I Don't Own Fnaf
It was a normal enough morning, a Thursday, a few days before the big event at the Cove and a few days minus one for Mike's twenty-fifth birthday, something he was doing his best to not think about. Thankfully only his brother, Mari, and Charlie had any idea of when his birthday was, so the others weren't quite bothering him about it, but he had to admit, getting all the dressing up items and stuff and knowing they would be putting them up the night before the fourth, aka, on his birthday... was a bit of a weird feeling that kept striking him at strange times.
Not right now, thankfully, no, he was currently too busy working through his bowl of cereal at the moment to be thinking about things like that. They were out of coffee sadly, so he had to deal with a cup of milk on top of the milk he was already getting from the bowl. The newspaper was on the table as well, and he had glanced vaguely at it, but frankly Mari liked to read it more than him. Mike ended up getting the cliff notes from the puppet.
Said puppet however was busy doing decoration tests for a batch of cupcakes to read it himself, and instead was asking Mike to list off the headlines for him. Mike... admittedly was having more fun with it than the puppet probably would p
"Uh, looks like there's a yard sale a few streets away, probably trying to get rid of their trash. Something about the fire department doing some kind of firework safety thing, so this place doesn't get renamed to Firestorm instead of Hurricane. And finally, rogue puppets were caught stealing from nearby bakeries, claiming they were 'low on sugar', have anything to say for yourself?"
Glancing up, Mike was glad he didn't take a drink from his cup, because he was liable to choke on it at the just so very unimpressed look he was receiving from the puppet, who said back after a second, making a sniffing sound with a bit uppity tone as he did.
"Well, if a certain someone would get me the things I asked for, then perhaps I wouldn't have to resort to such things!" Mike smirked at that, saying casually back, while leaning back in his seat.
"Oh? And what might that be"
"Not sure, apparently something sweet"
"I can be sweet"
"Mike, honey, at best you're as sweet as a grapefruit" Mike pulled on his years of need to control his emotions and reactions to just barely manage to not break character, as he said maybe just slightly exasperated.
"Do you even know what a grapefruit tastes like?"
"Kind of sour, kind of sweet, and kind of bitter, right" Mike... huffed, but conceded the point as the puppet grinned a bit smugly at that.
"So you're saying I'm all mixed up huh?"
"Maybe just a little bit, nothing wrong with a few sharp edges though"
"I suppose you're speaking from personal experience? How do you find my sharp edges" That finally got a reaction out of the puppet, as he very nearly kept from sputtering something, before just waving at the man a bit embarrassed.
"Oh hush!" Mike just snickered, mentally marking that as his win.
"No promises... How are the cupcakes turning out?" That seemed to quickly and easily pull the puppet's attention to something else, as a happy chime escaped him as he quickly started to explain.
"Great! Well, mostly great, I'm at a crossroads. I thought it would be a bit harder to really manage it, but I had an idea! We're going to have a ton of people right? So we could have a bunch of cupcakes on a tray, and have the tops make out a flag!" It sounded like an idea, but Mike felt the need to point something out.
"How are you going to manage the stars?"
"Well, I mean, I only get thirteen rows to work with, and the blue part takes up seven of them, so it's a bit awkward math wise. I'm wondering if I should just make the blue ones really starry, but then it feels like the red and white ones aren't colorful enough..." The puppet's voice trailed off as he was once more locked into a heated internal cupcake debate, something which Mike wasn't wholly unfamiliar with. Mike himself... didn't really have any answers however, so he just let Mari do his thing while moving back to finishing up his breakfast.
Maybe making a mental note to himself to snatch one of the test cupcakes after Mari was done with them, the rest they would take to the Cove and hand out to the others as a little before work treat, something that had become something of a habit that happened whenever Mari was in an experimental phase with baking and Mike wasn't crafty enough to sneak them all into his own mouth without the puppet noticing. Which was slowly becoming harder and harder to manage sadly.
Before he could get back to eating however he was interrupted by a knock on the door followed very quickly by the ringing of the doorbell, as his eyes shot over to the direction of the sound. Blinking a bit, his eyes glanced back over to Mari who's head had snapped up as well, and found the two of them looking at each other. Mike simply shrugged at the questioning chime the puppet let out. He wasn't sure who was here either.
Standing up, he made his way to the living room where the front door was, while saying as he went
"I'll be loud if you need to run for your unlife" Mari just waved him off, but seemed a bit less tense. He wasn't still all that great about unexpected visitors, and especially strangers. So Mike just took a moment to put on his most, 'I'm busy and don't have time to walk' look he could get on his face, because there was a good chance he didn't know who was at his door. Everyone he would want to talk to knew to call before coming over for this exact reason.
Getting to the door, Mike didn't bother with pushing the small black curtain that was covering the glass on the front of it out of the way to see who it was, he'd be finding out soon enough, as he unlocked the door and pulled it open. Honestly half expecting to see the mailman with a package the two had forgotten they had ordered or something similar...
Instead Mike nearly got a heart attack.
"Michael! So you do still live here" Mike felt his mouth open and close once, then twice, before finally he felt his face screw itself up into something approaching pleasant to go along with the shock.
"J-Jen! Uh, what are you doing here?" Jen, aka Aunt Jen, aka Mari and Charlie's aunt, gave him a short, but wan and worn smile.
"I was... in the neighborhood. Sorting out something at town hall to get... Well, I was around, and I had heard you were around. I figured it'd be good to stop by, see how you were doing after... everything" Mike... couldn't think of a way to say no without being incredibly rude to the no doubt still in mourning woman, even though her dead nephew's soul inhabiting a marionette was not even a room away, so instead he just gave a short wan smile of his own, and said.
"Right... Come on in then Jen!" He said it a bit too loudly, trying to disguise it as he turned away and called it more into the house than into her face, but he was sure he was loud anyways, as the two walked into the house, the door swinging closed, as Mike just had to hope that Mari had heard him as he said back, turning to just stand a bit awkwardly in his living room "So..."
Jen interrupted him, a strange look passing over her face.
"Um, sorry, are you... baking something?" Mike... forget that it wasn't normal for most people's houses to not smell like a bakery at random hours, as he let out a sharp hum before nodding.
"Ah, yes, well, sort of. My b-..." Mike's words half stopped as he suddenly realized saying boyfriend right now made him feel way to aware that this was very much said boyfriend's aunt, and even if Jen didn't know that, it felt very weird to say to the lady's face, so instead Mike defaulted back onto the tried and true: "Roommate, Marion, he did some test bakes for my restaurant for an event we're holding in a few days. You actually just missed him, he went on ahead"
Jen looked surprised, and if she noticed his slip up, she did him the courtesy to not mention it, though after a second her eyes seemed to dim as she said.
"Oh... Oh right, Charlie... She mentioned you were living with someone, talked about him a fair bit. Sorry to say, it slipped my mind, so did you with... Everything" Mike frowned, uncomfortable and uncertain just what to do, as he finally made to bite the bullet, as he glanced back at the kitchen, as he spoke.
"Come on, let's sit down, do you want something to drink? Coffee? Tea?" He moved first, a bit quickly, as he poked his head into the kitchen and was thankful to see a lack of puppet greeting him, as he walked in a bit less worried now, as he moved over to the cupboard as Jen answered his question, as he put the kettle on to get some tea going. The silence held over them just long enough for her to have a mug of tea placed into her hands, as she stood awkwardly to the side, staring at the array of cupcakes seemingly because it was the most interesting thing in the kitchen to look at, as she looked back up at him and said softly.
"T-thank you. I'm sorry, I thought I was ready for this..." Jen muttered that in a way that Mike wasn't sure if he was supposed to have heard it, but he answered back all the same.
"Don't blame yourself for something like that, this is a... It's alright, I get it" Jen just sighed, as she moved to sit at the table, while Mike shifted about before finally deciding to stand, trying his best to not feel off. It was hard, he had grieved for Charlie, of course he had, but it wasn't for her as a person, it had been for the life she'd no longer be able to live, because Charlie was still with them, was still around, only a fifteen minute drive away.
It felt different than it had to keep that in his own mind than it had when Mari had been revealed to be Sam, there had been a disconnect, built by a decade of distance between him and the rest of his family, and the year he had spent with Mike before they learned about that history. Mari was his own person unrelated in a way to his family, but Charlie? She had been talking with Jen days, maybe even the same day, before she died. It was sudden... Recent, cruel.
Cruel in a way that Mike couldn't help but feel like maybe he was helping let stay that way, but stuck with the knowing that it would only be so much crueler to let her know. To tell her Charlie was still around, that it had been her brother that had killed his own daughter, that Mike himself had been the one to put Jen's brother down like he had been nothing more than a rabid animal. Not even Charlie really knew that, but he had a feeling he would end up telling Jen if any truth started to come out.
Sam would be more a notable footnote now than the main surprise, and even back then it had felt like too much to drop on the poor woman who had been only trying her best.
Charlie hadn't mentioned wanting to tell her family, and Mari had never seemed to really... Grasp or care much about anyone outside of Charlie herself as his twin sister. So in the end it didn't really matter what Mike wanted or would have thought best anyways, as he could only watch as Jen seemed to take a moment, pulling a long sip from the tea, before sitting it down on the table as she finally spoke again.
"I saw you at the funeral... I wanted to come up to say something, but..." Mike just shook his head.
"Claire needed you more than I did, I saw how she was" Jen let out a low sigh, looking away, while her hands tensed a bit too tightly over the mug in her hands.
"She... I shouldn't hold it against her, the woman lost her daughter, and she needed me as much as I needed her in... all of it, but... But it felt more like I lost my daughter, and that woman who had been out of her life for... For so long just waltzed back in and is taking real estate she gave up years ago" Jen went quiet for a moment, before letting out a disbelieving huff, "S-sorry, I don't know why I said that. I'm just..."
"Stressed and want to vent to someone who won't judge you for not handling this perfectly? I get it, trust me, I... I really get it" Jen just nodded.
"I suppose so... Charlie... She was so surprised to see you again, you know? I got a whole phone call about it, what you had been up to... Nothing for months, and then suddenly it's all she would talk about when I called, about you and your roommate. I'm... I'll be honest, I was a bit worried, you weren't too great an influence when you were younger, sorry to say" Mike could only huff in amusement.
"No, you had the right idea, I was a moody teen and... after... She saw me after I got everything put back together" Jen just hummed.
"Yeah, you have a business and everything. I never really went out to the fredbear diner, but I remember it, and Charlie always had stories to tell about it when she was younger... I'm glad something got done with the place"
"It was just collecting dust otherwise"
"Yeah"
There was a lapse of silence then, because Mike wasn't really sure what to say, and it was clear that while Jen had been the one to come over, it was also clear she wasn't really sure what to say either. Finally though she seemed to find something, even if the topic wasn't one of Mike's favorites.
"How have you been doing with it all? It must be difficult, and... I heard about your accident last fall, you've been through the wringer yourself huh?" Mike just hummed, before holding up a hand, showing off the desaturated tone of it as he said.
"I'm not one hundred percent, not sure I ever will be, but... I'm alright. I have friends, people around me I can talk to"
"That's good, this... Marion is one of them right?" Mike smirked a bit at the idea that he wouldn't talk to the puppet. He was pretty sure he's never been more talkative with anyone else in his life. Though, he wasn't quite sure just why she was bringing him up.
"Well, we do live together, it'd be a bit hard to not talk to the guy" Jen just hummed. Looking away for a moment before asking quietly.
"Do you mind... If I could talk to him at some point?" Mike felt admittedly a bit concerned about that, even as he did his best to seem unbothered.
"Err... Mind if I ask why? He's a pretty private person" Jen just shrugged.
"It's just... She talked about him a lot, not in a lot of detail, but it seemed every time we did talk, she had something new to mention, being over here, or talking to him.,.. I was told she came here for both Christmas and Thanksgiving before... I just... Want to meet the man who seemed to grab so much of her attention, she always had such a hard time opening up, and she never really showed half as much attention to anyone in all the time I knew her" She did seem genuine, though a vaguely ill part of the back of his mind wondered why what she thought was happening between them, as Mike quickly gave up his own hang ups and said.
"They were close, it kind of surprised me too, he's always been harder to get something out of, he's private. Sometimes even I have an issue with getting into that head of his, and I'm dating the guy" Mike wasn't blind to the way Jen's eyes widened a bit at that, as she shot Mike a closer look, like she could see that kind of interest on him or something, but to give her credit she looked away just as quickly and didn't seem exactly bothered either, just surprised, as Mike continued like he hadn't seen her reaction, "I can talk to him, but it's been hard on him as well"
"Yes, I guess it would be. Thank you, please do ask... I- You're a good person Michael" Now that was something that caught him completely off guard, as he opened and closed his mouth once, before tilting his head to the side, letting his confusion show, as Jen appeared to get a bit embarrassed, as she said quickly, "I just... It's nothing... Thank you for the tea, I should be going now, I have a long drive back to Salt Lake"
Mike kept his frown hidden as he watched as she stood up and walked off, noticing the hidden kind of guilt on her face as she moved away, seeing it as it solidified into something else. Mike followed after, to leave her at the door, though Jen did slip in as she opened up the front door.
"I- Would you mind if I got your number? I need to give you mine anyways for Marion to be able to get in contact, but as well so we can talk more later. I-... I want to know as much as I can about her last few months, and I think you were closest to her in the end... I want something to be able to tell Claire as well, she..." Whatever she was going to say, it was apparently thought better off, especially after her little outburst at the start of their talk, so Mike just agreed, and before long the woman was out the door, and Mike had a paper in his hands of her number and a promise to call at some point.
Mike mostly just sighed in relief as the door closed, glad to have that over with and very much uncertain of just what the hell he was supposed to do... Of course he still didn't have much time to think about it, as by the time he turned around, Mari was floating directly in front of him.
"That was Jen? Aunt Jen?" Mike nodded. Clearly the puppet had been listening in then.
"Yeah, do you remember her?" The puppet's memories were still shoddy, but that didn't mean her being here didn't possibly jump start a memory or too. As it stood, Mari just slowly shook his head.
"I- no, not really" He sounded a bit disappointed about it, so Mike quickly said.
"It's not too surprising, she wasn't around much. She liked to drop in occasionally, but never stayed for more than a night from what I remember and was told. She only really stepped up after, well, you went missing" Mari just frowned, his eyes flickering past Mike to stare at the door where Jen had just walked through.
"Why do you think she was here?" Mike just shrugged, he wasn't sure, it was... out of character for Jen, and something about the whole thing hadn't felt... Right to him, but he wasn't sure if it was because something was wrong, or if his naturally questioning mind just was reading her grief incorrectly... Still, something about the way she kept asking after the puppet, or, well, Marion in this case...
"I don't know. Maybe she really did just want to talk" The puppet just let a soft chime at that, not quite sure either, but seemingly not wanting to question it too hard either, unlike Mike who was still trying to figure out just what about that interaction had bugged him. He eventually just had to leave it alone, instead saying.
"Want to take a visit to the warehouse? We should let Charlie know if I'm apparently getting visits from the two of your's mom and aunt" Mari just gave a short nod, while Mike just sighed, looking away for a moment, before asking, "Are you thinking about taking her up on that phone call?" The puppet let out a short uncertain sound, before just shrugging, looking away for a moment.
"I-... I'm not sure, I'm not all that good with talking to strangers" Mike just hummed, pointing out a bit pointlessly.
"Not sure she counts" Mari just waved that thought off, saying simply.
"I haven't seen her in over a decade by what you said, and I don't even really remember that, I think we count" Mike nodded, something occurring to him for a moment, before he quickly found himself answering before too long a time had passed to be an uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah, think it over... I don't... Nothing, come on, let's get going" Mari noticed, of course the puppet did, as he shot Mike a curious look and asked about it.
"What is it?" Mike just shook his head, replying back easily enough, not wanting to think about the thought just yet, but something occurring to him about something that Charlie had told him a while ago coming back to mind which made him feel... vaguely uncertain about this whole thing.
"Nothing, yet, just I thought of something I need to ask Charlie" Mari didn't look wholly convinced, but he did trust Mike to actually say something if it really was important, or at least once the man worked over whatever was being sorted out in that big head of his. So he just turned back to the order at hand, getting to the warehouse.
"If you're sure... Come on, let's get going then, where's your jacket?" The puppet was already moving to grab it before Mike could, the other man was closer, so he just said a bit teasingly at how it was obviously not a needed question to be asked.
"Same place it always is" The puppet was already rooting through the closest, pulling out the item in question as he handed it over to a grateful Mike, even if Mari couldn't help but tack onto that comment a lightly sardonic remark.
"You mean the same place I always put it after you throw it in some random corner" Mike just bobbed his head, readily agreeing.
"Yep, exactly that, you know me so well" That got a smile to break onto the puppet's face as he just waved a hand at him, saying back simply.
"Dork" That got a proper grin on Mike's face, as he tossed a look over to the puppet, who just gave a short smile back.
The trip to the warehouse over time had slowly felt faster and faster, it wasn't a noticeable thing at first, but it was the habit of it, the familiarity of the roads, the barely needing to think before signaling a turn, it had become something of a mental break for Mike, where his mind kind of just zoned out as his body did it's own thing, until he came back into focus at his destination. It was like that with the Cove as well, though Mari often drove with him to and from work more than to the warehouse, the puppet usually choosing to just flicker over, so it wasn't quite the same.
This time was no different, Mari had been too excited to go and talk to Charlie about Jen showing up, so Mike had driven on his own.
And yet, his mind didn't haze out into nothing this time around, there was something to think about this time around, and it wasn't leaving him alone as he made the fifteen minute drive across the town.
Why now? Why after months would Jen show up?
And why ask after Marion so much more when she seemed to barely have a question for Mike himself, the person she actually knew. Even if in passing, and from years ago, she truly hadn't seemed to be interested in him until the very end of the conversation when his... interests? If that was the best way of putting it, came up, and he slowly came to the conclusion that it was only because Marion was a part of that as well. Of course the idea that she thought something might have been occurring between the two was... possible, if the thought of it grossed Mike out to think about, on so many levels, if she didn't have the proper context, but there was something else there...
What was it though?
He was missing something obvious, that was the only thing that Mike could come up with, there was a piece missing in this puzzle and it was leaving him frustrated. It had been a while since that had been the case, not since Freddy's, and that little reminder wasn't a good one. He wasn't very much a fan of being left in the dark about anything in his life, and this time was no different, even if the stakes this time around obviously weren't anything as serious as before, it was still a mystery, the first one in months.
Mike decided to not think too hard about how it was almost refreshing to have something to think over critically, even if it was just as annoying that there wasn't some easily presented answer, and the fact he knew he was only missing one or two things to make it all make sense. That's almost how it always was, there was hardly a time when a person didn't have at least most of the information they needed and was just missing the link to tie it all together, it was just getting that and solidifying everything else that they already suspected was the biggest issue.
The thought thankfully faded back into the background of his mind as he pulled himself out of his car to head into the warehouse, slipping in to the door quickly and quietly, before looking to the side, where on a nearby table was a crossed sitting mininera who was adamantly waving over to him. This one had a crown sticker on their head, Mike had no idea where they got that one, but he also decided he didn't really need to know, so he just waved back, walking over and asking casually.
"Don't suppose Mari stopped by before heading in to see Charlie?" The little one just shrugged, which was fair, Mike just glanced towards the back of the warehouse where the office was where Charlie usually stayed, before glancing back down to the Mininera, "Mind going to find Evan and Foxy and letting them know I'm here and that I want to talk to them in a minute?" Thankfully they just nodded, standing up and walking off to the side before hopping down from the table, landing with a surprising amount of grace on the floor before twirling off towards where Foxy's mock stage was set up.
Thinking about it now, he probably should have called ahead, but, well, he was here now, so instead of thinking more about it, he just headed on towards the office... Only to be interrupted by the muffled panicking sounds of straining musical notes.
Mike didn't think twice before breaking into a full sprint.
Charlie's day had been going pretty good, beyond the now normal feeling of waking up not feeling normal it had gone pretty well, sure, the day hadn't really gone anywhere yet, but she hadn't woken up to the blasting sounds of Foxy somewhere else in the warehouse blurting out half made lines or the same punchline a half dozen times trying to get the right tone, as he had been doing recently with trying to come up with a proper show and entertainment for the four of July event happening at the pizzeria.
Though she was pretty sure that was only the case because Evan himself was starting to get annoyed about waking up to the fox's mischief and having to deal with calming down the smaller animatronics who came by to get one of them to go deal with the fox. For some reason they didn't seem to get along to well with Foxy, which was honestly a bit surprising to Charlie given it was him who had grabbed most of them in the first place to save them, but she also had no idea what was going on in those little heads and as such mostly just left it alone and let the fellow bear handle the talks.
Still, that wasn't really why she was having a good morning, no, it was mostly just a bonus but all that mess she had surprisingly come to get used to in a short amount of time when she first moved to live in this strange place. Not that living in a warehouse was exactly high up there on her list of expectations of what would happen in her life, but given being trapped in a one eyed bear was so, so much lower on that list, it kind of didn't register as much for some reason after a bit. She had bigger changes to adjust to, she supposed.
Anyways, no, it wasn't that, it was her project! The second of two dual speaker was finally fixed, it had taken more time than she would have liked, but it wasn't really her fault that it had been such a process, the cords to the thing bade been corroded and the circuits had been fired, and it had taken more effort than she liked to admit to be able to find another device that was both broken to the point she didn't mind using it for parts, but also had the right parts to begin with to use that weren't also broken.
Still, it was fixed!
...At least, she was pretty sure it was, it turned on at the very least and cranking the audio up let out the familiar sound of static humming that she had gradually been forced to get used to, given it was the sound her own chest gave off when she wasn't actively speaking, though it was so faint it was more like she could feel the weird humming vibrations than the actual sound. Not that it was important, but like always when something popped into her mind, her brain couldn't help but explore the whole thought out before moving back to what it was doing, even if said thing wasn't always... pleasant.
But to actually test the things, she'd need to plug it up to something, and all the other working sound equipment wasn't in the warehouse, if it was here then it was mostly because it was broken, only the arcade cabinets here really were the only bits of tech that wasn't broken in some way, and that was mostly because everyone liked to rotate them out a bit at the Cove occasionally, both to keep the kids there, and Evan here, from getting to bored with the selection.
She could probably pry the back open to one of the arcade games, but figuring out just where the wires were for the sound systems would be a whole other process... And not to mention she wasn't completely sure she could do it without breaking something, and unlike these things, there was an actual loss if those things got broken. She had been told in passing by Jeremy that those cabinets could be surprisingly expensive.
So, that was out... What else was there? The computer could have worked, but it wasn't even held in the office anymore, being moved off to the Cove so it wouldn't be feeling quite so much like breaking into someone's bedroom every time Jeremy or Mike came in to update the financial stuff that was stored on the thing, so that was out...
Groaning to herself, she just slumped in the chair, head lolling back as she stared up at the ceiling while the finished but untested items sat on the table... it was fine, it's not like anyone actually needed the speakers for anything, they weren't needed anywhere, it was just a distraction, one she was done with now...
And her day had been going so good until she remembered there wasn't really a point in anything she was doing.
Just wasting the days away with meaningless activities that did nothing but keep her busy, because that's all she could do when nothing else was... possible.
The thought struck itself hard like an iron rod into the back of her head, as she continued to stare blankly with a singular eye up at the ceiling above her. That single golden eye twitching a bit to focus on the light instead, as she just... stared. No slow build up of that feeling of your eye drying out, no slight uncomfortable feeling, no blurring of tears, no pain, it didn't matter how long she stared right into the light, she didn't need to blink.
And when her gaze shifted away, there wasn't even a streak in her vision to prove the action had done anything at all...
Nothing she did had proof... Nothing she did would ever have that again.
Feeling sick at the crashing of her mood, Charlie's head slumped forwards, staring down at her own chest instead, at that matt black and grey painted thin metal sheets, the yellow star and red bowtie... She felt like sighing, but what would that accomplish? It was just making noise, she didn't breath either after all, there was no constriction in her chest she was working out, no actual feeling of relief from doing so. It was just a sound of habit that did nothing and meant nothing.
Sound... She made sound, didn't she? It's how she spoke after all.
Sure, the voice box in her chest had been added after that fact, but she had audio systems built into this clunky body right? And, well, on a whole, she was a system now, couldn't she... plug herself into the speaker?
The thought shouldn't have been as interesting as it was, it should have sent her deeper into the little spiral of self existent doubt she had managed to trip her way into but instead it was an idea, a project, that Charlie could grab onto with both hands and do, which was the exact opposite of thinking about everything that she could as a negative in her life, it was better than nothing, and certainly better than what she had just been doing.
The question of how was thankfully an easy answer, and one that wouldn't even need her to swing her chest open and find a mirror to start poking around. All it really took was pulling the wires that had managed to get themselves stuck down into her hand, which had a circular hole in the palm as an opening for the wires in there to be pulled out and exposed.
It took a bit of doing, finding something long enough to reach in and snag them, as well as dealing with the vastly uncomfortable feeling of reaching into her own hand and pulling what she could only imagine the sensation of nerves out of their place of rest, until they were just... hanging out from the palm of her left hand. Thankfully her nondominant hand, so it was easy to pull at touch with them, despite the weird feelings they sent up her arm when she poked at them, and got them untangled.
The port at the end of the cord was a bit damaged, but universal enough for her means, though she had no idea just what would happen when she plugged it in, it was at least interesting to wonder if she'd be able to speak out of the speaker. Would she be able to decide which one her voice came out of? Or would it just be both? Could she have any control over it? It was a sudden whole length of questions that she wasn't sure anyone would have an answer to, which just meant she'd have to find out for herself.
Plugging it in, Charlie wasn't sure just what she had been expecting, but the lack of anything happening was a bit of a disappointment, there was no feeling of connecting to something else, no weird feeling of just gaining a sudden extension of herself outside of her own body, or anything of the like. It was more like she had tied a string around her hand then tied the other side to the speaker, given she couldn't really move her hand now, the cord wasn't nearly that long, her hand was only a few inches away from the back of the speaker.
Still... It had to do something right? She was pretty sure the wires in her hand weren't broken, and at the very least she knew one of the speakers should work, only the left one had been seriously damaged, the other just needed some work but had been easy enough... Was it like something she had to do herself then?
The desire to figure it out was growing stronger and stronger, Charlie hadn't even realized it at first, but the second she had started the thought process she hadn't stopped, hadn't thought about really what she was doing, instead just kept at it. It felt... important, all of a sudden, more important than it needed to be, but also too important to question why, no in this moment, as she focused on that strange feeling of the wires coming out of her hand.
It had to work right? How did Sam do the chiming thing? His music box was independent of his voice-
The faintest of shifting sounds could be heard from... somewhere, as Charlie almost jumped, before realizing that it was a buzzing in... her head? Was... Huh... Focusing on it, it was almost too easy to feel the way that strange sensation spread out as she... pushed it? Pulled it? Did... something with it, as suddenly it was like the cord pulling out of her hand was flooded with energy, and maybe it was, maybe she hadn't been sending power to it without realizing, but she was now, and the speakers let out a hiccup of sound.
Excited and feeling more a bit victorious, she reached and pushed harder into the feeling, not knowing what she was doing, but it was new, different, and for once wasn't as terrifying as all the other new things had been. If she focused, she could have sworn it was like something was coming to the edge of her awareness, as the sound of the speakers continued to increase, not loud static or white noise, but a dull thudding hum that made something deep in her hollow chest relax.
Could she possibly...? Focusing a bit more, the thrumming decreased... Was she... controlling the intensity and volume with nothing more than her mind?
She knew the others had abilities, only Foxy she wasn't fully certain about, but she hadn't even thought to expect what she could do... Was this normal? Was it just a normal machine interface and only because she was that machine that she could confuse the two? Or was this something she could do? Technology had always been something that had fascinated her, and she had to admit there was a not too small part of her that felt excited over the idea that she could... what? Plug herself into technology?
Hadn't she been told of something similar? Lolbit, that other fox she had barely had more than half a conversation with, could do something vaguely similar right? Or was it anything at all but her over thinking something that might be what any of the rest could do if they had tried? She didn't know, but Charlie wanted to find out.
At least she had, for nothing more than a minute, as she played around, trying to see the upper reaches of the noiseless sound she was producing, no idea what it meant, but not thinking more on it than it was what she could do, it was something, and somehow in that moment it made her feel like it was everything.
Then everything went wrong, at the sound of a muffled confused chime, past the door of the office.
It was like for a moment Charlie's vision blurred out, her single eye's view of the world just... drifted, like she lost focus of not only the world, but of herself as well. It was like a daze that she couldn't quite find it in her to fight against, even as the sound of... something played out in the back of her hearing, it was only too easy to ignore.
And then her focus returned, not of her own will, but because she had been shoved. Stumbling back and suddenly only to aware of just how hard it was to balance a body like hers was, as she stumbled but managed to catch herself, as everything suddenly came rushing back as she felt something on her get yanked back and away, as her eye finally seemed to get the message of feeding her information. It wasn't anything she wanted to see.
Sam had been here, she had no idea just how long, a clamp of some sort was wrapped around his wrist, which was pulled tight and taut on the wire attached to the clamp, which she only just now realized was coming from her chest, which had at some point unlatched and swung open. A look of terror on the puppet's face only broken by a look of relief so palpable it only made Charlie feel worse, because there was someone else in the room, his hands between the two a look of undefined and restless manic energy floating in those eyes, as Mike kept the two separated.
Mike himself had burst through the door just in time to see Mari being dragged into an opened chest, and he hadn't been able to think more than to just rush forwards and get the two as far away from each other as possible, his mind unable to race with the sheer panic pounding through his veins.
Getting between the two before he even knew what he was doing, one arm wrapped around the puppet's body to pull him away while the other reached out and pushed harshly into the bear's face, harder than he would like to admit when he realized just who he sent stumbling back, but in the meantime he just kept the distance, even as the bear's body lurched back and forwards, a small tiny part of Mike's brain told him she was just trying to stay on her feet, another much more traumatized part of him could only see it as the build up to a lunge.
His foot came up and pressed itself right into the side of the bear, as he used his superior height to basically force her at a distance while leveraging his body back to keep the damned thing holding onto Mari from being able to pull anymore in, instead keeping it as stretched and strained out as possible, while Mari, who looked horrified didn't do anything. Why? Why was he not doing anything? It was like he could barely bring himself to move much less struggle, and while there was fear plastered over his mask, it was... dulled, even the relief, like he was... W-what was it that-
Mike's eyes seemed to finally see what had been dragged half across the desk when he had pushed the bear's body away. It was... a speaker, connected to the same spot and wires that once had another speaker in the disguise of a microphone in its place.
He didn't know what he was doing, but he also knew the more time he stood between the marionette and lefty in a tight room with no space the more and more he could only see another place with a situation painfully familiar to this, so he did the only thing he ever did when he had no idea what was happening.
He acted on instinct, on instincts he didn't even know he had.
His body twisting and jerking in a way that made his spine hurt while still pushing the two away from each other, which was getting harder and harder, he was only human, big and strong or not, Mari and Charlie's bodies were just as if not stronger than him in spite of their smaller size. So he more or less had to let go of both and stumble onto the front of the table as he reached out and grabbed onto the two speakers, now laying on their sides and close enough to touch with one of his large hands, and with barely a thought, suddenly his hand stained itself with that sickly bright purple and suddenly the thrumming that Mike had only thought had been from the adrenaline racing in his eyes cut off with a sharp peeling screech of machinery breaking, as the speakers simply shut off not barely a moment later.
It was like a spell had been broken, the clamp on the puppet's wrist released, and both both practically shot back, Charlie's hand coming up and practically slamming her own chest shut as her own feet nearly tripped over themselves as she hit the back wall, while Mari was not nearly as confined, as his body shot up until he was pressed tightly into the corner of the ceiling, his eyes with those white dots of light in them darting back and forth like he was seeing something that wasn't really there, while Mike-
Mike... Felt like someone had just ripped the air out of his lungs. Any energy he had from the fact he had only woken up barely a few hours ago robbed from him as he half fell against the desk where the now permanently destroyed speakers rested, as he needed to hold onto it to keep himself from letting his legs fully give out from under him. he could only find himself staring at the items in front of him as he struggled to hold himself upright, seeing the way they just... stopped, the screech of what a machine would sound like if it could scream before... nothing.
His eyes flickered down to the hands still holding onto the table, wondering just barely if he focused on that feeling he had just conjured up, that anger that he pulled on to get through the flashes of memory playing through his mind as some kind of twisted defense to keep himself sane, what would happen. Would the table itself rot away before his eyes? Would nothing happen at all? Just what was the limit on the things he could... kill?
Mike felt sick just thinking about it.
He wanted the whole damn thing to just be over, but instead it just seemed to drag on even more, the minutes of silence passing as all three seemed to need to take a moment to understand just what was happening.
It was Charlie who broke the silence, her voice, hushed as it always was now, still held such an amount of concern and worry that it nearly broke Mike out of his own thoughts in an instant.
"Are- Are you alright? Both of you? I didn't mean... I didn't think... I- I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking and-" Whatever she was going to say, Mike found himself saying something instead, he had no idea just what was coming from his mouth though, but it didn't matter, like always, his mind had shifted onto damage control before he could think twice about it. HIs voice came out horse, strained, like he had just ran a marathon.
"N-no... No it's... We're alright now, no one's hurt- What was that?" Charlie fidgeted, while Mike forced his eyes to keep him up as he moved over, back further away from her, but because he needed to get closer to the puppet, who only just was beginning to lower himself from the ceiling, not a single sound escaping him, but his eyes locked on Charlie's form.
"I don't... I just- I wanted to know if I had fixed them, and I remembered I had... So I just plugged it in, I didn't know what I was sending out, or that Sam was here until... Until it was too late to stop" She sounded mortified at her own realization on just how little she could have controlled herself. It made something painful squeeze in Mike's chest, because he knew all too well that kind of feeling. The slip with the name had been more than excusable with everything, as he just slowly nodded, reaching out for a moment to the puppet, who was now only floating lightly off the ground, before hesitating.
The color was gone from his fingers, but somehow in the office lighting, they looked even more greyed out and dead than they had mere minutes ago, and he had no idea if it was just his imagination, but he couldn't help but remember the last time he had touched an animatronic when he had done what he had just did.
The very idea of potentially doing that to Mari with just a touch if he wasn't care made his hand still just long enough for the puppet to seem to need to take comfort into his own hand as Mike didn't have a chance to even think about his worries as Mari buried himself into Mike's chest, his long arms wrapping around and clinging onto Mike, still no sound escaping him, but Mike could feel the way he was shaking and trembling in his grasp, and the man knew his shirt wouldn't be stained after this, not that he could find it in him to care, as he just wrapped a loose arm around the puppet, not wanting him to feel constrained, but also being very aware of just where his hands were, as he glanced back up to Charlie.
"We- We came to talk about something, but I think it can wait for a bit longer... I'm going to get him out of here" Charlie just stared, a low concerned sound escaping her, as she moved forwards a bit before clearly thinking better about it, as she froze before giving a short, timid nod. Mike felt awful about just leaving her like this though, even if he knew Evan and Foxy would no doubt be here in another second or two, it was probably hard to not have heard something of the mess they made in here, and would be able to talk to her, it didn't feel right.
"He- It's not your fault, we'll be back and we can talk about this then, but he needs space" She nodded again, and Mike felt like he was just saying things at this point given it felt like his words weren't actually reaching who he wanted them to. But Mari was still trembling, and Mike needed air, so he just gave a short awkward nod back, and quickly moved to pull himself and the puppet out of the room, tossing a quick look over in time to see Evan and Foxy walking over, the mininera from earlier hitching a ride on the golden bear's shoulder, as Mike grimaced before saying quickly, but softly, just in case.
"She... Charlie accidently found some of her programming. She isn't taking it well, can you-" Evan seemed to already know what he was going to say, as the bear nodded, speaking before Mike could finish.
"We'll talk to her, go, make sure he's alright" Mike gave the bear the most grateful look he could manage as he pulled Mari further away from the office before settling once they were out of the line of sight of the place, sinking to the ground, letting Mari lay against his side, as the puppet took a moment to recover. Mike was just thankful Mari hadn't vanished the second he had been able to... Then again, with how close Mike had been, maybe the puppet couldn't have even if he had wanted to.
He spent a moment just staring down at one of his own hands.
Months back he had talked with his brother about the things that he might be capable of that they had never really had the chance or reason to explore. Mike had known he'd come back different, Jeremy had proven that to him in the first days after he had woken up from his week long coma, freshly undead and unsure of what was happening. Mike had... some kind of ability to just... turn things off, break or nullify them.
Be it the abilities of the other supernatural things in his life that just didn't work on him anymore, or... or normal and mundane things apparently. Those speakers were hardly the work of ghost magic or whatever it was that they all operated off of. Mike frankly didn't really care what it was, though given his streak with this... ability, so far had added one more body to his death count, and now a set of speakers of all things, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to figure it out.
What if it worked on normal people? He knew he could take gifts away, nullifying whatever it was that allowed a person's soul to stick around if he was beyond angry enough, and thankfully he was pretty sure that had taken more effort to do that kind of thing to Henry than it had to turn off a freaking set of speakers, but it was still worrying that he could just... break things, break people, if he wasn't careful.
These weren't new thoughts, but they were feeling a lot more relevant now that it had shown back up... Frankly he had no idea just what he was going to do.
His thoughts, mercifully, were broken off as Mari shifted at his side, moving up to sit more up on his own, as after another long moment the puppet just said.
"I should tell her I'm alright" Mike just frowned, looking with concern at the puppet who was staring off in the distance, as he found himself asking softly.
"Are you?" Mari took a long minute to reply.
"No... But she shouldn't have to know that" Mike just placed a hand on the back of the puppet's shoulder, doing his best to not think any purple thoughts, even as he tried to break at least some of the tension.
"You're starting to sound like me" It got a dull kind of chime out of the puppet, not great, but better than nothing. Honestly, Mike was considering it a minor miracle that the puppet was speaking at all after that, Mari had been nonverbal for more than a day or two after the whole mess with the fire, he wouldn't have blamed the man for being put back in that head space with what just happened.
"M-Maybe, but this is hard enough for her without her feeling guilty about something she can't control" Mike couldn't really argue about that, it led to a quiet feeling of frustration in him that he did his best to not acknowledge, the uncomfortableness that came from knowing the people he cared about being hurt but without being able to actually do anything about it was one he hated to have to feel, but there wasn't really anything he could do either, just deal with the feeling and try to help.
"If you want to, then I won't stop you. I'll be right here though, and we can leave after, we have to get to the Cove soon anyways" Mari gave a slow nod, seemingly grateful for an out to leave without feeling bad for running, though if Mike had his way, he'd ask the puppet to stay home and take the day for himself, but that was a pointless thought, Mari would never go for it, the puppet got through things by working and keeping himself busy. Mike was the exact same way.
So with that, the two got themselves up, both putting on a brave face, and moved to head back to the office, the two both quietly hoping for the same thing. That this was only a one time incident.
Oh boy! Long one huh! I wasn't actually planning on it taking this much wording to get everything in, the dialogue went on a bit longer than I thought it would, and a lot of the eternal thought processes of both Mike and Charlie went on rambles that I couldn't quiet find a way to shorter, or even want to really, the both over think a lot of stuff after all. Anyway, beyond that, we're back fully into the trauma, like a nice dip back into it, not a full blown canon ball, though that might just be happening soon enough, but that for future endeavors. In the mean time, we get some fun things in this chapter.
Aunt Jen is around, the twin's mom now has a name for this story, labelling her as Claire, because... I don't know to be honest, it just kind of came to me. Something might be happening there, but that's for future us to figure out and read later on. It will be fun though. I'm not a massive fan of just cutting characters out of the plot for no reason, and while Aunt Jen had no lines last time around, and was only actually seen once in the entire story, I think it would be a bit of a waste of potential if the only remaining living Emily family members were completely gone from the story just because Charlie is no longer walking about in the daylight, they still are incredibly important to her after all, and have their own stuff going on. This showed a part of it, and maybe something more if Mike's hunch is to be believed. But that's enough of that for right now, in the mean time I'm not sure what else I got to say, so... See ya!