped aside, as Michael moved up to the machine and started the game back up.
It was hardly the moment of peace and quiet he had been hoping for... But Evan decided it wasn't that bad either, as he turned to watch as his older brother played at game, making a point to point out every mistake he caught the older Afton making.
Michael might not be looking to do anything right now, which the bear thought was still dumb, but the man did have a point in how it wasn't like Burke could really do anything to them, at least comparatively, it was hardly like they'd ever be back to the situation they used to be in. It was nice to not be feared anymore.
Scott shifted around as he moved through the motions of his afternoon activities, most of which involved him sitting and staring at the computer screen in front of him. After his time at Freddy's, most of which involved working with management, he had both the very specific kinds of marketing skills that came from being able to get anyone to step foot in a building full of death traps, and the terror of the outside world that came from working in a building full of death traps.
As such, over the last year of being freed from that awful place, he still had to make money someway.
And while he would consider himself good friends with Fritz, and decent enough friends with the others... there was frankly no way he would ever work in another pizzeria. Something that felt horribly ironic and at this point a bit... lackluster in comparison to how he was living currently, as from what he could see the Cove was... probably safer, but the idea of it made something in him ball up and want to hide, so that wasn't an option.
In the end, he had of the first few months gotten by with consulting on other businesses around Utah, there had been a lot of people going in and out of Freddy's doors, only the night shift were the ones who... went missing, but the turn over rate of the other types of employees hadn't been low. It was the only way to keep any questions from sticking around long enough to get any traction among the staff. He had met a lot of people who didn't know just how awful Freddy's truly was, a few even went on to do their own things.
Gasper was one, Scott had even help the man set up the general idea of what he wanted even before Scott himself had left the management of Freddy's, but there were others, and soon enough he apparently was the guy people called to to get in touch with other people.
Need someone who knew about merchandise production? Ask Scott.
Need someone who knows a company to call about installing machines? Ask Scott.
Need to know what to do to get around the fact you failed your last health inspection? Ask Scott.
Need to be able to get more customers in your door? Ask Scott.
It had been more a part job than anything, if even that, just enough to keep himself on his feet more than anything, and he had really only asked for payment because it was either that or not have power to his house, but that last one had... seemingly gotten more traction that he had been expecting, and now he was getting the occasional phone call from people he had never even met or heard of before asking for him on advice about how to do their marketing. A few even moderate sized businesses had called, and now...
As weird as it was to consider, Scott was making more money right now than he never had before, not that Freddy's had paid much to begin with, nor the few jobs he had before that, but somehow stumbled through no wanting to find a normal job had ended up with him with one that let him deal with the outside world from the comfort of his own home, with the bonus of making more money than he thought he really needed.
At least, that was what he had thought... before now. He did his best to not think about that right this second, as he got out of from the seat he had spent a bit to much time in, having been sat in front of it answering emails for hours now, having apparently missed lunch according to the clock in the bottom left of his monitor. His back hurt a little bit, as he tried to stretch it out as he moved to the door. His office was smaller now, he still wasn't really used to it, having moved everything into the smaller of the two extra rooms he had, the other becoming... occupied, in recent months.
Scott just paused through that thought and walked to the door, opening it up enough to head out into the hallways, a small uneasy feeling in his gut, as he glanced left and right, the hall light was on, it hadn't been when he had walked through it this morning to the office after his lackluster breakfast.
Shaking the thought off, he drifted away, hitting the light switch as he went, it was nothing.
Heading into the small front of his house, where to his left was the living room and to the right was the kitchen, only really separated by a half wall that had a counter set up on it to sit at. Scott found himself looking around for a long moment, a frown marring his face, the couch had been knocked a bit to the side, as he creeped towards it, before looking down at the thing... A long moment passing, as he found himself staring at it for a long moment, more importantly at the stuffing that was messily shot out from the back of the thing.
Sighing, Scott felt himself slump a bit as he looked over the sight for another moment before walking forwards, his footsteps felt extra heavy as he walked up, staring over the back of the couch at where the cushions were, which at the moment were just slightly raised up.
He wasn't really sure just... why this kept happening, but it did. He was almost tempted to just... stop buying couches, mostly because the delivery people were starting to look at him funny when they showed up, but partly as well because he wasn't sure what else to do.
"Uh, hey, Eggs?" He waited a moment, a long one it felt like, as he stared at the fairly large hole in the back of the couch, where the fabric had been ripped open and the insides had been... excavated from.
For a moment he wondered if he had something wrong, when suddenly and without enough warning to keep him from jumping back a little bit, a white clown mask was suddenly shoved out of the opening, a set of mismatched colored eyes from behind the mask, one an amber yellow, the other an icy blue. It was the combination that he was most used to seeing when it came to their eyes, it was rare that a purple iris showed up. Fritta, or rather the wires that made up the animatronic formerly known as Bellora, was the quietest, so it was usually Poach and Ben who were in 'control' of the body, though control was a bit of a... lackluster term for whatever weird hivemind thing they had going on.
Poach was the former Funtime Foxy, and Ben was the former Funtime Freddy.
The names were something of a new additional, one that didn't often come up, they didn't hardly ever separate enough to be... individual enough to be referred to in the singular, but when it did happen it had helped Scott to have something to call the three of them individually, and they all seemed quite happy with getting proper names, so it all had worked out in the end... Even if Scott was pretty sure the weird obsession they had with the using types of eggs as names wasn't... normal. But, nothing about being three people sharing one body and often one mind was normal, so he tried to not think to much about it.
"Y-Yes?" Being startled out of his thoughts, the sound of the slightly over lapping set of voices knocked him back into reality, as he gave an awkward kind of half laugh before saying.
"Uh, back again?" The head which was still the only thing poking out from the couch, and was making Scott uncomfortable with how he was imagining how the rest of the body must have been contorted in there to have their neck stick out so straight, with how the hole was about in the exact middle, just stared at him for a long moment, before slowly tilting a bit until they were staring at the back of the couch that they were sticking themselves of to, before saying casually.
"Oops?" Scott opened his mouth to comment something, before finally just feeling himself let out something close to a huff as he said.
"Just... Try to not break this one?" It was weird, watching the way the two eyes twitched independently of each other, before crossing like the two eyes were trying to stare each other down... Well, frankly there was a chance that's exactly what they were doing, but that hurt Scott's brain a bit to try and figure out how that worked, frankly the entirety of how Eggs potentially worked hurt his head, so he just let the thought rest as both eyes snapped back after a second to look up at him.
"G-Got it! You-... Not mad right?" Their head tilted a bit, concerned... or maybe just curious, Scott didn't really know, buy Scott quickly shook his head anyways.
"No, nothing like that just... Doing want to have to get a new one again to soon" They just nodded, once, before the head pulled itself back into the couch completely, as Scott just let out a low sigh, before just moving himself to the kitchen.
He had to grab the dust pan and broom to be able to clean up the mess they had made making room for themselves in there after all.
That was another thing that Eggs had made Scott get adjusted to, picking up after himself and another person, the animatronic didn't really now the meaning or difference between something being clean or dirty. Something that came from living in an abandoned building for... At least seven or so years? The idea of caring what the place around you looked like wasn't overly important to them, and before now it wasn't all that important to Scott either if he was being honest. But it felt a lot more embarrassing to have someone see what a mess his place was, and when they lived there... Scott found himself caring a whole lot more than he had before.
Another thing he had to get used to, as he entered the kitchen to grab the boom and dust pan from where the items were stashed in the space between the fridge and counter, was things being moved without him being the one who moved them. He had adjusted slightly more to that, but not enough as he found himself staring at the table which Eggs must have bumped in to, the thing was askew from where it normally sat, he wasn't sure how he missed that sound, but he decided it didn't really matter as he moved over and shifted the table back and the chairs as well, before moving to grab the broom, saying as he moved back to behind the couch, as he began sweeping.
"So, uh, Fritz is going to be over later" He winced at the sound of something shifting a bit to fast followed sharply by the sound of something, probably one of the wooden boards in the couch, being snapped from the shifting, as the head popped back out.
"Why?"
"Just, err, wanted to visit, is that a problem?" He didn't want to sound nervous but apparently that as his default made it harder to hide, as the animatronic quickly shook their head, the sound of the couch being actually shaken made Scott wince a little bit, the wooden feet scrapping on the floor being harsh on his ears,
"N-No! No problem here Scotty!" Scott just frowned, before quickly doing his best to not look uncomfortable as he watched as in real time the blue eye literally rolled back into the animatronic's wire mesh head, as in another moment a new eyes rolled and shifted into place, this one purple, as the voice stopped being mostly Ben with a hint of that bass boost from the fox of the three, but now a much softer resounding feminine voice, "We don't want to see him"
"Ah... Okay... Do you mind telling me why?"
"We don't trust him" Scott paused at that, unsure just why, as he opened his mouth to ask, before slowly closing it... Did... It matter? A bit, at least he thought it did, but if they just didn't want to see him...
"I mean, I can just talk to him on the porch I guess... Just, um... Why? If you don't mind, I mean" The amber eye, Poach twitched at that, as his much more resounding and almost bass boosted voice overwhelmed the softer Fritta.
"He took my body and gave it to him" Oh, this was about Lolbit, the person who now resided in Poach's old body, a technician at that who had worked at the same location that the three had been... kept in. He had no idea if Fritz had talked to the other about what all that meant, but he could still remember watching the two try their best to rip the other into pieces. That, frankly, had been nearly more terrifying in the moment than the fact he had been trapped in a locked burning building.
"Do you... I mean, that technician, do you... Remember hi- I mean, them?" Lolbit was... Them, but singular, unlike Eggs, who was them but plural.
"We don't like Michaels" "Hate them!" The two voices overlapped, a third, quieter one said something, but he couldn't make out what that one had to say, as he just slowly nodded, right, Mike himself had... his own run in with Eggs, one that hadn't gone well for either side. Though Circus Baby had been around at that time, it was before the four had become the three that Scott had met. They didn't talk about Circus Baby though, so he had no ide a just what they felt about the missing animatronic, and wasn't sure if he was suppose to say anything either, so he just stayed on track.
"What did they do, Lolbit Michael, I mean"
"He- We thought he was different... We were wrong" Right... Scott wasn't sure what that meant... But he did know enough about the practices that employees had when it came to how much they cared about the animatronics, he could only imagine it was probably worse at Afton Robotics, and given he was pretty sure Foxy, the very few times that he had seen the animatronic since his time at working Freddy's, had been plotting just how to kill him without the others being to upset... He had the feeling he knew a bit to well what kind of ire the animatronic had against a former tormentor.
Suddenly a wave of guilt crashed on to him before he could help it, because, he knew all to well what it was like to be on the other side of the coin that Eggs was talking about... If they knew just how much he had done that had let other animatronics just like them suffer for even longer than they had... What would they think? His words tumbled out of him before he could help it.
"I- I mean, maybe he just didn't know any better? I mean, it- They- I mean- Lolbit, just... might not have..." He trailed off because the head poking out of the couch had vanished back into the furniture, clearly deciding they were done with him for the time being as he felt his face twist up in awkward embarrassment, as he finally glanced away and just got back to cleaning. Saying as he stood up to move to the trash can, "I'll call Fritz and we can meet up somewhere else, don't worry about having to see him or potentially hear about them"
He hoped that was enough as he let out an awkward sound before wandering off, he needed to find his phone now.
We're going through the process of catch up, that's what this first five or so chapters are going to be mostly if I'm being honest, just cycling through everyone's POV or have them be a part of a private kind of conversation to show of where everyone is. Here, we get to see what Evan the golden bear has been up to, which is important. We're getting a baseline for where all our lovely characters are and have been! Next up will be Fritz and Janet which will be fun, and then I just have to sort out something for Foxy, and then we're basically good to go! And then we can get onto the plot!
Like the last story, this one is broken up into story beats that I've referred to as Acts, though here they'll be a bit more interconnected because this time around I actually planned everything out in advanced and not solidifying ideas five chapters before the next Acts starts. This first opening act is going to be twenty chapters, just like last time, though getting into the plot might take a little longer, but we'll be cruising soon enough into the mystery. It's just we got to get all this character dynamic stuff set up and stuff in while we still have time. Last story, the last, like, six chapters all literally took place within a single hour after all, so set up is very important. Anyway, See ya!