#//I was THIS close to making up a dog animatronic but decided on this instead

[balloonboyismyson]

Monty and his boyfriend, animatronic named Beef Liver Oliver idk

MONTY X THE HOAX DOG??????????????????????

[l0vem41l]

star stickers and best efforts.

「 tws + notes: no tws, unedited, hurt/comfort but 100% not at all, reader is mildly mean when nervous LIKE A BAD DOG /ref and most definitely written self-indulgently by accident, sun is mildly condescending, they r each others best supporters, mentions of a customer being rude but rly nothing crazy, sun uh... he's an interesting fella, BIGGG dialogue chunks im sorry im sorry 」

「 gn!reader, can be platonic or romantic <3 」

↳ ft. the daycare attendant/sun/sundrop

author's note: my wip title was literally just "the one where you're yelled at" :p but... hiiii!!! obligatory return to fnaf real quick becuz,,, no, i still havent gotten into the ruin dlc but YES i do love sun's personality in help wanted 2..... if this is ooc u can erm. shove me into wet concrete. (。﹏。) aaannywayz!! missed this!!! missed this so much!!!! ( ╯□╰ ) sorry for not valentine's day posting,,, scandalous ik since im lit rally Called Valentine. but oh well. enjoy! or dont. if you dont im sorry please request fnaf stuff so i can Fix That /srs

if you weren't relying on this job to put food on your table and a roof on your head, you’d burn the freddy fazbear’s mega pizzaplex to the ground for a piece of pocket lint and a pat on the head.

maybe it’s a bit dramatic to say that— you're paid well, you like your mostly robot coworkers, and most of the time (emphasis on most and not always) the work is manageable enough.

the customers are another story.

sun notices the minute you walk in the daycare. you look like you're a minor inconvenience away from murder— which naturally, makes him feel inclined to prod a little.

“well, someone’s awfully sulky today!”

while you’d typically crack a smile at the upbeat jester animatronic, his enthusiasm in the face of your misery is grating. there’s no energy left in your body to banter with him— you were using most of it to drag your feet over to the shoe caddy, toolbox in hand to fix up its shelf, now hanging askew due to a busted bracket.

“can it, sunny, i don't wanna hear it.” you mutter, more venomous than you intend it to be. he doesn’t even blink at your grumpiness. instead, he happily holds up the shelf while you inspect it and grab a new bracket to secure it.

at least he’s trying to make himself useful. you think to yourself.

his faceplate tilts slightly, staring at you with that ever present grin. his staring isn’t really helping, but you don’t fault him for it. you’ve gotten used to his antics by now. “woke up on the wrong side of the bed?” sun questions.

you shake your head.

“got yelled at by a customer— now, if you could please just drop the topic—” you sigh exasperatedly, not even bothering to finish the sentence as you sit down cross legged in front of the shoe caddy, slumping slightly in defeat.

much too persistent for his own good, sun decides that inquiring even further about the incident that seems to have you beat down is a good idea. “what’d you do?”

you consider feigning offense as he insinuates it’s somehow your fault. but you don’t. you just shrug it off.

“my job.” 

“ah, they do hate it when you do that.” he tuts.

“it wasn’t even that big of a deal,” you mutter, getting the bracket in place and marking it, “this one kid just so happened to walk up to the arcade machine i was putting an out of order sign on. i felt bad, so like, obviously, i hand the kid a few tokens, apologize politely, explain— and you’d think it’s all good right?”

you pause mid-ramble as you fix up the shelf. in all your misery, you forgot that you don’t even know exactly what caused the shelf to collapse like this. you consider asking.

sun leans in just a bit too close, interrupting your train of thought as you stare at the shelf. when you glance at him, he gives you a little nod.

go on, he seems to say wordlessly. he’s waiting silently for you to continue your story. it’s never not unnerving when he’s quiet.

“...anyways, uh... the kid’s dad came by and got mad or something. didn’t understand why i couldn’t just let him play one game since it looked perfectly functional— keep in mind, this is the arcade machine that literally kept eating up tokens only to not function, and shocked kids when it did— so i kept trying to explain why i couldn’t exactly do that. but for some reason, it was such a big fucking deal—”

“language.” he chides.

“...fricking deal. of course, i had to be berated for it. i offered to grab them more faz-tokens as compensation and i thought the problem was solved... and then i checked and saw he still left a bad review. definitely gonna hear about that from management.” sun hands you a tool as you continue to speak.

“but now i’m upset, i’m definitely in trouble, and my face hurts from the whole customer service smile i was holding that entire conversation. like seriously, i don’t know how i’m expected to do that 24/7.” you stop at your last remark and stare at sun and his unchanging expression. “...my bad.”

the awkward silence only lasts for a moment, thankfully. you’ve spoken your piece— sun decides to speak his.

“you did your best.” he says simply, as you finally fix the shelf into place. he pats you on the head and doesn't even hide his amusement when you sulk.

“i know that tone, sunny, you're making fun of me—”

“poor thing.” he continues, grinning brightly as he makes a show of patronizing you. sun’s hand continues to pat the top of your head gently, like he would when consoling a child. or when greeting a dog. has he,,, ever seen a dog before? probably not.

you groan and manage to shove his arm away.

“i do mean it though,” he continues, his tone still lighthearted— but notably more earnest as he notes your expression. sun helps you put your tools away neatly back into the toolbox, even though it really is just a one-man job.

“you tried your best,” sun closes the toolbox with a flourish and a click, “...and for that—!”

with a dramatic flick of his wrist, bells jingling as he does, sun produces a gold star sticker from… somewhere. he holds it up for you to see.

and then gently presses it onto the tip of your nose.

“to my favoritest human employee here! and my bestest of friends!” it’s hard to bite back a smile at those words. even if his little show of empathy and affection is much too theatrical for your current mood.

“whatever.” you shrug a little, unable to stop the corners of your mouth from twitching into a little grin. standing up and grabbing the toolbox, you give him an awkward thumbs up.

“thanks. and uh… sorry. for being mean. i guess.”

sun shakes his head dismissively, bouncy and bright as ever. “oh, don't mention it!”

something about his seeming lack of offense towards your prickliness makes you feel even more guilty. still, he gives you a wave as you head out, “bye-bye”-ing happily as you walk away, sticker stuck to your nose and smile on your face like an idiot.

you decide you’ll find a way to make it up to him later. you figure he deserves that much for putting up with everything.

meanwhile, sun is taking mental notes on more stuff to break of whenever you’ve been away for too long. just in case, of course. maybe you’d have more interesting customer encounters to rant about. and hey, you could use the company, couldn’t you?

— reblogs always appreciated!

[yandereloversblog]

What if reader tried to leave or break up with the Fnaf 1 Crew Animatronics/Humans? I think it would be a pretty interesting concept ngl

𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄!𝐅𝐍𝐀𝐅 1 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐰

╰┈➤ . . . 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭: 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚙 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖

╰┈➤ . . . 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦: 𝙵𝙽𝙰𝙵 1

╰┈➤ . . . 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫: 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚢 𝙵𝚊𝚣𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚛, 𝙱𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚢, 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗, 𝙵𝚘𝚡𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚢

╰┈➤ . . . 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛, 𝚄𝚗𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚘𝚡𝚒𝚌 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚎𝚝, 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛, 𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝙾𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚜, 𝙸𝚗𝚟𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚌𝚢, 𝙺𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐

╰┈➤ . . . 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚜

Not the ✨️angst✨️

-> 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐳𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫

Obviously you realized how Freddy viewed you, sure he seemed and acted super sweet but whenever something seemed to be out of his calculations his personality flicked like a switch.

So you decided to break it off with him before the situation got too serious.

Unbeknownst to you, it already was serious before you were even dating.

"Huh? Angel, are you okay? Maybe you feel bad..."

And let the gaslighting begin. Freddy literally won't let you break up with him.

He's acting all calm and collected and making YOU seem like you're over reacting and acting out.

"You're breaking my heart darling, it hurts..."

Freddy's acting all sad and hurt and tugging at your heart as he gets closer.

You might think you're allowed to take him back cuz he's acting so sad then once Freddy's close enough he'll knock you out.

First time he's actually angry at you. And first time he's so scared. Will lock you away immediately.

"I should've clipped your wings long ago huh... You're not leaving me."

-> 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲

The second you uttered the words to him Bonnie will just stop functioning.

He'll look at you like you just shot yourself or his dog-

Immediately gonna lunch at you and grab you tightly. Forcing a little laugh.

"Come on darling, you're kidding right? T-this is a joke."

Bonnie's gonna go through a whole panic attack and mental breakdown while holding you so close and unintentionally scaring you.

"N-no you don't, right? You're doing a prank! Haha that's right! It's a prank! Or... Or did someone tell you to- tell me. Who forced you. Tell me so I CAN KILL THEM!!"

This is exactly why you decided to break up with him.

He's gonna start crying, looking just so weak and pitiful you can't help but let your guard down because he's never hurted you and was actually pretty submissive.

Maybe why it was so easy to grab you, starting to choke you tightly with both hands, he won't stop until you visibly pass out.

It was out of impulses. He really didn't mean it.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry [Y/N]! I didn't mean to! I just... Can't let you go... No, I won't let you go... Please stay with me forever, okay?"

-> 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧

There can be two reactions from her.

One is if she knew you'd want to break up because you've been distant.

She'll look so sad, accept that she's been acting off and ask if there's still a chance.

Whatever your answer is, the second you turn your back on her she'll attack.

Of course it's not entirely out of anger, Chica's really hurt but she's been preparing mentally so she's trying to knock you out.

"You've hurt me, [Y/N], how cruel... But, I'll try doing better next time, I'll be a better girlfriend and make sure you'll never think of leaving me again."

If it's out of the blue and you caught her off guard expect to immediately get grabbed.

But instead of trying to drag you somewhere, she's crying, shaking, asking why'd you want that.

"D-did I do something wrong? Maybe said something that offended you!? I'm really sorry! I'll never do it again!"

If you don't change your response within the next minute, Chica might actually hit you and cause a concussion.

The high feels didn't let her have any control.

"[Y-Y/N]...? G-god... I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... B-but I had to! You understand right!? I didn't have any other choice... Y-you'll forgive me once you wake up right? I'll make sure to be a better this time so you won't try to leave again."

-> 𝐅𝐨𝐱𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞

Why hurt this poor man-

Even his reaction will have your heart clenching.

He's lowkey shaking and trying not to cry, convincing himself he knew this would happen but it happened so soon and

"Y-yeah- okay..."

No ulterior tactics, he'll just let you go and hope you be happy.

... For a few weeks. He's gonna be sulking and crying alone and taking his anger out on anybody who approaches him.

But you better get off the country after that because as soon as Foxy sees you again- even hears your name, his desperation will be too much.

He'll spend his time alone in his thoughts and realize how miserable he is without you near him.

"I can't- I can't continue existing without them... Where are they? I need them back..."

So once he sees you again -might even get up to search for you himself- he'll drag you back even if you're kicking and crying.

He just doesn't have the heart to hit you in fear of killing you.

"I'm sorry [Y/N], I lied to you, I'll never be okay if you're not there with me..."

-> 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐲

If you break up with this man you're about to see all 5 stages of his grief within 5 seconds.

Except he won't go through acceptance-

His personality will do a 180, going from that soft expression to a shocked one, then nonchalant but you can see he's angry.

"Oh...? I knew I should've killed all the people around you when I had the chance... Ehhh you wanted to break up with me yourself? Don't lie darling~"

Even if you manage to escape, you'll always feel Goldie's eyes on you.

He'll begin stalking you, gaslighting and manipulating you whenever he gets the chance.

Sometimes he'll go back to being a softie because he enjoys a calm relationship with you better.

"Just... Get back together with me, okay? We'll go back to being like we were before... No? That's too bad..."

And you keep refusing him which infuriates Goldie even more. Your friends will all continue dropping like flies, he'll wear you down until you're too mentally tired to fight him.

"See? Knew you'd come around doll. Now let's go back, I've prepared a date for us~"

[movedtodykedvonte]

Do you think the pizzaplex animatronics get loopy when on low power (under normal circumstances without the virus)? Like some start to drop stuff and get upset every time it happens, others start to think everything is hilarious, and others are pure silent as they're processing everything at slower speeds to conserve power?

Oh absolutely. FazEnt knows it would be very traumatizing (and costly) if Kids just saw the animatronics simply shut off when they got too low on battery. So instead of investing in better batteries, they simply put "warnings" in their programming to show they are getting dangerously close to powering down. They even individualized them too!

Glamrock Freddy

sleepy bear sleepy bear

His ears droop a bit and his eyes dull a lot. Sort of makes him look sad :(

Top hat is always falling off and he gets huffy about it, the magnet power keeping there is the first to go

Becomes really huggy for some reason. Not great if he decided that he will take a small rest while holding an unexpecting guest

Gets lost as his map is all fuzzy from lack of energy. Will find him passed out on the dance floor (he always knows how to get there)

Glamrock Chica

She starts to articulate a lot like a chicken. Like the twitchy and jittery movements. Programmed to have motor skills be less refined to save energy

Bawks a lot more, like almost is just speaking in clucks, less power to her voice box

Makes like actual nests of old pizza boxes and plushies

she isn't hungry

If she doesn't make it to a station she still ends up face down in a pizza

Roxanne Wolf

Refuses to admit she is tired until she almost hit someone cause she's literally dozing off at the wheel

Way more nippy and irritable as she both complains about her beauty sleep and not being tired. Her temperament control module needs a lot of power to keep in check

Will just stare into the void. Her x-ray eyes actually use less power than her normal vision so it just becomes that.

does that little spin dogs do before they lay down but stop right before she actually lays down to sleep

twitches like a sleeping dog and lets out little howls

Montgomery Gator

Actually acts like his posters and cartoon depiction. Too low energy to actually be angry about much.

Absently plays the bass and by that I mean he’s just plucking like one string over and over again.

Rock and rolls off of the stage cause that’s where he probably fell asleep

Seeks out bright areas and ball pits to rest in. You can recharge just a bit and rest mode and bright lights force him to rest his optics, plus ball pit is good cover.

also seeks out the moon which one that is is up to you

Sun & Moon

They don’t have a rest mode or sleep mode or recharge area. It is believed they just pour fizzy faz in the thing and it keeps chugging

But if they did, Sun’s rays would retract and extend involuntarily. The more tired the more in, kinda mimics the pattern of snoring

They have eyelids???? Eye shields????? Whatever they are they start to droop, kinda looks a lot more like their posters.

Moon’s eyes barely glow red and they start hanging around the naptime area more

Had to be pulled from the play structure as they fell asleep folded like a pretzel.

[hoaqins-funk-house]

Springtrap

Yandere

Male Reader

Part 1

Sitting in the black swivel chair, you spin once or twice before coming to a stop, grimacing at the feeling of sticky floors beneath your shoes. This place is brand new, how the hell are the floors sticky? 

Actually, on that note, how is everything so covered in dust?

Sighing, your mindless fidgeting comes to a stop as the phone, just as dinky as the walls around you, begins to ring. You pick it up but put it back on the table, eyes drifting to the laptop and swing-out tablet. When you flip the former open, you note the four buttons, each relating to something you would have to reset when it comes time to. The latter has cameras that are scattered around, including a separate tab for vents. There’s an option to block off vents, which sends a chill up your spine as you glance to the big ass one at your side.

You decide to block that one off for now.

Humming, you familiarize yourself with the layout of the place, deciding to ignore the shadows that crept through your vision.

Your unenthused eyes scan and take in everything. The replicas (you had seen the originals, and they were permanently stained with both the smell and color of pizza sauce and lawsuits) that were in and around the office, as well as the little bobbleheads that sat on your desk of the animatronics, which were, for some reason, human? You boop the one who you assume to be Freddy, hearing the familiar squeak. 

A small smile comes to your lips.

It was at this time that you realized you had completely ignored the man on the phone, but you couldn't really bring yourself to care. 

The little drawings that were put up were authentic; not just anyone could recreate what a child's mind spits out and decides to draw. 

That Freddy looks a bit fucked up.

The posters were cutely designed, and after getting the gist of what everything was and how everything works, you were on your phone the rest of the night.

When six strikes, you casually leave, giving the building a quick once over as you leave the doors, locking them behind you.

If every night is going to be like that, this is going to get boring.

-

He’s stuck.

This suit traps him like a rabid dog, eager to stay gripped onto his neck.

Still, things would be changing soon.

He can feel it.

He can feel it as a fresh breeze, the first in many years, hits his nostrils, sending a wave of euphoria through his system. The bloodied musk that hung in the dank room was not a pleasant one.

He can feel it as his body accepts this new host, more and more, until soon, quite soon, he will become one with his vessel. 

Just as the animatronics before him did.

He ponders. 

Why was he being freed from this prison of his own design?

Is he being taken somewhere?

…

Will there be a night guard to terrorize?

A grin takes to his broken lips as he ignores the pain and blood that comes from them. Oh, a night guard! Truly, that will be a sight!

He can't wait. 

For now, however, he must play dead.

My, that voice that shouts with excitement from behind him…

It sounds so familiar.

"Bring the truck around!" He calls. "I found one, a real one! It's got the rips, the weird colors, and what I am going to assume is pizza sauce! Ohohoh man, I hit the jackpot with this one! Fazbear's Fright needed something, and here it is!" 

His congratulatory tone made the man within the suit want to throw up. Finding him was nothing to be happy about; he is despicable, incapable of redemption, and an awful being. 

And you know what? 

That's just the way he likes it.

So to have someone happy to find him, especially for their own purposes?

He won't let it stand. 

Yeah, if this place has a nightguard, he'll kill them without mercy before burning the entire thing to the ground.

Might as well make it fun for himself.

As light peeks through, clearly originating from a flashlight, he feels his pupils shrink, resisting the urge to let out a groan as his weak eyes ache from their decades of being in the dark.

"Whoahoh! This one looks gnarly!" The same man as before speaks, probably referencing the organs and tendons that were showing. "C'mon, let's get it up!"

His grin only grows as two people lift him onto a dolly, beginning the move.

Goodbye, saferoom.

And hello, Fazbear's Fright.

-

Humming, you walk into the building, skimming over the decorations once more before noticing something.

The papers that had fallen onto the ground from before, they had dirt on them. Not surprising on its own, but when they were in the shape of tire tracks? 

You decide to follow them, using your memory of the cameras to guide you through the building, which was already rather linear anyway.

Entering the last area, you could see a rather dilapidated animatronic suit, with organs visible and its fur matted with blood. Real blood. The old Springbonnie suit was nearly green from how old and dirty it was.

Your eyebrows raise. "Is that guy just stupid or did he knowingly bring in a suit that has a dead body in it?"

Honestly, you didn't care. "Eh, whatever. It'll probably start moving when I start my shift… I've heard those rumors about the other locations." You turn, stretching, unaware of the eyes that followed you or the head that turned your way.

Damn, does he want to kill this one?

Well, he can think it over more soon. After the merge.

He grins again, feeling his uneven, gouged skin begin to flare with pain.

You exit the room fully, making your way back to the office with all the urgency of an ADHD-riddled person doing laundry.

Which is to say… not much.

You fall into the chair, cursing as the thin mesh cushion does nothing to protect your tailbone from the metal frame of the chair. The phone rings not a moment later, you picking it up and laying it on the table again, eager to ignore it just as you had done before. You stretch again, arms raising above your head as you begin to flip through cameras, finding the rabbit in the same spot it was in before. 

You yawn.

Hopefully it starts moving soon, or else the entire reason you took this job would be unfulfilled. 

You were bored, and you remembered this place from the times you had gone with your younger brother, who was now in his early twenties. You, however, were 28 years of age, with nothing better to do than 'investigate' the Fazbear's Fright that opened up. Still, if that rabbit has a corpse in it, it should make things more fun.

As you lazily flip through your cameras, you set it down and look to the side, seeing a rather dirty looking man with an eyepatch and fox ears. To his confusion, before he could lunge at you, you reach out and swipe a hand through his chest. You continue to swipe forwards and backwards, the incorporeal man stuck standing there until you leaned back.

"So, you're a ghost."

His mouth opens as if to retort, but he just gives up and leaps at you, you not even looking at him anymore. He closes his mouth halfway through the jump, and with an unsatisfied sigh, he disappears.

You continue flipping through the cameras, checking in on the rabbit a couple of times before shoving the tablet out of the way, opening the laptop to have it ready and sitting back in your chair.

You glance towards a shifting figure in front of the window, the hat and bear ears telling of who it is. He limps along, eventually falling beneath your view before seemingly phasing through the wall and leaping at you. You stare passively as he does so, him not completing the jump to instead stand in front of you, confused. 

For shits and giggles, you wave your hand through his chest once or twice.

"Why… aren't you… scared?" He croaks, voice ruined from years of no use.

"Oh, was I supposed to be scared?" You genuinely ask. "Uh, sorry. If you do it again I promise I'll hyperventilate."

"Don't try to… lessen your survival chances…"

"Okay. My bad." 

He sighs, and after annoyedly rubbing his face, he disappears.

You flip out your cameras once more, finding the screen obscured by static and a small error in the center. Lazily, you reset cams.

When your screen clears, you check the rabbit. He looks… strange. Like his body is evolving in front of your eyes. 

To be honest, you don't give enough of a shit to watch a potentially world-changing discovery if it looks that gross. You aren't paid enough to, anyway.

At this pay grade, you even coming into the damn building is volunteer work.

You check your phone for the time, seeing a cool time of one in the morning. 

"Aside from that science experiment gone wrong happening in the back room, it's still really damn boring."

However, it's still not boring enough to watch that transformation or whatever. That corpse (well, at this point, you kinda doubt it's dead) can do whatever the hell he wants with that suit. It's his body, not your business.

After another fifteen minutes of staring at a wall, you check the cameras to the sound of loud clicks and pops, now seeing a heavily scarred man with 1.5 rabbit ears in place of the suit. He takes one step out from his original spot, body heaving forward before he lifts himself up, looking up at the camera with a grin.

"Huh. That's new." You say, watching him jolt forward, continuing to take steps before relearning how to walk smoothly.

It only takes him a moment to rocket off.

"I doubt that's good." You mumble, beginning to flip through the cameras to follow him before playing a sound in the room behind him, making him pause. He turns, walking back with a confused expression.

Continuing to flip through cameras, you watch as the man, who you'll dub Rabbit Guy, wanders, seemingly having lost his focus. Hearing a sound to your left, you pay no heed to whoever it is, instead waggling your hand in what you would assume to be their torso.

"You're strange…" They say.

"Uh-huh. If you'd excuse me, I am currently working on keeping Rabbit Guy the hell away from me." Your voice is monotonous but sincere; you aren't trying to be sarcastic or mean, just trying to tell them the facts.

Glancing to the side, you see that it was a child, so you were waving your hand in his collar. "Oh, my bad. Does that… make you guys uncomfortable?" You ask, retracting your hand.

"No, we can't feel it." 

"Huh." You blandly respond, playing the sounds to lead Rabbit Guy back to where he started, before resetting sounds as you weren't able to play them anymore.

It seems like Rabbit Guy is getting progressively more and more annoyed at being led back, if his attempts to move fast enough to avoid the sounds or block out his ears meant anything. 

His body was responding to the sounds, not him.

It was then that he disappeared, so you check vents, finding him in one that led directly to the room beside your office.

You block it off, much to his annoyance, before yawning and sitting back as any thumps you hear from inside the vents come to a stop. 

You find him standing in the room where he had entered the vent, irritated as he glares at the camera. Preemptively, you reset all, thankfully right as cams and sound go out. 

Sighing, you lazily check through cameras, brows slightly furrowing as you look for him. He was completely gone, not in vents or in rooms. It really is unfortunate how many blind spots and shadowed areas there are.

When you hear the thumping of the vents, you search through them, only finding a stupid knick-knack laying on its side halfway in your sight.

Looking to your side, you peek into the vent, leaning down to see if anything was there. Your gaze meets Rabbit Guy's. 

"Shit." You say, quickly switching cams over to this one and holding down the seal button. 

Your eyes shift back to him, finding him way too close for comfort. As you lift your finger to let the gate close on the vent, the man (who was crouch walking) catches it, forcing it back up. You hear something grind that definitely shouldn't be grinding, and you have a feeling that that vent cover just might be broken.

Getting out of the vent, he stands over you, waiting for some sort of plea or… literally any response at all.

"So, you, uh… come here often?" You ask, leaving him genuinely at a loss. 

"Wh- was that a pickup line?" His rough, baritone voice catches you slightly off-guard. 

You weren't expecting something that was pretty much a zombie to have such a good voice, or a slight british accent for that matter. "Was it? Shit, more people've flirted with me than I thought."

"Really? That's all you can come up with before your death? I'd hate for those to be your final words." He lightly teases, leaning against the wall with a mean grin. 

You look up at the ceiling with a vague smile, his eyes widening momentarily. "To be honest, of any place to die, I'd much rather have it be in a place where I know I'll reach the front pages than in some random alley."

His grin falls into a frown as he watches you turn to him, the smile still on your face. It feels strange.

He feels strange. 

Why does a random night guard make him feel so…

So… comfortable?

You were calm, collected, not making any sudden moves or even attempting to exit the chair. Theoretically, the perfect prey, but not a satisfying kill. 

If he even wants to kill you, that is.

“What’s your name?” He asks, watching as you spin to face him in your chair. You would be taller if you stood, but he would still have a few inches on you.

“Y/N. You?” 

“I’m… William. Or, rather, I was, when I was well and truly human.”

“And now?” You ask.

“I don’t exactly have a name.”

“Can I still call you William, then? Well, if I live long enough to do so?” You ask, eyes moving up to meet his. Looking up at him like that… He wishes the hot feeling in the pit of his stomach would go away.

“...Fine.”

“I mean… are you going to kill me?” You ask, face not shifting as he glares down at you. 

“I won’t kill you on the first night, you need to give me more entertainment.” At least, that’s what he told himself.

“Oh, so we’re both here for the same reason.” You blankly say, his face contorting from a glare to confusion once more.

“You’re here… for entertainment?” He slowly asks, answered by your nod.

“I’m certainly not here for the pay. This place gives like half of minimum wage but I can’t complain about it because the other part is supposed to come from tips. Somehow.”

“How do you even live?” 

“Well, right now I’m on an paid leave due to some unfortunate deaths in my family. To be honest, I never really cared for any of them, but hey. I’ll take any chance for a break I can. Then I got bored.”

He huffs out a laugh. “So you went to another job on your break?”

“Listen, getting a month off leaves a man with little to do when capitalism has left me with no hobbies. Besides, this gives me a great excuse to continue avoiding people.”

His lips curl into an amused grin as he leans forward, lowering his head to be eye level with yours. "Well, you won't be avoiding me." He practically purrs, you averting your eyes at the tone he uses. 

Why would he say it like that?! 

His golden eyes follow you as you close the laptop's screen, enjoying your reaction. You…

He'll keep you around. 

You're entertaining and friendly. Open, and… warm.

He wonders. 

You're human, and fully alive. He's a revived corpse who merged with his vessel. You probably are very warm compared to him.

When he comes back to his senses, he notices you slowly raising out of your seat, hand outstretched towards him. 

Well, might as well take the chance.

He grabs your wrist, looking down at you unimpressed. You quietly huff, falling back into your chair and forcing him to move away from the wall in order to not dislocate your wrist.

Well, his hypothesis is correct. You are very warm. 

He feels the tightening in his gut, not wanting to let go but knowing that he will have to.

You, however, don't actually care either way. You begin your attempt again, this time with your left hand. Slowly raising out of your seat, you actually manage to stand fully up before he notices again, grabbing your other wrist. 

"What are you even trying to do?" He asks, a light sneer on his lips.

"Well... uh, I was trying to… boop your nose? If you're bonded with one of the original suits, then I figured either you or Fredbear would have the sound effect."

He lets out a few short laughs, his sneer replaced with the same amused grin as before.

"I'm afraid neither of us have the sound effect. That only came about with the second and third generations of animatronics."

You hum, interested.

His eyes quickly scan over you, taking in your form. This position, practically holding you hostage… Needless to say, he didn't dislike it.

Still, he releases you as he catches you glancing at what he assumes to be a phone. Things have advanced quite far since he was trapped. 

You turn it on quickly, checking the time. “Well, we have around an hour and a half before my shift ends, so…” Pausing, you check the time again. An hour and a half?

He steps closer, you glancing back up at him before leaning back as he leans forward, looming over you. “Tomorrow, you best make this more fun for me. I’ll greet you, but then I’ll head to the back. Try and stop me from getting in.”

“Uh, sure. Are you still planning on making the punishment for loss, uh, death?”

His eyes narrow in coordination with a widening grin. “That’s for me to know. You either figure it out, or you don’t. It all depends how well you play.” His gruff voice slightly echoes in the mostly empty building, you nodding in response. 

“Oh, cool. Can I tell my brother about you?” You ask suddenly, him quirking a brow as he stares down at you, easily at least half a foot taller than you. He was always tall, but now that he’s in this new form, he grew to be somewhere from 6’6 to 6’8. You sit down once more, exacerbating the height difference.

“Feel free to. Just know that if he ever comes around here, he won’t be alive for very long.”

“I doubt he will. He’s always preferred Foxy the most because he has taste, but-”

“Taste? For liking that liability-strewn fox? You like him as well?”

“To be honest, I never really liked any of them more than the other. I was in my emo phase when I went to see them, so it was practically illegal for me to like anything. But Foxy had sharp teeth and a wicked lookin’ hook, so… I guess I did.”

He hums, clearly slightly annoyed.

“Are you jealous that I liked the fox more than the rabbit that isn’t even the same generation as you?”

“I really should kill you.” His irritated expression shows the truth to your statement.

“It’s okay, I’m willing to call Springbonnie my favorite.”

Now, William was confused. Your tone… you weren’t joking. You were being genuine about something as stupid as this? What is with you?

“You’re very confusing. I think you joke, and then I listen to your tone and you’re genuine. But still, I wouldn’t mind if you did so.”

“It’s not nearly as confusing as how time passes in this place. It’s been like ten minutes since I met you but the clock says like three or four hours have passed.”

“What? Really?” His brows furrow as he steps closer, finding another excuse to close the distance between you both as he leans over the chair, seeing you pointing to the screen. “How strange…”

“Yeah. It doesn’t seem like tomorrow’s hunt will last for six hours, then. Thankfully.” You sigh.

“What, do you not want to feel like my prey for six hours straight?” He grins, leaning over further until his arm rests on your shoulder.

You shiver. “Why do you have to say it like that?”

“Because it makes you react, obviously. It’s entertaining to watch you squirm from something as simple as... the tone of my voice.” Of course, in order to prove his point, he does exactly what he did before, lowering his voice a few pitches and upping the growliness of it.

In covering your eyes, you also cover your cheeks, which have gained a slight flush. “William, I am begging you. Please, please, please, stop talking like that.”

And, naturally progressing, he was left somewhat stunned by the sound of your pleading tone. There’s just something about it, especially as you say his name, that makes him want to…

...makes him want to chase, and capture, and possess forever.

You as his prized prey, and him as the hunter.

“I’ll use it when necessary.” He vaguely answers, watching your head droop.

“I’ll take what I can get.” You concede breathily. 

He chuckles, hearing the chime of a bell, signifying 6 in the morning. "Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, then. Don't keep me waiting."

"Asshole. I won't." You turn your head away from him, hiding the flush on your face, and stand up, stretching. "See ya, William."

He hums, eyes tracing your form as you stretch. It was a nice view, watching the button up shirt crease around your back as you stretch, clearly hinting at the muscle beneath. His eyes did drift lower once or twice, and that's how he figures out that damn, you have a really nice ass!

You begin to walk out, and he follows you with his eyes, watching you turn past the replica Freddy husk and unlock the door, exiting into the fresh morning. His eyelids droop, gaze slipping up as his lips curl into a wide grin.

“Y/N… I won’t kill you. Especially not when I’m presented with such an ample opportunity to make this into something so entertaining.” 

Well…

Is that the only reason?

Of course, he knows it isn’t.

His grin falls, leaving him coldly leering at the aged panels above him before his sight shifts back to the room around him. As he exits the office, he glances at the stained and shaded glass of the door, not allowing much, if any, light in. He turns away, heading back to where he was originally.

As he walks, he lets his form shift, feeling his body grow to his previous monster rabbit self, the creaks of his metal joints loud in the silent building. 

He ignores any shadows that creep in the edges of his vision, the specters traversing without sound. 

“This is going to be… boring.” His voice, far rougher than before, comes out unfeeling and croaky. As he returns to his previous position, slouching over once more, he decides to use his old tactic to pass time; inflicting enough pain on himself to fall unconscious. It doesn’t matter if his dreams are infested with darkness, nor how much he suffers in them. 

It was better than the boredom of sitting in one position with an unchanging environment.

He begins forcing his muscles to flex and strain within the suit and pull against the beams they have welded to, making him grit his teeth before the searing pain fades away, along with his vision.

Goodnight, Y/N.

-

“Yo.” You greet your brother, the man tiredly yawning as he ruffles his hair.

“Heya, Y/N. What’re you up so early for?” 

“Well, I got bored and got a night shift job at this dinky little horror attraction opening up next week. I decided to tell you about what happened there before I head off to sleep.”

“You got bored during a break from your job so you… got another job?”

“Y’know, William said the same thing.” You say, your brother narrowing his eyes at you.

“A coworker?” He asks. 

“Eh, not quite… he is the reason I stayed up to talk to you, though.”

He hums, walking around the couch you were splayed on with your shirt half unbuttoned. 

“So, to begin my tale, you remember Freddy’s? The pizzeria with the animatronics?” You question.

“Yeah?”

“Well the horror place I went to is based off of that; it’s filled with replicas and a few actual things from the pizzerias of the past, but something came in tonight that was… different.”

“Which was?”

“An animatronic. One of the originals, Springbonnie. Granted, the suit was ripped to shit and covered in enough dirt to be green, but it was authentic. It even has the dead body! Well - not so dead body, but still visible.”

“Did you call the cops?” He asks, worried.

“Hell no! I’m not paid enough to give a shit about what could-or-could-not-be a dead body. Either way, he transformed into a human, which was rather odd, but-”

“Just to be clear, this rabbit had a dead body inside and transformed into a human, and you don’t question it?”

“No. Continuing on, he got into my office and then we talked for a bit, I learned that his name is William, time passed really weirdly, and then we struck a deal where I have to keep him out of my office or I'll maybe die.”

“You’re still going back there?! And ‘maybe die?!’”

“Yeah, he said the knowledge about whether or not I die from losing the hunt was ‘for him to know.’ I didn’t question it further.” 

“You know, Y/N, sometimes it feels like I’m the older sibling. You’re fucking stupid.”

“I’m well aware.”

He leans over the couch, glaring down at you. “Then wisen up and quit that damn job.”

“I’m good. William is good company.”

“He threatened to kill you!”

“And? He hasn’t. Yet.”

“You infuriate me, gayboy.” He says, stepping away from the couch.

“Cool. I’ll sleep here for now, when you get back from work I’ll definitely be up.”

“Whatever.” He waves his hand at you, ignoring the middle finger pointing his direction from behind the couch’s back.

---

Part 2

also a lot of the stuff i write from now on may be male reader inserts lol

heres my springtrap design

here's the updated design lol

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 12 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Funsies) 

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

After locking Wei Wuxian into some comically large chains, Wen Chao has him thrown into the dungeon, with an unpleasant surprise.

This Fucking Dog

Being a fan of The Untamed involves occasional second-hand embarrassment, like when they fly on their swords, or the zombies all have the same wig, or a fight sequence moves slower than everybody’s granny. It's ok because each of these things is offset by excellence in acting, story, costumes, weapons, sets, etc.

Then there's this fucking dog. 

The department of questionable practical effects really outdid themselves with this thing. Just seeing this awful creation on screen gives me so much cringe squick I can barely look at it. But for you, dear readers, I FORCED MY EYEBALLS to watch the entire dog sequence OVER AND OVER. Then I applied some brightness adjustments and looked at it EVEN MORE. 

Let's get desensitized! I’m going all in on this monstrosity.

First, this dog does not ever move its body or its feet. Its legs are totally immobile. It appears to be made of a big sawhorse with a stick for the neck. The head swings up and down and side to side. That’s it.  

“Animatronic” is too generous of a term for this thing. The animatronics at Chucky Cheese learned to play musical instruments and host birthday parties decades ago. This dog cannot play an instrument and it has to wait for Wei Wuxian to walk over to it before it can attack him. 

When it falls over after Wen Ning K.O’s it, it’s like a chair falling over. It just topples to the side, legs sticking straight out.  

(more after the cut)

Next, It has a mouth full of teeth, which opens and closes. And it has drool the texture of Astroglide Extra-Thick Gel. But...no tongue.

Seriously you guys, it literally does not have a tongue. They just sculpted a little bump at the at the bottom of its mouth, despite dogs being known for, like, lolling their tongues out of their mouths at every opportunity.

Moving along, it has dull, lifeless eyes, and its eyelids are visibly disconnected from the rest of its head, like a doll that mechanically shuts its eyes when you lay it down to sleep.

Finally, its fur looks like a fucking muppet, and it has random shiny spots all around its eyes and lips. These are probably supposed to be body fluids of some kind, but they just look like someone was careless with the cra-z-glue.

Xiao Zhan gamely tries to act opposite this ridiculous fail prop, but there is nothing remotely scary about it.  

Here is Wei Wuxian being scared. I replaced the animatronic dog with a reversed clip of my dog Pepper asking for a piece of cheese, and I think it looks more convincing this way. 

Ok, let's be done with this stupid fucking dog. Wen Ning knocks it out, Wen Chao criticizes it in the morning, and nobody ever speaks of it again. 

Wei Wuxian is so mortified to have endured this farce that when Lan Wangji asks him, much later, “why are you afraid of dogs?” he does not say “don’t you remember that time I got chewed on by a giant animatronic dog at Wen Chao’s place?” but instead pretends that this never fucking happened. 

Wen Ning to the Rescue

For contrast, the next dungeon scene is a really touching and important encounter between Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian. 

Wen Ning comes and knocks out the creature, and gives Wei Wuxian medicine. 

Wen Ning is doing this in defiance of his clan and his sister, simply because Wei Wuxian is his friend. Yes, he feels indebted, but Wen Qing saved WWX’s life once, so the tally is already even. Wen Ning is just super attached to Wei Wuxian, and vice versa; WWX calls him Wen-Xiong in this scene. 

When Wen Ning explains how to use the medicine, Wei Wuxian changes the subject to ask how WN and his sister are doing. He is bleeding, chained up, high on adrenaline and fear, and what he really wants is to hear how his friends are doing. When Wen Ning talks about Wen Qing’s troubles, Wei Wuxian wishes she would accept help, instead of always going it alone. 

Wei Wuxian thanks Wen Ning formally, and tells him no words can express his gratitude. Whether this is a literally correct translation, the gratitude both of these young men feel toward each other transcends words. It will become a driving force in both of their lives as they save each other from increasingly awful situations. 

Wen Ning tells Wei Wuxian about the burning of Cloud Recesses....the burning of the half we never visit. It would suck to damage that exquisite set, so I’m ok with that production choice, but creates some cognitive dissonance when characters get upset about the fire. 

Wei Wuxian reacts to the news of Lan Wangji’s injury by punching the concrete floor of the dungeon, which is dumb but also highly relatable. 

After Wen Ning leaves, Wei Wuxian decides to save the medicine for Lan Wangji, who might not even need it, while WWX is bleeding right now and definitely needs it. No matter how bad things are for him personally, Wei Wuxian is always thinking about ways to help the people he loves, and constantly seeing his own needs as less important than everybody else’s. 

Breakfast Time

After his night of terror and maiming, Wei Wuxian emerges as chipper as ever. Almost like he is already an expert at hiding his trauma from the people close to him. 

Lan Wangji gives him a careful look, taking in the sight of his ripped clothes and bloody neck and hands. 

Jiang Cheng is angry at Wei Wuxian for joking about his injuries, so he shoves him, potentially causing more injuries. 

Wei Wuxian laughs off the signs of torture and attempted murder and everyone goes along with it. Nobody knows what happened to him other than "dungeon" and what he looks like right now, and they’re all just like, okey dokey, I guess you’re fine.  

He’ll carefully laugh off his months in the burial mounds in the same way, later, and Jiang Cheng will accept it nearly as readily as he accepts this. But by that time Lan Wangji will see right through him.

Nie Huaisang mentions the Lan Clan in the course of discussing breakfast, and then everyone pauses awkwardly because they know that mentioning this will make Lan Wangji think about the recent attack on his home and the deaths of many of his fellow disciples. Whereas if nobody had mentioned it, he totally wouldn't think about it. That's how grief works, right?

Insult to Injury

Wen Chao decides to spend some time gloating about battles and insulting people's families, which he does with Wen Qing standing behind his eyeline so that she can warn Wei Wuxian not to let his brother go off. 

Jiang Cheng is not going to let anybody who isn't his mother insult his father like that, but in a reversal of their normal roles, Wei Wuxian restrains him and helps keep him from doing something rash.

Monster Hunting

Wen Chao makes everyone read out loud until Nie Huaisang wisely faints and gets carried off. Then he gathers everyone for a monster hunt.  It's unclear why he wants to go monster hunting but he sure does, and bringing the hostages along might make them all die, which would be a nice bonus.

The cultivators wander around en masse in a small section of forest, thoroughly covering every inch of it. This is a great way to hunt for a dead body but not so good for living prey. 

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng stand around like bitchy queens at a dance club, talking smack about Wen Chao and his girlfriend. 

Wei Wuxian brings out a salty phrase and Jiang Cheng wonders what websites he's been going to. 

Dude. Lighten up.

Leave that Boy Alone

Wei Wuxian notices Lan Wangji struggling, and now that he knows the backstory, he's determined to help. Jiang Cheng is determined to stop him.

This is, once again, the fundamental disagreement between the brothers, and it's never going to be solvable. Jiang Cheng's specific dislike of Lan Wangji may be rooted in jealousy, but his belief in not helping outsiders runs a lot deeper than that.

For Wei Wuxian, there is no such thing as having helped enough. If someone is his friend, he will never stop helping them, and he has a lot of friends, and makes new ones wherever he goes. He's always going to be giving something of himself, to the detriment of any conflicting obligations. 

Jiang Cheng tells him that Lan Wangji won't accept his help, and Wei Wuxian says that's not the point. 

What other people think, want, say, or do, is not going to have any effect on whether Wei Wuxian does what he feels is right. This is a bit of a problem where a person's right to self-determination conflicts with Wei Wuxian's need to help them, as Jiang Cheng will eventually discover.

Jiang Cheng's least effective argument is the one he relies on most often when they disagree: other people's problems are not our responsibility. He's saying this to an orphan who was eating trash and stealing scraps from dogs before Jiang Fengmian came into his life. 

Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to realize the underlying logic of this argument. If it's wrong for Wei Wuxian to help the people he cares about, it was also wrong for Jiang Fengmian to help Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng loves Wei Wuxian and would willingly die for him, but he, like his mother, rejects the philosophy that brought them together in the first place.  

Wei Wuxian walks away from an upset and shocked Jiang Cheng to offer a piggyback ride to Lan Wangji.

...who won't accept it, but who will remember the offer forever.

Writing prompt: Thoughts of an animatronic dog

Soundtrack:  Five Nights at Freddy’s by The Living Tombstone

[pajama-nerd]

Reading my way through Fazbears Frights, thinking about how none of these protagonists have ever interacted with any kind of horror media.

Reader Beware: Spoilers Ahead

Into the Pit didn’t read like time travel to me. It read more like a particular kind of haunting where the negative energy of all of the bad shit that happened at that location was locked into the one remaining 'feature' of the location: the ball pit. And Pit-Bonnie isn't the ghost of Afton, but rather the entity that was created from the memories of all that bad energy.

And the interesting thing to me about Pit-Bonnie is that - aside from the inherent creepiness of the situation and the fact that he had literally one facial expression (he can’t even blink for cryin’ out loud) - he didn't attempt to harm Oswald until Oswald went back to rescue his dad. Once Pit-Bonnie was away from the negative energy that had spawned him, he did Dad Things™. He did them in the creepiest way possible, granted, but we don't actually know how he feels because of his inability to express.

Maybe he wanted to stay. Maybe he just wanted a break from that place. Maybe that place has a hold on him, and being away from it allowed him a measure of free will.

And the fandom that I’ve seen about the Dashboard has locked onto Pit-Dad-Bonnie because the general attitude of the fandom - as far as I've witnessed - has been 'Oh. A scary thing! Well, now it's friend-shaped.' (or, in this case, Dad shaped) so of course my immediate question is, 'how would the story have changed if Oswald had made a more serious attempt to communicate with Pit-Bonnie?'

The immediate, cynical response is 'well it would have slaughtered him' but that's infinitely less interesting than the possible alternatives.

Perhaps he takes in the fact that Pit-Bonnie can't talk, and proposes an alternate method of communication. I'm talkin construction paper and crayons. And he gets Pit-Bonnie to tell his story a la Nephrite from Steven Universe. About how one day he just was. And how sometime after that, that version of Fazbear's formed around him. And how there were happy, smiling kids laughing in the pizzeria and he was happy, but how every time he tried to be friends with the kids something would happen.

The world would flicker and they would just be in that back room, like that. How he was desperate for some kind of a connection and could never have one because those kids – those memories – were doomed to die by the memory of his hands. How he noticed Oswald because Oswald didn’t fit – he was real – and how he’d wanted Oswald to help him figure out how to change what had happened (or to make it stop), but Oswald had run away. About how he’d tried to fish Oswald out of the ballpit and gotten his dad instead. About deciding to take his dad’s place so that he could get away from that place and how being here with Oswald was nice. Driving him to school was nice. Making him dinner was nice. Cleaning the house with him was nice.

(Imagine Oswald getting less and less afraid as he interprets the story, checking in with PB occasionally to make sure he's getting it right. Getting slightly annoyed tho, because he's not getting rid of this rabbit, is he? But he still needs to rescue his dad, so now what?)

Oswald eventually tells PB that he can stay, which surprises but elates the rabbit. Then Oswald tells him they have to get his dad back.

There's a negotiation. Obviously, they have to get his dad back. Has Pit-Bonnie been going to his dad's job? What about taxes? Things his dad knows how to do? What about Oswald's mom? Is Pit-Bonnie just going to pretend to be his dad around her forever? What if she wants to do...like...parent stuff? With her husband? If you catch my drift (PB does not, in fact).

Eventually PB agrees, and even drives Oswald back to the same block as the pizza place. He doesn't get close to it - definitely doesn't park in the lot - but Oswald just tells him to wait in the car and goes and wakes his dad up from the ball pit. His dad is confused. Disoriented. Way out of it. Let's Oswald lead him back to the car and sits in the back, too out of it to comment on the yellow bunny mascot in the front seat. They return to the house without incident, and his dad passes out on the couch.

Oswald eventually figures out that PB is the one making his dad so loopy - that the connection PB formed so that he could know how to drive the car, how to work the vacuum cleaner, how to make Oswald's meals, is also keeping Oswald's dad borderline comatose. It takes some convincing to get PB to give that up. PB is afraid to give that up - afraid that if he doesn't have an anchor, he'll go back to being an aimless product of rage and murder.

Oswald's solution is to spread the bond out. He'll take part of it. If PB splits his focus, it'll be less of a strain on his dad, and PB will have more than one anchor. This has the added property of giving his dad the ability to see the seven-foot-tall grinning plush rabbit (he doesn't react well. Neither does mom. Oswald has never had to talk so much in his life)

So now Pit-Bonnie is a part of Oswald’s life, and it’s hella weird at first, but everyone gets over it, because eventually you just get numb to weirdness. Except Oswald becomes obsessed with Freddy Fazbears, in an Unsolved Mysteries kind of way. Starts researching the place wherever and however he can.

Pit-Bonnie helps, in his way, after they figure out a way to communicate efficiently (modified Sign Language, because being bonded to Oswald means that Pit-Bonnie knows how to do all the things that Oswald knows how to do. So Oswald learns sign language. Which means that Pit-Bonnie knows how to sign now. He still only has the one facial expression, which makes asking questions a little complicated, but they work it out).

I imagine that Pit-Bonnie is very tuned in to the weirdness/darkness vibe that Freddy’s and its remnants (ha) give off. He starts reading local and then state, and then national newspapers, and whenever he gets the Fazbear vibe, he sets the article aside for Oswald to look at. Also he doesn’t sleep, so in the first week of Oswald’s obsession, he generates a lot of leads for Oswald by going through back issues of...everything.

This is a rambly thing, but my point is that most horror has a solution and most of the time this solution is subverted by having it happen to people who have no experience with horror movies, books, comics, or other mediums, which is…I dunno. Kinda cheap.

‘What if they ever saw Frankenstein and sympathized with the monster enough to have empathy for this thing?’

‘They’re not horror fans. And the ones that are have never seen or read the stories where empathy solves the problem.’

To Be Beautiful (a terrible, one dimensional story with a terrible message about self-image told the way that high school stories in the 80's-90's were told, which wasn't even accurate to how highs schools were in the 80's-90's) could have been solved by literally anyone being more than passively curious about the drastic changes that Sarah was undergoing. (Puberty doesn't work that fast. Her whole freaking face changed). Or by her mom going into her room at some point and asking about the 5 foot robot doll.

Count the Ways has many solutions, although, really? She shoulda chosen starvation. More time to escape or be rescued is always, always, always going to be better than a 'maybe I won't be bifurcated’ any way you slice it (I’m not sorry), but I'm fond of the idea of Oswald coming across an article about ‘theft of proprietary animatronics from a Fazbear Entertainment property’ and it leading him to Milly’s grandfather’s house in time to save her. Along with his seven-foot-tall grinning plush friend who can alter people's perception.

Fetch could have been solved by treating Fetch like a dog. Seriously. He is dog shaped. He is therefore a dog, first and foremost. Dog first, killer animatronic second. Which Greg didn't fundamentally understand (he strikes me as a cat person anyway). But Fetch spent that entire story trying to do what he thought his master wanted, and never got so much as a 'good boy' out of it. He didn't even try to defend himself when Greg went to town on him with a baseball bat because he just wanted to be a good dog for his boy. And even after that, when Greg expressed a desire to see Kimberly, Fetch still wanted to do something to get his master to call him a good boy. Honestly, if - after being warned about Fetch - Kimberly had planted her feet and said 'Sit!' I would bet actual Faz-dollars that Fetch's haunches would have dropped to the pavement out of surprise alone, because it would have been the first time in the story someone treated him like a dog.

Alec was doomed to be a teddy-bear from the moment his parents picked up a ‘how to raise my kids’ book, but he’s still alive. There’s no reason he couldn’t be rescued (by Oswald, who’s on the trail of all the weirdness related to Freddy Fazbear. I’d read that story. I’d write that story. I will probably write that story)

The Plushtrap story...had no flaws. That was the only solution, and good on those boys for making all the right choices except for the initial choices that put them in that situation to begin with. A+. Those teeth, Jesus.

1:35 am could have been solved with an apology. Come on. For a character that was supposedly in the Foster Care system being bounced from home to home, you’d think she could empathize with an entity that didn’t appreciate being thrown away. A sincere apology, a promise to never do it again, and Ella would probably have forgiven her.

I don’t remember where I was going with this. I started writing it before I clocked on for work, but that was eleven hours ago. Who can remember where a train of thought that far back?

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Give You a Heart

A/N: Hey lovelies! To celebrate the release of FNAC Remastered, I figured I’d post an old fic of my favorite animatronic from the series: Blank! I wrote this back in 2016 during Valentine’s Day and I’ve made some revisions since my writing’s a little different now. I also added an extra little ending!

On another note, I hc his voice to sound like David Near’s interpretation of him. I adore it a lot! (the original video is deleted so this SFM is all I could find)

Summary: Child!Reader is eager to celebrate Valentine’s Day at their favorite restaurant, Candy’s Burgers and Fries. They wanna share their love and appreciation for Blank, although when they find him in a decrepit state and behaving strangely, will they be scared off or will they overcome their fear and see that he isn’t a heartless monster?

When your parents pushed open the glass doors, you immediately grinned and ran inside, pausing to take a whiff at the familiar smells of hamburgers and french fries.

It was a delicious aroma you’ve grown quite accustomed to ever since you started visiting Candy’s Burgers and Fries on their grand opening. While you’ve liked Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria’s characters, you weren’t really a fan of their greasy pizza and putrid smells of oil and old pennies. So your parents decided to take you here instead after that place got shut down from technical errors and several violations from the local health department.

“Welcome to Candy’s Burgers and Fries!” A cheerful employee greeted you and your parents. She was wearing a headband with heart antennas since it was Valentine’s Day, after all.

“Thank you!” You waved to her as your parents took you to the dining room, where Candy and Cindy were performing on stage, singing “I Can’t Help Myself” by The Four Tops.

However, you weren’t particularly interested in visiting them, but, rather, someone else who you’ve made a friendship with since day one.

You clutched your backpack and looked to your parents, giving them the classic “puppy dog eyes”. They knew immediately what that meant and smiled, giving you the okay to go as long as you were back in 20 minutes.

“Thank you!” After you hugged them, you took off and skipped off to the Drawing Room, hoping there weren’t too many kids there already.

...only to find that Blank was nowhere to be seen.

The boxes of crayons and markers were still in their respective boxes on the tables, rather than being open and scattered all over the checkered floor. You frowned slightly, disappointed, although when you saw an employee enter the room, grumbling about a “goddamn machine”, you approached him.

“Excuse me, mister..where’s Blank?”

“O-Oh! Hey, kiddo!” He forced a smile, putting a wrench in his back pocket. “Uh..I’m afraid Blank’s not feeling too well today. The holidays can be tiring for him so..come back tomorrow and he’ll be fine.”

“Awh, I promised I’d see him today.” You pouted. “But alright.”

The employee simply nodded and headed out of the room. With a sigh, you decided to return to your parents, and maybe see Chester along the way.

But as you left the Drawing Room too, you ended up being lost in a section of the restaurant, where there were no decorations or even posters. It made you feel uneasy, but you kept walking.

Rounding the corner, you stopped when you saw a door labeled “Storage Room”. Although common sense told you not to go in there, curiosity got the best of you as you opened the door anyway.

It creaked rather loudly, and you froze as you heard a robotic voice on the other side.

"Who’s there?”

It took you a moment, but you grinned as you recognized the voice to be none other than-

“Blank!” You giggled, entering the room and closing the room. “It’s me! Don’t you remem....”

However, your eyes widened in shock as you saw him sitting against the wall. He looked badly damaged, with cracks and holes in both his head and chest area, as well as his left forearm missing its covering and the hand on that same arm being completely gone. His suit seemed old and dirty, with faded drawings still scribbled on him.

He didn’t look anything like the Blank you’ve met last time.

Gasping, you rushed over to him and sat down, looking at him up and down. “B-Blank..what happened..?” You reached out to him, although you jumped as his right hand suddenly shot out and grasped your arm tightly. “O-Ow!”

“What do you think?” He snarled in a deeper voice, pulling you towards him as his eyes narrowed and began glowing. “Y-Y-You did this...to me. You all treated me like I’m trash..you brats have no respect for things that don’t belong to you!!”

“Y-You’re..hurting me..” You whimpered, tears pricking your eyes as you put your hand over his. “Blank...s-stop..”

The canvas animatronic chuckled, although when he saw your tears, that’s when he returned to his senses and realized what he was doing. With a robotic gasp, he released his grip, recoiling his hand. 

“O-Oh no..I’m...so sorry....[y/n].” He mumbled, horrified at the bruise that started forming on your skin.

“I-It’s okay,” you tried reassuring him, hiding the bruise, but it seemed far too late as Blank looked away from you in shame. “I-I know you’re not feeling well and I...I should’ve listened to that man but...I just wanted to see you so badly! I promised you I would.”

He looked back at you, surprised. “E-Even after what I did..you still want to see me?”

“Of course! You’re my favorite!” You grinned as you took off your backpack, pulling out a small box of crayons. “Mind if I draw something on you?”

“...sure, as long as it’s not just..random scribbles, you know..”

“Never. Every drawing I give you has meaning.” You giggled once more.

Blank smiled in relief. You were special to him, as every time you came to Candy's you always went to see him no matter what. And you'd always draw something nice on him, as opposed to the messy scribbles the toddlers would put all over him.

Around the other kids, his voice was programmed to be monotonous, as his name is "Blank" after all. But around you, he felt more...comfortable speaking to you freely, and actually expressing what robots usually lacked: emotions.   

"So what’s your idea?"

"A heart."

He blinked for a moment. “Ah, it’s Valentine’s Day isn’t it? I should’ve known but...you see um..” As he gestured to the hole in his chest, he was surprised to see that you were drawing the shape of a heart around it.

"I know you guys don't have hearts," you explained, filling in the remaining space around the hole with the same crayon. "So I decided to give you a heart!"

If robots could blush, Blank's face would surely be as red as that crayon right now. He was stunned by your generosity..even after you saw what he looked like and the way he attacked you so viciously.

“I’m sorry the others are treating you like trash,” you frowned, before a smile returned to your face. “But I promise..when I grow up I’ll work here and look after you. I’ll make sure nobody’s ever mean to you again.”

Chuckling, he looked at you with a smile. “Thank you, [y/n]. I hope to see you then.”

“Of course! And Blank?”

“Hm?”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, my bestest friend.”

“...haha, same to you, best friend.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Goddamn machines. Can you all stay in one place, please?” You huffed as you sat in the swivel chair, looking around the cameras on the monitor.

It’s been at least a decade or so since you’ve made a promise to Blank that you’ll look after him. You ended up getting hired as a security guard for the animatronics, so in a way...you did keep your promise.

Usually Blank stayed in the Drawing Room, inactive although he occasionally turned his head towards you, giving you an odd stare. But then again the other animatronics acted weirdly, too, so you just focused on your job and made sure they didn’t get into your office.

When you checked that room, though, your heart dropped into your stomach upon seeing that he was nowhere to be found. 

“Shit..” Frantically looking at the cameras, you finally spotted him on CAM 05. 

He seemed to be right in front of your office, exactly where the window before was. Then he twisted his body and retracted his fist, looking directly into the camera as he punched-

“AH!” The sound of shattering glass made you shift away from the desk as shards spilled onto the desk, knocking some of the items onto the floor.

After that you were plunged into total darkness, despite knowing damn well you still had power left over.

But you held your breath as you heard clanking footsteps, shakily taking out a flashlight. When you flicked it on, you saw Blank looming over you, his eyes glowing.

You then shined the light on a familiar spot on his chest, your worries dissipating as you smiled warmly. “You still got a heart, huh?” You chuckled.

He closed his mouth, blinking a few times in surprise, before he examined you closely and finally recognized you.

“...[y/n]?”

[writingamongtheroses-archive]

Introductions

My prompt fill for this week’s @flashfictionfridayofficial, Familiar Melody. This comes from the second book of my FNAF-inspired Heartbeat series, called Toybox. Warnings for swears and a bit of violence.

Liza parked the car in front of the building. When she glanced at her passenger, Jordan was staring at the building in a mixture of both anger and pure dread. “Look,” she said, drawing his attention. “They’ll listen to me. I promise.”

“Oh, no. I wasn’t doubting you at all.”

The two clambered out and headed for the back door. Liza pulled out her keys that she had forgotten last night when the animatronics decided to lock her out. (The keys were completed with a very official I’M A STAR! keychain that Anne, one of Tio Rafael’s foster kids, had made for her.) She came to a thought and whirled on her heel. “You carry spare change, right?”

“Why the fuck would I?”

She winced at the swear. “Because Ted has a swear jar. And if you don’t pay, he’ll hunt you down to wash your mouth with soap.”

Jordan winced. “Alright...so what’s the plan?”

“You go cower in the office while I tell the animatronics that you’re here. Then I’ll tell you to come out.” Liza unlocked the door and led the way inside. A familiar melody was playing from the dining hall, making her absently hum to it. She dropped Jordan off at the office before heading to the dining hall.

The animatronics, except Bun, were playing Go Fish.

Of course, they were. Liza was pretty sure that was the only card game they knew. She cleared her throat. All heads turned towards her. “Hey everyone,” she said with a smile. “How are we?”

“Ted’s cheating.” Kitty said at the same time Ted said: “You’re supposed to be catching up on sleep.”

“Ted, you cheat at Go Fish?” Liza said, ignoring his first statement.

“Kitty’s just bad at it,” Thorn said. “That’s why she thinks Ted is cheating.”

“I’ve said over half of my cards, there’s no way he doesn’t have one of them.” Slowly, the conversation dissolved into a debate. Rex, Fluffy, and Daisy were firmly on Kitty’s side. Rey and Thorn were in the “Ted’s not cheating” camp. Ted, however, was giving Liza his best you’re supposed to be taking care of yourself disappointed stare. She looked away before clapping her hands. Everyone went quiet.

“While this is interesting, I have an announcement.” She took a breath. “I brought someone who needed to see you. He’s, uh, well-”

A loud scream of “FUCKING SHIT!” cut herself off. Jordan crashed into the room, knocking Liza to the floor as he dove under a table. Bun ran after him, snarling and looking ready to rip him to shreds. "You get back, you pirate bitch! You're lucky I don't have a flashlight on me, I'd smack you so fucking hard..."

Liza sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. “Bun,” she said, getting to her feet. Ted was suddenly there to help her, and she leaned on him as he held her. “Bun quit it.” The pirate rabbit looked over, looking very annoyed.

“The cur be sneakin’ around!”

“I wasn’t sneaking around!” Jordan protested, clambering out. “I was just curious! Fucking hell, Liza, could’ve given me some warning!”

“I told you to hide in the office.”

“I was!”

Liza sighed. “Guys, Jordan. Jordan, guys. Mr. Andrews hired him as the newest technician. Because apparently I need help hiring new workers.”

Everything went very silent before Rex said: “I remember you.”

“Yeah, he’s the guy who broke in-”

“No, no, Liza. From before.” Rex was starting to bare his teeth. Kitty was following her twin’s lead and had started to hiss. The dog lurched forward and grabbed Jordan by the shirt. “You messed with our mainframes.”

“HE DID WHAT?!”

Jordan let out a wheezing chuckle. “Huh, I was wondering if you remembered that. You look good, Rex.” The collar was dropped so his neck could be grabbed instead. “And wow! This is a trip down memory lane isn’t it?”

The complete lackadaisy of his words knocked the wind out of her. “Jordan, shut your mouth! Ted, Ted, make him stop, he’s going to kill him-” The grip on her elbow now felt like a shackle. The familiar tune of Ted’s killing music box had started to play. Realizing that nobody was going to make her job easier, Liza closed her eyes and let one of her others take over.

“QUIT IT!”

Everything stopped. Liza blinked, suddenly feeling very tired. “Rex. Drop Jordan. Jordan, just shut up.” The dog animatronic did as commanded, ears flattened back in apologetic fear. Liza pulled herself out of Ted’s grip, aiming a we will talk about this later glare at the bear. She helped her new employee up before giving him a kick to the shins. “You’re a butthead.”

“Is that seriously what you’re going with?”

“Swear jar.” she reminded him.

[trashinaglass-archive]

How Magical

Disney vacation with Tom and Co

Request: Tom taking reader to Disney for the first time?? :)

A/n: This has been a loooong process. I’m writing this based on my experiences at Disney. (I met a thousand and one British people while I was there too. It was crazy. There was a little boy who asked his mom if “the doors have opened yet” in his little baby accent and my heart melted.)

Also, does everyone understand the concept of Fast Passes at Disney? It’s basically reserving a spot on a ride instead of waiting in line for hours. Hit me up if you don’t get it.

I made the executive decision to make it a family trip? I just had a small idea that would come across better if they were all there. Hope that’s okay.

“I’m so excited!!” You shouted as you walked up to the entrance of Disneyworld. You had never been before so your boyfriend, Tom, invited you to join him and his family on their vacation to the Mouse House (my aunts nickname for Disney. I think it’s super cute so I wanted to share:) . “Where to first?”

“We have Pirates of the Caribbean first, so let’s head that way,” Nikki said, pointing everyone in the right direction. You held Tom’s hand in your own as you walked to the attraction. You were skipping slightly, super excited for your day.

“How have you gone your entire life without being to Disney?” Tom asked with a laugh as he watched your excitement.

“My mom didn’t want to bring us as kids. You know, crying and complaining? Having to carry us around? Too much of a hassle. And then none of us really ever thought about it once we were teenagers,” you told him with a shrug. Almost as if on cue, you heard a small child begin to cry. You gestured at the noise with a hand.

“I think I can agree with that,” Tom said with a laugh.

“I see it!” You exclaimed, pointing to the black flag with the movie title on it. You picked up your speed, leading everyone to the line where you all scanned your bracelet and walked inside. You were practically bouncing with excitement, ready to get on the ride already.

“Damn, do you think you could be more excited, y/n? I don’t think it shows enough,” Harry said, teasing you.

“Shut up,” you laughed as you leaned against Tom, feeling slightly embarrassed. It wasn’t long before you were at the front of the line and being ushered into rows- you, Tom, and Sam in the front, Paddy, Harry, and Nikki behind you, and Dom the unlucky one by himself on another boat.

You felt yourself subconsciously move closer to Tom as the room got really dark, listening to the voice in the room. Your eyes widened as you heard the group before you scream, wondering what happened for a second before the boat went down a significant drop.

You and a few of the boys let out a small yell at the drop before laughing and looking at the sights around you. You were astonished at how life like the robo-guys looked. You found yourself waiting for one to turn around and wave at you.

“That’s so crazy,” you said, watching the animatronic of Jack Sparrow moving.

“Look at that,” Tom said with a laugh, motioning to the jail scene with the dog holding the key while the prisoners tried to get it from him.

“That was always one of my favorite scenes,” you told him with a smile on your face, thinking about how much you loved the films. The ride was over way too soon and as you made your way out of the gift shop, Nikki pulled everyone aside to make plans of what they were going to do next.

“So you guys have the Haunted Mansion next while we go to Space Mountain,” she informed you.

“Why aren’t you two going on Space Mountain?” Sam asked, looking between you and Tom. You bit your lip as you felt your cheeks get hot, knowing they’d tease you.

“I don’t like rollercoasters,” you said softly.

“Why? Too pussy for them?” Harry asked with a laugh causing his mother to look at him in disapproval.

“I just don’t like the speed and jerks and all that,” you explained. “Just not my thing.”

“Which is completely fine,” Dom said before Nikki finished explaining where everyone was going to be and where to meet up again, and you all split up to your assigned rides.

“I’ve never actually watched the Haunted Mansion,” you said as you and Tom approached the huge castle looking building.

“Really? Isn’t that one of the big ones?”

“I think so. I was probably too scared to watch it when I was younger.” You walked to the line where you scanned your bracelets and were immediately taken back. The group was ushered into a room where a spooky voice began speaking. You held Tom’s hand and scooter closer to him as the lights went dark, slightly jumping when a few loud noises happened causing other people in the room to scream.

You went through the rest of the ride, watching the cool scenes and laughing at some parts. After it ended, you made your way to your meeting place like you had planned, seeing the rest of the family sat at a table.

“Was it fun?” Paddy asked as you two approached.

“I liked it,” Tom said before turning to you for your input.

“It was fun. They have it set up with some kind of pre-ride room scare thing and I didn’t love that, but the ride itself was fun.”

“I was hoping to do that one,” he told you. You nodded your head and told him he definitely should, that you two would be happy to go again with them.

You rode so many rides- from Winnie the Pooh to The Little Mermaid to Peter Pan. You loved every second of your day. It quickly came to a close, however, as the sun started to set.

“There’s a light show at 9:30,” Dom reminded everyone. “We should probably head that way now if we want a good view.” That’s where you found yourself now.

Standing in front of the Cinderella Castle leaning your back against Tom’s chest as his arms wrapped around your shoulders, holding you to him. You watched the fireworks and lights on the castle, overcome by how beautiful it was. You started to sing along with the songs as they played, a new one every few minutes. As one song ended, the narrator began speaking again giving you time to notice Tom staring at you.

“The show’s up there,” you said, gesturing to the sky with you’re eyes before leaning your head back against his shoulder.

“But the best view is right here,” He said. You felt your cheeks blush at you looked up to him. You reached a hand up, gently grabbing his chin and guiding him to you, pressing a kiss to his lips.

“Now watch the fireworks,” you said, your lips brushing against his as you spoke, turning to look back at the fireworks.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied with a laugh, placing one last kiss to your temple before redirecting his attention to the sky. It ended a while later, everyone deciding to pack up and head back to the hotel.

“Aw shit,” Harry said as he noticed the queue for the monorail (My brother’s reaction irl). You laughed and moved to stand in line, hoping that it moved faster than you knew it would. You turned to face Tom, wrapping your arms around him for a hug as you leaned against him, ready to go to bed.

“You had a good day?” He asked you, hands rubbing up and down your back.

“It was perfect,” you told him, your eye closing for a second. “Definitely the happiest place on Earth.”

[anogete]

The Most Amazing Woman I Know

I live four hours away from almost all of my family.  I drove home right before I closed on my house because my grandmother was having some health issues and was waiting on a plan of action for a cancer diagnosis.  I spent a weekend with her before returning to my life up north (work, house closing, moving, etc).  I had to move but as soon as that was done, I jumped back in the car to return on Friday evening.  Her prognosis was decided to be not good and the doctor said two weeks a week ago.

When I got here, I found my grandmother in a fugue and my mother exhausted.  She’d been staying with my grandmother, trying to keep her comfortable.  Things got worse on Saturday and we made a late-night call to her Hospice nurse to ask for advice.  This morning my mother and I decided that what we said we’d never do was inevitable.  My grandmother needed to go Hospice House to be cared for by professionals during her final day or two in this life.  She was restless and in pain and unresponsive.  We were having to drug her with crushed up pills dissolved in water and injected into her mouth when she was unaware.  I told my mom that all of my grandmother’s personality was gone and this body was there in her place.  We left her with my uncle for the night.  My mom went to her house.  I came back to my grandmother’s house.  I sat in her kitchen chair (the only chair she ever sat in at this table) to write this.

My heart is broken and I’m so upset with the unfairness of everything.  My grandmother raised me like she was my second mother.  I lived with her for weeks at a time when I was a kid and teenager.  I lived with her when my life fell apart in 2009 and I ran back to my hometown to lick my wounds.  I cannot imagine a world in which I can’t pick up my phone and call her.  The idea is scary and physically hurts.

All I’ve been thinking about lately is the past and all the little things about my grandmother that made me who I am.  So, let me count the ways.

- Her name is Sue.  Actually, that is her middle name, but she never went by her first name.  She is 76 years old and married my grandfather when she was 15 years old.  He was 16 and they went strong until he passed away 8 years ago.

- She lived in Florida and New York, but never called any place but West Virginia home.  She was born and raised here and loved it more than any other place in the world.

- Whey they first married, she and my grandfather worked at a canning/jarring factory and would steal cans of peaches and stewed tomatoes so they couldn’t go hungry.  They lived in a chicken coop that was converted into a one-room apartment.

- She had my mom when she was 16 and used the top drawer of a dresser as a crib because they didn’t have any money to buy one.

- Despite not having a high school diploma, she became a business owner.  She and my grandfather opened a convenience store in their neighborhood, and she ran it and kept the books.  Later in life, she started a mini-storage business and ran it from her home.

- When I was a kid, we’d “go to town” on Wednesday afternoons in the summer.  I’d help her shop and she’d buy me McDonalds for lunch.

- When I was a teenager, I’d do her dishes and laundry every Saturday morning for $25.  I’d promptly use this to buy a CD or two.  I know she thought that was crazy, but she never said a word or questioned me about it.

- She loves John Deere everything and painted all the metal windmills and flowers in her yard “John Deere green and yellow.”  Oh, she had metal lawn ornaments.  Like, eight foot metal sunflowers that she paid way too much money for, but loves.

- She loves Christmas and always went crazy with decorations until the past few years.  When I was a kid, she bought an animatronic Santa Klaus from a department store and put it in her second-floor picture window with a display worthy of a department store window.  She also loved the movie Ernest Saves Christmas and would watch it every year to get in the Chistmas spirit.

- She and my grandfather had a camp in the mountains and they loved spending time there.  I sent a restoring two weeks there when my relationship ended back in 2009.  She invited me to come with them and I spent two weeks helping her around the camp and reading books and she never once made me talk about my heartbreak because she knew I didn’t want to.

- She loves yard sales and garage sales.  We’d go on Saturday mornings when I was younger and she’d buy me anything I wanted.

- She also bought me a Prince CD and let me listen to it on the way home when I was a teenager.  She was absolutely scandalized, but pretended not to hate it because she knew I loved it.

- She’d flip people off in traffic, but there wasn’t a mean bone in her body.

- I always told her she was too nice.  She’d give anyone anything if she had it to give.  I thought some people took advantage of that kindness, but they never once fooled her.  She knew, but she still gave.

- She has a motherfucking red magnetic sheet on her fridge because she loves red and wanted a red fridge.  When she couldn’t find one, she slapped a magnet on the damn thing.

- Before she got sick, she spent her winters making dollhouses.  There is a house, a Christmas cabin, a church, and a barn.  She bought an action figure of a professional wrestler and made a white robe for him.  She decided that he would be Jesus and she put him in the yard of the barn scene with some superhero action figures as his disciples.

- Right after my grandfather passed away, she created a Facebook account and would tell everyone good morning almost every day.

- I’d randomly get shit in the mail from HSN or QVC because she’d be watching and decide I needed whatever they are selling.  One of the recent random gifts was a fancy umbrella.

- She has “wall tattoos” all over her walls.  They are large nature scenes that you rub into the way like a temporary tattoo, except they are permanent.  The guest bathroom as a doe and her fawn with birds and butterflies.  That’s the scene you get to look at while she pee.

- Anytime I ever needed money or help, she’d offer before I even thought to ask.  It wasn’t even a question.  If I needed it, then it was mine.

- She was always deathly afraid of dogs all my life.  When I moved back to my hometown with my dog, she insisted I stay with her.  She immediately adopted my dog as her “granddog” and loved him like her own.  When my grandfather passed away, she and I went back into their bedroom and lied down on the bed with my dog and cried.  It broke my heart, but that was nothing compared to this heartbreak of losing her.

- Speaking of my dog.  She bought a red bench to put under her kitchen window so he could see outside when he came over to visit with her.  And he absolutely adored her for it.

- She is less than five feet tall, but with a personality much bigger.  She loves fringe and red and bejeweled purses and things I lovingly refer to as “gaudy.”

- Her final wishes that she wrote down for my mom include: her wish to wear a red fringe shirt but NO red lipstick, lots of balloons instead of flowers because she hates the smell of flowers since they make it difficult to breathe, and a birthday cake with one candle on it.

- When my grandfather died, she asked me to photoshop a picture of him holding up some trout he had caught while fishing into a stock photo of a stream.  Not knowing her intention, I did what she asked.  The next thing I knew, she had taken the photoshopped pic to a custom graphics shop in town and asked them to put it on the hood of her vehicle.  So, the hood of her car is my grandfather looking proud of his catch.  She parks it right outside her kitchen window so when she has her morning coffee, he’s right beside her.

- Speaking of her morning coffee.  She used to tell me she needed to get up so early because she needed to drink a pot of coffee and smoke half a pack of cigarettes before she could deal with people.

- She loves the Hallmark Movie Channel and almost exclusively watched it at night.  She’d settle in on the same end of her bright red couch and chain smoke Winston Lights while she watched cheesy romance movies.  When I got back here this evening, I sat down in that spot.  The cushion dips down and is worn in on that cushion.  I stayed there and felt the dip under my ass and cried so fucking hard because she’s never going to sit there again.

- When I told her that I caught people having sex in the alley by my office a year ago, she told me, “Well, you know what they say.  Friday is for paychecks and peckers.”

I wanted to be alone after this exhausting weekend filled with people.  But now that I’m alone in this space surrounded by her, I wish someone was here with me.  I wish I had someone to call, but I can’t think of anyone at this time of night that I wouldn’t be bugging.

There are so many other things I could say about her and how amazing and fun and quirky and kind and loving and strong she is.  And how much it hurts to know I’m losing one of the most important people in my life.  I guess I should go wash the tears off my face and try to sleep.  I’m running on fumes.  I’ve had about five hours of sleep in the last two days.  I want this to get easier, but I also don’t want to forget her.

I’m not going to proof this shit, so I hope if you’ve made it this far that you’ll forgive my errors and typos.  And I hope you think about my grandma and how awesome she is.

[little-captains-daycare]

Daycare families: Shadow Wolf

say hello to Shadow's family. wolves of multiple backgrounds. their family serial number is D-013 which they all share until they either marry or get a MAJOR repairing upgrade. from left to right we have Papi the Patrol Wolf A-709, Saul White Wolf D-013, Cero i.8 Wolf D-013, Shadow Wolf D-013, Howdy the Wolf cop A-709, and finally Star Wolf D-013. this is a family of authority, science, and nature.

Papi is Howdy's father having been her inspiration to be a police officer as he's an officer from Louisiana. he's apart of the 2nd generation of animatronic citizens. the rust, stains, holes, and broken parts are all from his years of service. Papi retired from field service when he lost his eye then retired from the force entirely when he lost a good number of important functions like bending his body, his legs, closing his jaws all the way, and turning any part of his body to look behind him. Once retired Papi became a spokes person/animatronic (kind of) for next generation animatronics in schools. When he lost wife, Howdy was in middle school at the time, he reapplied to the force to work in inventory, evidence, and vehicle repair. anything to help his daughter get a good education. now that Howdy's married n well taken cared of Papi has officially 100% retired from it all. he now stands in their house telling stories or standing on the porch (because he cant really sit down anymore) spouting random comments or mini stories in a broken up accent whenever someone comes by. he’s Cajun to better explain what kind of accent he has.

Saul is Shadow's younger brother by 1 year. his fur is bristled almost like there's a gel in it at all times. he has inherited Howdy's snowy white fur, his dad's massive metal teeth, and both of their fierce attitudes. sometimes Saul will beg to be allowed to go to Shadow's daycare but because of his aggressive personality he's denied each time. instead Saul goes to a daycare on the other side of town which is helping him curb his aggression....and to get him to stop biting people. once that stops he'll go to join his brother. he dreams of being a bounty hunter working with the police. He has no accent.

Cero i.8 is Shadow, Saul, and Star's father. he's the first generation of highly advanced machinery based on animatronics to explore the solar systems. though he wont be going to planets with harsh weather he would definitely be going to planets with toxic environments. unfortunately because Cero decided to marry an animatronic and has children he will not be sent to these planets anytime soon. instead Cero just helps with the tech, analysis, and helping with his department on their projects. he works for a group in NASA comically called NIMH (not what you think) that specializes in designing exploration robots like himself to survive the harsh terrain and weather of the more dangerous planets in our solar system or other solar systems. when Cero was released to the public he met Howdy Wolf who was assigned to be an escorting bodyguard to him and his creators. they got to know each other over the course of 2 years. then they started to date, which meant sitting and chatting during off hours, for 3 years. then they finally got married 3 months before Cero was planned to be sent into space. so much for that plan. now the 2 have 3 children and are somewhat stuck with Howdy's father which isn't a problem because Cero doesnt have parents per say. he does have one plan, though, and that is when their kids are all married or happy with their chosen lives he is taking Howdy with him to the moon. He has multiple accents because he knows many languages. currently set on no accent.

Shadow is the oldest kid. he has inherited Howdy's calming personality, his dad's analytic mind, and Papi's perky spirit. compared to Saul, Shadow is very playful yet laid back and calm. he spends most of his weekdays at the daycare hanging out with the house's dog, playing games with Andre the Basilisk, and trying to figure out how to talk to Midnight when she speaks only speaks french. during weekends Shadow hangs around his grandfather, Papi, hearing him tell stories of being an officer in the Louisiana swamps or hanging around his mom giving her as much moral support as he can. being a police officer isn't easy which is somewhat why he's so interested in it. also during the weekend he's watching over his baby sister, Star, making sure Saul's aggressive playing doesnt bother her. he's very protective of the baby-bot. Shadow loves his family and their history. he dreams of being a cop like his mom and grandfather. has a weak southern accent.

Howdy Wolf is Shadow, Saul, and Star's mother. growing up was difficult for little Howdy as her mother was an entertainer at a cow folk steak and rib joint where animatronics aren’t viewed as humans, and her father was an overworked police officer. Howdy suffers from a minor malfunction (in machine terms) making her stutter her speech and strain her systems just trying to find the word she's in the middle fo saying. when she was young Howdy struggled with her malfunction, her awkward buck teeth, and somewhat of a Mohawk of white fur until Middle School year. By that time her mother had passed away causing a change in her. she got a major upgrade but kept her family's serial number (until she was married). so now Howdy has her teeth fixed, her speech isn't 100% fixed but it's at least not as bad as when she was younger and now she has a mop of fiery red hair. from then on she worked as hard as she could to ease the burden on her father. not only that she worked to become a police officer as well. now Howdy's happily married. she has 3 children that she loves dearly. her father is retired and allowed to do whatever he pleases for once. and she is finally able to slow down but not by much. her original dream was to be a cowgirl mostly because she has a southern drawl like a southern-belle. too heavy for that though.

Star is the baby sister of Shadow and Saul. she's only a few weeks old but already has personality. Star is a small ball of peach colored fur in honor of her grandmother but she has a dark brown star marking on her forehead which was inspired from Papi. also like Papi, she has beautiful blue eyes with dark green mixed in here and there from her grandmother as well. even at her age she's showing so much personality which is adorable. playful, curious, happy, very energetic, and has more understanding to her surroundings than she lets on. though she cant talk yet Star understands words and will point to them with her tiny little barely functioning paws to tell people things. it's believed she dreams of being a chef. can only bark right now.

((this was a lot of writing. image and basics of their info will be put in the “get to know us” tab on the blog!))

[familyvisionis2020]

Day 5 - Huntsville

Jeremy’s up the earliest and sends a text to us that he’s getting breakfast with Noah at a place called the Grit. Rather than opt to join I just post up on the porch with Trey and indulge in a long long blog post.The weather is cooler and grayer, joggers and dog-walkers and kids on bikes roll down the streets, slow syrupy sunday morning, humidity and gristle, butter pats wouldn’t melt if you left them out on your plate but they wouldn’t be too taut to sink your teeth into. I feel a fundamental sense of repair from typing, reviving a column of spirit I’d quietly suffocated, knock loose a clot of rust in my clockwork and the machinery is humming along again. Now that I have the link to the blog to share to people I feel like I’m gingerly handing the missing puzzle piece to my patrons and well-wishers and companions, indulging a curiosity and rounding something out to myself that might prove the regard and sensitivity my quietness can bely, might be a kindness or a service to people who find me austere or impenetrable or bristly. I was staring at a picture of a cactus and identifying with it the other day, tall, two arms, tiny head, spiky, full of water, not so bad if you’re careful with them, just like me. 

Later tonight I will watch Tired Frontier play the last set of their tiny tour with us and what will end up being our last show of the tour as well. Watching the face of the guys I see things so so different then when I saw them for the first time, when they were complete strangers, tourmates but sight unseen. What I saw in their faces the first time I saw them play: Royal is tall and broad-shouldered and country and active and maybe a little sloppy and expanive and reminds me a ton of my friend Mike, so I have love for him off the bat, also his weird tuning and rococo pedal board setup and heedless mustache and you know, wife, set off little clockworks of insecurity in me and my mind props up baseless criticisms of him sourced solely from my ignorance of him. After three shows we are not friends but I know him much better, have seen him from more angles, have a better sense of him, he loves doing bits and laughs high and loud and chills endlessly, in this way he matches the tone and cadence of Kabir magnificently. Paul is beautiful and has a face like a svelter Jim Carrey and kneads the keyboard effortlessly, digital dough, his fingers are narrow and elegant and move only enough to play the next keys, the same sort of parsimony of motion I used to see from chefs with expert knife skills. I envy his bouny raven thick-sable hair. Trey looks plainly joyful when he plays drums. He extends his crash cymbal hardware to the maximum length so his crash is preposterously high up. I can’t discern a reason other than it’s kind of fun or different. He’s enthusiastic about my writing, I get to share him some other work I’ve done, he says he loves it, I swell with gratitude and we exchange emails.

The morning in Athens goes more or less like the morning before: me and Kabir and John and Paul all go get breakfast at Donderos’ again, drink tea and coffee, pack up our stuff. We take some group photos with both bands outside on the porch with the orbs and they’re cute and silly. Kabir flipped a coin to decide whether me or John drives the next stretch, it’s me, I’m a little apprehensive because I haven’t driven a 15-passenger van in awhile, but once I’m in it’s like riding a bike, I have muscle memory of driving big vehicles from U-Haul trips and, before that, the box truck I drove to transport food donations to the pantry of the Servant Center in Greensboro. I’m a good driver, I check my mirrors, I put on a halloween mix I made in 2015 and I am feeling myself, focused, caffienated, surrounded by friends, there’s some clouds in the sky and drizzles but it’s not bad and we’re making good time. The boys just listen along with me to the DJ mix for awhile then start up a new crossword puzzle and we all 4 do it collaboratively, one person describing the clue, letters, cross-clues, and we brainstorm for answers, between the four of us we’re really good at this, and we’re all laughing and in great spirits as we methodically complete the puzzle. We stop in Marietta Georgia at one point to use the bathroom, we stop at a KFC with a 20-foot mechanized/animatronic chicken head whose eyes roll back in its head and whose giant beak opens and closes in regular time like a campy pendulum. I buy a postcard and a souveneir cup from here because I think my Mom has family from Marietta Georgia but when we’re back in the car I can’t remember if it’s Marietta Georgia or Marietta Ohio, but I figure it will be well-received either way. We get back on the road and now we’re off the highway and onto some more remote state routes and we pass into Alabama and the rain lets up but its still overcast so the light is gentle and diffuse, the hills are rolling, we pass a colony of tiny homes, weird, livestock, bulls with giant horns that when I see them I just say ‘aurochs’ absent mindedly, livestock and cotton fields and when we see police someone will just say ‘ops’ and the whole drive everyone is just in a good mood, making jokes, kind and breezy. I marvel at how these boys do not seem to carry the same sort of darkness I feel I do, or maybe they just don’t wear it on their sleeves, or maybe none of them are neurodivergent or addicted or traumatized, or maybe they are but hide it well, or have coped and healed…something I’m used to is being around people who require a space to talk about extremely serious and heavy and heartbraking things. Maybe it’s a vestige of a lifestyle I’ve left behind. In all the time I’ve spent with Kabir and Jeremy and John and David (our NC bassist who plays home shows when Jeremy is in NY), I’ve never seen anyone come close to losing their temper, yelling, crying, crumbling, whatever. I marvel at the putative stability of my friends. I like having stable friends, I like having a stable life, it’s not how my life has always been. There is a level of tranquility and calm that washes over me while I’m driving through rural Alabama with my stable friends in a well-maintained van in my healthy body wrapped around a heart that is not broken and a mind that feels as clear and capable as it has ever been. Grace is unearned, I’m told.

We make it to Huntsville on time, the venue is called the Salty Nut, kind of a spacious and tidy bar with a kind bartender my height but with a double thick country accent and the show booker is slight and soft spoken and exceedingly kind, he receives us and then points us in the direction of a nearby restaurant called Banditos Burritos. The restaurant is festooned with vaguely southwestern or hispanic decorations and also random camp like a dirty 1990s Bart Simpson doll, a ruined acoustic guitar, a King Khan poster, a garden gnome on an old-fashioned scale with the sliding thing, a skateboard without trucks painted with a sleeping cactus person wearing a sombrero, etc. The people there are so so nice and when we say we are playing the Salty Nut tonight the guy behind the counter explains that menu items with steak and all beers will cost, but otherwise we can order whatever we want for free. We get burritos, nachos, beans, rice, salsa, hot sauce, ice water in a paper cup. We feast, scarf down, all hungrier than we realized, it’s essentially a non-franchise Taco Bell by my appraisal, which is absolutely perfect as far as I’m concerned, the beans and rice feel good and substantial. Tired Frontier shows up a little after us, gets the same stuff basically, we eat and laugh and finish and go back to the venue and wait around for awhile, I join Jeremy and Royal outside skateboarding and act crazy and try to film them doing tricks but my phone dies and and eventually they stop and we go inside and set up and play. The show goes fine, TF sounds as good as they have so far. They’re playing to a crowd of the other two bands and maybe 8 people in the bar sitting at a table eating food they brought over for Banditos Burritos. The show is fine, unremarkable. When we play, I do the usual routine of trying to play my hardest and with my whole body, and end up dropping sticks more than once and missing some snare hits and not being able to keep up on the driving floor tom parts, mostly because I’m not warmed up and maybe not focusing enough, I’m letting myself get a little carried away trying to play hard and fast rather than keep things tight, I worry this may miff the other guys but after the show there is no indication that anyone even noticed it or cared. There was a cool part where I dropped a stick but instead of it falling to the floor it bounced around on top of the snare and tom and I managed to snatch it out of mid air and keep playing and Jeremy noticed that and that made me feel cool. We played hard and to my ear we got good claps between songs, we are pretty live and high energy and I think even if people don’t like our sound they appreciate the energy, but also some of the songs are earworms and catchy and people like that too, I’ve heard. We finish, the other drummer from the other band, Golden Flakes, says great set man, we perch at the merch table but sell nothng. We listen to Golden Flakes play for close to an hour, very jam band vibe, many many guitar solos, kind of sloppy, sort of high energy rock and roll I guess, I by this time am tired and pretty disinterested, get on my phone for most of it. Toward the end of their sets someone who I assume is a townie is drunk and heckling them between songs in a way that they are clearly fine with and they know the guy and to me for some reason he looks the way I imagine the way the protagonist John from Shit Town the podcast would look. We are in Alabama after all. He sounds like John (not from our band, from the podcast). He’s annoying and I’m being judgy in my head about him when I should maybe feel sorry or indifferent, idk. It feels sad to me, I don’t feel like writing more about it. It’s awkward enough, the heckling and banter from Golden Flakes, that by the end of the set we all kind of joke-rush out of there, quietly agreeing that what’s happening is awkward and unpleasant and we should go. We get put up in Thomas’s apartment, and on on the ride home the guys talk about how Huntsville’s claim to fame is being the place where the Nazi engineers taken during Operation Paperclip were taken after WW2, whose skills were put to use developing rockets, and that all manner of testing has taken place in and around the nearby military base, the Redstone Arsenal. Kabir tells a story about how a nuclear warhead was dropped on NC and by freak chance did not detonate. It would have wiped out the population of the entire Southeast. I didn’t believe it but you can read about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash?wprov=sfti1

At the apartment I make a b-line for the couch, get my sleeping stuff out, eat an apple and a banana and a bunch of peanut butter out the jar and go to sleep. At the end of every day I feel so much more irritable and grumpy than I do at other times. I still really treasure a quiet space all to myself to sleep in and so this troubles that. But I just listen to a youtube video on European history, learn nothing, and have no dreams I remember.

[writingamongtheroses-archive]

Showtime- Chapter 4

@andiwriteunderthemoon, @the-starlight-chills

The Strings

Liza ran through the halls of the restaurant. Her small body, too small to be hers, hurt with every step. She didn't want to be caught! Her hopes soared when she saw the door. She prepared to open it and escape into the cool night...

It slammed shut.

"No!"

She struggled with it furiously, staring at the tall figure outside. Even though their face was cast in shadow, she could see his smile. "Help me!" she screamed, blinking the blood that started to roll down her face out of her eyes. But he didn't move.

Paws grabbed her and yanked her back. Liza turned to see who it was.

The thing from the present was staring down at her. It held a controller in its hands, the strings connected to her. The controller disappeared, but the strings didn't. The thing floated closer...until something dropped over her head.

She let out a cry, trying vainly to pull it off. But her hands wouldn't move!

Xlnv orggov lmv...

"There. That's better."

-_-

Liza awoke with a gasp and the distinct feeling of being watched. Oh no, what time was it-

A hand sealed itself over her mouth, stalling her gasps for air. "Hush, Liza, you must be quiet." a voice said from above her. "We don't want to draw attention." It sounded like a young girl. But...she looked up.

The first thing she noticed was that there was a teenage girl, just sitting next to her. The second and third thing she noticed was that she wasn't sitting and she was translucent. The blonde girl was scanning the room. "I don't think they've moved yet..." She looked down and they met eyes. There was a long moment where they stared at each other before she opened her mouth. "Can you see me?"

Liza managed to nod without screaming. The girl- el fantasma- stared a moment longer before she let out a squeal. She managed to catch(?) the girl when she dove onto her, hugging Liza. "You can see me!"

The woman blinked. "Um...do I know you?"

"Nope, I died before you were born, but I've been with you for a while..." Well, that confirmed the ghost part.

"Ahem."

Liza glanced over. This time, she did scream at the sight of the present thing, just staring at her. She managed to catch her breath. "I- You're real."

"Yes, and so are you." The voice was soft and very matter-of-fact about it. It had a tinge of a Spanish accent to a voice that kinda sounded like the inside of a grandfather clock. Instead of the red chin and blue streaks, the face was painted to look more like a Calavera skull. Liza let out a yelp, jumping back. It gave a surprised jerk before leaning forward, raising a hand.

"Calm down." the ghost girl whispered in her ear. "Puppet just wants to help."

"Listen to your friend." The 'Puppet' gave her another look over. "And please, Night Guard, do refrain from shouting. You do not want to give yourself a migraine."

"I, what-" Liza sat back down, staring at the Puppet. The hard cement grounded her into reality. She wasn't dead, talking to some type of puppet in a present box, and there was a ghost girl that looked vaguely familiar. Okay. She took in a breath.

"On your tenth birthday, you suffered an accident that damaged your brain. Your brain managed to be stitched back together, but you suffer from migraines, headaches, and mood swings from the brain damage." It rattled off the info like it was reading from a book. "You take a cocktail of drugs to deal with the damage, but you are annoyed by it and try your best to ignore the damage. Foolish, but very interesting."

She stared. "I've lost my mind." Puppet and Ghost Girl exchanged looks as she managed a shaky laugh. "Yep. I've finally lost it." It gave her a rather cold look and moved to retreat into the box. "Wha- Hey!" To her surprise, it did pause. "You...you fixed my arm." Liza groaned, trying to remember everything. It would help make this entire thing less creepy. "Why?"

"You are the Night Guard."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"For now, it will do. I will aid you. Good night, Night Guard." Without another word, the Puppet disappeared into the box. The music box clicked to a stop- Liza wasn't even aware it had been playing. She stared at it.

"I think that's all you're gonna get." Ghost Girl whispered.

She nodded, checking her watch. 11:50.

It was time for her third shift.

-_-

"So...here's the office, I guess."

It had taken a bit of maneuvering to get the present box and the music box both. Liza set the present on the floor with a satisfied huff and no idea what to do next. Ghost Girl was poking around, looking at everything. "They've changed it since I was last here," she said finally, settling on a cabinet.

"And that was...?" Liza tried. After a moment of thought, she picked up the box and set it on what little space there was on the desk. She collapsed into her chair with a sigh, glancing at the box. It had been an instinct to grab the present and the music box. She still had questions for the Puppet.

"Oh, fifteen years ago."

"Huh. Alright." Liza stared at the present on the cramped desk. Who needed that many TVs? Tomorrow night, she could come in early and try to get some order out of the mess. "So, do you have a name?" She didn’t want to keep calling her Ghost Girl- it sounded rude.

"You can call me Doll."

Midnight came.

On cue, her phone rang. It was her actual phone, which made her startle. She pulled it out- 5 missing messages and one voicemail. She prayed that none were from her tio or, she shuddered at the thought, Lynn. Then she wouldn't have to worry about the animatronics.

Thankfully, none of it was from Rafael or Lynn. They were all from Mr. Calworth- why was he calling her? She played the voicemail. "Um...Miss Dorado, I just wanted to check in on you. The morning cleaning crew arrived this morning and said you were missing. Y-Your car was still parked outside. If you called for a ride, that's fine, but please inform us...give me a call when you can! Bye!" He sounded nothing like the confident man that had hired her.

"Oh my god," Liza said after a moment of silent gaping. "That cabrón thought I died!" This wasn't to check in on her, this was to cover the restaurant's ass! She immediately saved the message. By leaving the message, the restaurant was clearing any incrimination of them knowing what the hell was going on. It was like a setup. But more a 'just in case set-up' than anything else. This stroked the flames of annoyance in her- crap, had she taken her medicine?

Her thoughts immediately derailed from her expensive meds to stay alive when she checked the tablet and saw everyone had immediately left the stage. "Think they remember last night?" she asked Doll and the present. Neither answered. "That's what I thought," she said with a little nod.

It was hardly a minute later before Liza had to throw herself across the office to grab the remote and slam the east hall door on Rex. She let out a sigh of relief. "Too close." she sighed.

Of course, that was when the night decided to turn itself on its head.

"CLOSE! I'll show you close, stupid meat sack!" The voice was electronic and male and very annoyed. None of the character was taken away by its muffled tone. "Open up!" Liza gaped through the door window at Rex, the remote clattering out of her hand. "You're not playing fair!" he yelled.

"And you're not supposed to TALK!" She screeched, immediately backing up. Rex cocked his head in confusion at the answer, white and neon green fur moving with it, instead of the usual screaming. Liza backpedaled quickly, bumping into something. She nearly shot back into the office but was stopped by an lavender and orange hand. It was very large and very frightening. She bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming and drawing everyone else in the office.

"Kitty!" Rex whined. "Open the door on my side!" He whined until Kitty-Cat could grab the remote and open the door. It took some maneuvering but she managed, yanking Liza out of the seat and into her arms.

"Better, Rex?" she said sweetly.

"Much better!" He swaggered into the office, grinning at the squirming and screechy Liza.

Until she kicked out during her squirming, hitting him right in the chin. Rex let out a rather dog-like yelp, stumbling back and holding his chin as if he was in pain. Liza had a brief moment of satisfaction until the world turned upside down and her glasses fell off, Kitty now holding her by an ankle. "Are you okay?!" the cat asked, ignoring the human's pleas to be put down.

"Oh, you are so gonna get it-"

"Bajame-!"

"Ye didn't check Treasure Cove, landlubber, now you must-"

"Dios mío," Liza said into her hands. "Es una fiesta."

Captain Bun screeched to a stop at the sight of the group. "Aw, ye got her already!" Her ears flattened against her head. "Shame. I wanted the honors meself." She cocked her head when she noticed Rex still rubbing his jaw. "What's with ye?"

"She kicked me." he groaned, sounding very much like a grumpy teenager.

"She did, so Rex deserves the honors!" Kitty said. "Anyway, it's finders stuffers."

"Finders keepers," Liza said in English, deciding to save her energy as she dangled. "It's finders keepers."

"It's the same thing," Kitty said with a too-human shrug. Rex sniggered.

"Dios mío," Liza repeated, burying her face back in her hands. Sure, it was childish, but she deserved it, maldita sea. Heck, she would probably blow a raspberry at these cabróns before being stuffed. Because of her state of bemoaning her fate, she didn't notice Bun notice the present box.

"...Hold yer fire there, Kitpup."

"Why?!"

"What's wrong, Bun?"

Liza looked up from her hands when she felt Kitty's grip loosen. The pirate was pointing to the present box. Despite the eyes staring at it, it looked nothing more than a gift. It looked like taking it with her was a good idea.

"What? Wait, she found it?!" Kitty's voice was a tad bit higher as she dropped Liza. She let out a grunt when her head hit the floor. She grabbed her fallen glasses, shoving them on as she scrambled into her chair. She couldn't get past them to escape, so she settled for gripping the back of the chair and keeping it between her and these characters.

"It's probably a mistake like last time!" Rex said, reaching for Liza. "We'll just deal with her now and save Puppet the trouble-" He froze when the music box started to play. It was still twinkling, but the notes were sharp and warning. The dog drew back, properly chastised.

"Well..." Bun said, examining Liza with her eyes. "Ted isn't going to like this."

[writingamongtheroses-archive]

Showtime, Chapter 11

(I’m gonna make another masterpost for this when it’s finished. @h-faith-marr-writeblr.)

Locked

Liza parked in front of the restaurant. She turned off her car, but instead of getting out to go inside, she sat there.

Why was she here?

There was a rustle. When she glanced next to her, Doll was staring back. They stared at each other. For a moment, she thought she saw what looked like silver strings tied around the ghost's wrists. "Why are we here?" she said finally.

"I failed." Doll whispered softly. "I was meant to take care of those kids. I couldn't let you die either." She worried her hands, biting her lip. "I still remember hovering over you, determined to keep you alive..."

They sat in silence before Liza sighed. She adjusted her cap before opening the car door. Doll followed her out. The two walked to the door, opening it. The dining hall looked like it hadn't been cleaned like it had been the past week. Mr. Calworth was perched in a booth again.

"Mr. Calworth?"

He looked up. "Ah, Miss Dorado!" The man nodded to himself, as if proud he'd remembered an employee's name. "What can I do you for?" He sounded like he was trying to sound merry. Liza frowned but pulled out the device anyway. Her manager gave a polite but puzzled frown of his own. He gently took it and regret bled into her thoughts.

"I- the power went out and I found it on the generator. Last night." Dios, she was a horrible liar. "I hope you don't mind that I unhooked it, but the freezers were starting to melt and I figured that was a horrible waste of money." She fiddled with her hands, wondering if he would see through her and she would get in trouble-

"That's very good of you, Dorado! You're just a chip off your mother's block, aren't you?"

Liza's relief was train wrecked by the comment. "Um..." she finally managed out. "Excuse me?"

Mr. Calworth smiled, pocketing the gauge. "You definitely have potential here! Probably just some old fired sap's idea of a joke. You did a wonderful job. But..." He looked worried. "Still not quitting?"

If she quit, the Puppet would probably skin her alive, probably like it was for the...events last night.

"No sir, I'm here for the long haul," she said, pushing away the questions about her mother. Even though the Puppet probably couldn't hear her, she tried to say it as clearly as she could. Mr. Calworth considered her in a way that was probably meant to be appraising. It just made her skin crawl- but it was nothing compared to the glares she had received from Ted. Her eyes flicked to the papers on the table. "What's Mentira?" she asked.

The papers were suddenly swept up. "Our security firm." the manager said in a tone that was clearly meant to be casual. "I was thinking about replacing these old cameras with something newer. Something nicer for my favorite employee."

Liza bit her cheek to rein in her disgust at the creepy 'favorite employee' comment and the feeling that she was being talked down to. "I mean...sure. You do what's best. For the restaurant." she forced out. "I'm just the night guard."

"Yes, you are. But...the palace is built on the backs of the small, right?" Before she could find the correct response, he brushed past her. "Oh! Just remembered. I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but this is the sixth night of your shift and things...can get messy. Please, take caution."

Liza nodded. He doesn't know.' She thought so quickly she felt dazed. He doesn't know about the Puppet. Or how I'm working to befriend the robots. How much does he not know?

"Uh...yes, sir. Of course. T-thank you." Keep it cool, keep it cool. "I w-will keep that in mind, sir. Erh—Bye."

Nailed it.

Mr. Calworth nodded and headed out the door. Liza waited until he had locked the door and drove off before she headed off to the office. The lid to the box was already off, the Puppet considering some blue fabric. Liza nearly ran for it. Instead, she steeled herself, stepped inside the office to take a seat, and closed both doors.

There. The mess should be easier to clean.

And then she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The Puppet didn't say a word. Instead, it reached inside the box to pull out a pair of fabric scissors. Liza and Doll shared looks. The scissors flashed...as it started to cut out what looked like a shirt. Confused, Liza looked around. Her eyes landed on a shelf that she had uncovered during her cleaning spree.

The band was lined up on the shelf. They didn't look like the brand plushies- they looked homemade. Next to them were two unfamiliar characters: a dark yellow bear wearing a purple bow tie and hat and a dark yellow rabbit with a purple bow. Next to them was Doll. She resisted a shiver when she noticed all of them, except for the yellow rabbit, had silver strings.

"So...am I in trouble?"

The Puppet stopped cutting. There was a moment of silence before there was "No. You are not in trouble."

"But- I abandoned my post. Shouldn't I be in some type of-"

"I should've considered how Rebecca would have reacted to you. She was a...troubled child in life, as I'm sure Miss Andrews can confirm for you. Her death was violent and unkind and it ramped up her troubles."

Liza considered that. She had never asked Doll how she died. "How...did she die? I mean, I know each child was placed in a suit and that's why they stuffed other guards which led to the endoskeleton lie- Crap." She scrambled to her feet, running out. "We'll talk about this later, I need to check something out!"

Doll yelped as she was dragged out. The Puppet was left to listen to the racket of warnings and apologies before it descended into silence. It gave a chirp of laughter, fondness lighting up in its chest. "I must admit, you've become an odd one, Little Bird."

It put aside the fabric to pull out a completed doll, silver strings and all.

"But, that's how growing up works, doesn't it?"

Careful not to get the string entangled, the Puppet lifted itself from the box to gently place the doll on the shelf.

Little Liza smiled down on the office as the Puppet returned to its work.

-_-

Bun poked her head out when she heard the familiar soft thuds of work boots. Much to her surprise, it was their night guard, blonde ghost shadow and all.

"Lass?"

Although, what was she thinking, calling the lass theirs?

"Oh! Evening, Captain." Liza said brightly, stopping by Treasure Cavern. She had clearly taken notes on how Bun liked the title. Of course, Ted was the main Captain, being the leader of their little band. "Nice to see you...since last night."

"It's nice to see you too, lass." Bun took care to place as much cheer as she could in her voicebox. Like the rest of the animatronics, Bun didn't like adults. But, she could make an exception for the adult that had once been Ted's quiet little shadow, right? Plus, she had fixed the Queen Bunny's Revenge nicely- she had even swept! It was something she could be proud of, even if none of her little mateys would see it.

But, who knows? A Dorado had the potential to turn everything around.

"Where you off to?" she asked politely.

"Oh...um...breaking into Mr. Calworth's office?" Liza said sheepishly.

Bun nodded. "Next to the storage room, where that dog likes to hang around. Something troublin' ye, lass?"

"It's...it's probably nothing. Thanks." Liza took off towards the office. Bun considered this. She hopped off her stage and took off at a trot to catch up with the young woman. Liza stopped when she heard the metal, raising a brow. "What are you-"

"Need something and I figured I might trail ye to the storage room." Bun said. She aimed a crafty grin at the lass. She was sharp as a tack, she would understand quickly. "Unless ye mind the company?"

Liza blinked before smiling. Good lass. "Not at all. Actually, you might be able to help me."

"Oh, really?" Help sounded better than hazard, which was a word she had grown to hate. "What with?"

"Well, last night, before...everything went down, Kitty accidentally knocked this down." Liza pulled out the audio recorder. "Doll and I...hey, where is Doll?" When she looked around, it was to see the ghost missing.

"Probably decided to tuck herself away in yer mind. Can't blame her- she's not too fond of me kid." Not too fond was probably putting it lightly, considering the fistfight they had before their untimely deaths.

"Um...okay. Anyway, we trailed the wire that was attached to Mr. Calworth's office. That's where I found the article." She shrank slightly on her spot. "And then tonight I saw some papers labeled Mentira. He said it was the company that bought the restaurant's cameras. But that didn't sound right, considering mentira means-"

"I lie."

Liza grinned. "Right! The entire thing felt...off. So, I need to look around."

"Ah, always good to follow yer gut."

The door appeared and Liza grabbed the handle, fully expecting it to be unlocked. She frowned when it didn't open. "It's locked," she reported, frowning. "It wasn't locked last night!" She had to take a step back with a groan. "Do you know how...?"

Bun considered it before she grinned.

"I think I have an idea."

[writingamongtheroses-archive]

Showtime, Chapter 8

Lights Out

"Aaaand done!"

Liza stepped back from the speakers, grinning proudly. She and Bun watched as she flicked the switch. Treasure Cove erupted in sound. "Yar har har! Welcome crew, to Captain Bun's Treasure Cove! Load your token in and let the adventure begin!" She chuckled at the recorded voice lines, watching Bun grin.

It was the second night of Liza's new project. After she finished cleaning up the office with Bun's help, she had set to work. "Okay, stripped wires are fixed..." Liza said, checking that off her list as she turned it off. She grunted when her scarf fell in her face- she hated this scarf, it always came undone too easily. "I'll have to stop by the hardware store to see if I can find some better rope." She finished redoing her scarf to make a grabby motion. "Hand me that broom, will ya?"

Bun handed over the broom. "What are ye gonna do, lass?"

"Sweep! It's really dusty in here." True to her word, Liza started sweeping. "I mean, does the cleaning crew even clean? This whole place looks..." She looked around, trying to find a word that wasn't insulting to the animatronics.

"Nothing like how it used to?" She nodded. The depressed tone was back in Bun. "Aye, I know what you mean lass." The rabbit sat on a nearby box. "I remember how it used to be. Children would come, laughing and playing. They would win tokens while enjoying their food and listening to the Captain and Kitpup. It was bright and it was beautiful."

Liza had stopped sweeping. "I wish I could remember it."

"Ye don't?"

She shook her head. "The first thing I remember...is waking up in the hospital. The doctors told me I have retrograde amnesia." She didn't notice Doll wince.

"Wha?"

"Memory loss caused by an injury. They told me I was in a really bad accident- they had to sew parts of my brain back into my head and replace part of my skull with this fake skull stuff. There was also a bit of a brain bleed..." Liza made a face at the dust pile she had made. "Seriously, have they never cleaned here-?"

The lights went out.

"The ovens!" Kitty yelled from the kitchen.

"NOT US! I don't think..." Liza grumbled, trying to stumble out of Treasure Trove. She heard Bun move before a fake fur-covered hand wrapped around her wrist. If she focused, she could feel the metal under it. She made a conscious effort to not focus on that. Bun led her down the hallway, opening a door.

Her eyes had adjusted enough to see Kitty pulling what looked like a pizza out of an oven that was still glowing. Liza looked around, wondering if she would hear the lullaby...she shook her head. No. Because of Puppet, Ted couldn't hunt her down.

"-the generators."

She blinked at Kitty's voice. "What? Sorry, just trying to get my bearings." Liza attempted a sheepish grin before something plastic was stuffed in her hand. She turned on the flashlight, making sure to shine it on the floor.

"I need you to turn the generators back on," Kitty repeated slowly as if talking to a small child. She gestured to the pizzas. "Bun will help me with this." The rabbit nodded.

The generators, right. "Those would be..." Liza asked with a tiny wince. "Where exactly?" Something niggled at her brain, saying You know this.

"Oh, sorry! They're on the south side of the building. You can get to them by leaving the back way I think? We're not allowed outside, and I really don't want to upset Ted more than he already is." Kitty winced, matching her own.

Was this a trap?

It felt like a trap.

"...so I can leave? It's okay?"

"Yep!" Kitty chirped, turning to her ovens as Liza headed out of the kitchen. "As long as you come back." Liza paled at the tone, speeding up. "Be careful!" she heard before the kitchen doors shut. She sounded friendly, so she decided to leave that alone.

Liza opened and closed the door behind her, humming the lullaby absentmindedly. The flashlight bobbed in front of her as she walked. She turned the corner, training the light on the wall. She could see that the light outside was still on, so there must've been another circuit box for outside lighting. But why just the front?

Something clicked.

She froze, feeling Doll's fingers clench on her shoulders.

There was nothing but silence as she stood there. The crescent moon shone down on her while crickets chirped. She could see fireflies dancing around. While the flashlight was helpful, it just cast shadows and shapes of the thin forest sitting on the edge of the back parking lot. Nothing but underbrush and trees.

There was another noise and Liza ran.

By the time she stumbled across the fenced area, her feet hurt and any other noise was drowned out by the blood rush in her ears. The door was open. Annoyance washed out the fear when Liza realized why she lost power so fast.

There was a gauge.

"You aren't supposed to be here," Liza said to it as she started poking. Sure, it could save a few pennies, but it also seriously messed with the restaurant's electricity. She could remember Rafael raging whenever he found something like this on his latest repair project. She ended up wedging the flashlight in her shoulder to stick her arm half under the generator, but she flipped a switch. She was awarded a crunch of machinery as it rumbled to life. She unlatched the timer, examining it in curiosity. She ended up sticking it in her pocket- it looked homemade. She was honestly curious about why it was made and how it worked.

She headed up to the side door, intent on saving time. She regretted it when she heard another noise. It sounded closer this time. She paused in the doorway, taking a breath and turning to the night's darkness. "Hello?" She called out, wincing at her volume as Doll gripped her shoulders tight. "Is...there someone there?"

"Who are you talking to?"

Liza let out a shriek, swinging out. Rex dodged easily, grabbing her collar and hauling her into the safety of the restaurant in one smooth motion. His brow raised as she peered outside. After a minute of silence, she straightened. "Did you hear something outside?" she asked.

"Other than you sulking around? Not a thing."

"I wasn't sulking around, I was turning the power on." she snapped. "You're welcome."

"I didn't ask you to turn on the power, Elizabeth," Rex said. She glared at him, but the motion was half-hearted. "You seem jumpy."

There was a testy "I'm fine." Liza stuck her hands in her pockets for something to do with her hands. She probably needed to take another pill soon- her thoughts veered off when her hand brushed against something. "Actually, one more question." She pulled out the gauge, showing it to the dog. "This look familiar?"

"Uh...no. What is it?" Rex was telling the truth- he sounded confused.

"It's a gauge," Liza said, sticking it back in her pocket. "It cuts off the power to whatever it's hooked onto. It was set up to run from midnight to 6." She started walking to the kitchen, intent on telling Kitty she could use the oven again.

The dog followed, staring at her with narrowed eyes. "That's why this place runs out of power at night? Ted said it was because the pizzeria needed to save money."

Liza shook her head. "What it does is seriously mess with the restaurant's electricity and make us miserable."

"It wastes money," Doll said with a nod. "I remember...someone telling the construction company to not do something like that."

"Yeah, exactly!"

Rex let out some type of hiss. "Kitty's gonna have a fit. She hates not being able to bake. You should tell Ted."

She screeched to a stop. "W-What?"

"He's the boss. He should know somebody's been rigging stuff around here." She felt sweat roll down as she tried to give some excuse so she didn't have to talk to the animatronic who would take any excuse he had to stuff her... "Are you scared?"

Liza felt her hackles rise. "No! Look, I'll tell him tomorrow. I wanna take a look at this, see what I can find out!" She said when a frown appeared on Rex's face. "It looks homemade, so someone went to the trouble of making this!"

"Oh, you're scared."

"I am not! Look, I'm not trying to keep stuff from him-"

"What makes you think I won't tell him? In fact, I'll bet he'll be even more annoyed when I had to tell him."

Liza opened her mouth. She stopped when she recognized the tone. She sighed, staring at the ceiling and mentally wondering why me? "What do you want?" There was a chuckle and Rex nodded in a gesture that said: "Follow me."

She followed him, stiffening when they entered the dining hall. There was no sign of Ted, which made her relax. The dog made a beeline for Kitty's guitar, sitting on-stage and waiting for its owner. "You sound pretty competent with electronic stuff, right? At least, you didn't screw up with the generator. I guess you can't be too useless."

"Geez, thanks," Liza said with a roll of her eyes. She stopped when she took in the clearly broken lavender guitar. "What did Kitty do?"

"It wasn't her, it was some clueless cleaner." Rex held it out. "Tech doesn't work on us, so she can't get it fixed. You fix it and I won't tattle to Ted." Liza took it, considering the damage. Both age and the incident had caused clear damage.

"Deal."

"Good girl."

Liza rolled her eyes. She ignored the sarcasm to instead focus on the bigger issue. "Seriously, they don't work on you at all?" Rex winced, giving her his answer.

She only had the tools she could scrounge up. Rex was was surprisingly helpful, running to get the tools she needed. His clear desire to help his twin was a little refreshing. Liza couldn't help but wonder why the twins didn't act like this. The guitar was oversized for Kitty, meaning she didn't need any fine tools. Doll draped herself over Rex as they watched her in the working groove.

Half the issue was some pressure points where the guitar had been smashed. She would need to find a new casing. But, she told Rex, if Kitty was careful and didn't put too much pressure on certain areas, it would hold up. He nodded eagerly and she couldn't resist a smile at the cuteness.

"Kitty really needs to clean this more," she said when she took a rag to the inside. Much like when she swept Treasure Trove, she made a face at the dust she pulled out.

"She does!"

"The inside."

His ears flattened against his head. "Oh."

"But if nobody's working on you, I guess you guys won't know how to take care of your instruments." Tio Rafael was going to throw a fit six ways from Sunday when she told him. "I'll leave Kitty with some cleaning stuff. Tell her that if she keeps the dust out of here, it'll last longer!"

"Okay!"

Finally, she sighed. "Done!" Rex took it, batting Doll out of his lap, and played a few notes. Liza let out a weary smile at the noise, stretching in her spot. She froze when she heard music coming from down the hall.

"What are you still doing here?"

Liza scrambled to her feet when she saw Ted glaring at her. "I don't, it's only-" Exhaustion made her trip over her tongue. She glanced at the clock and paled, suddenly much more awake. "It's seven?!"

"Go on and get!"

"I'm going, I'm-" She fell with a grunt. Sitting up, Liza glanced behind her.

"Well?" The bear demanded.

"I'm stuck," she said, a little too calmly for the present situation. Ted took a look. The edge of her scarf had started to get loose and had gotten stuck under a floorboard that had been sticking up for ages. Liza stood and grabbed her scarf to try and yank it free.

"Just take off the scarf!"

"No!"

"Maybe you should just-" Rex said, moving to help her.

A tad bit of hysteria struck her. "I said NO!" she screamed, giving one hard yank.

Several things followed.

There was a very loud RIP! She staggered back at the sudden freedom, her foot catching on the end of the stage. There were several cries of "LIZA!" when she fell. She groaned when her shock cleared, looking up.

Ted stared back. Then his eyes moved up and she realized that her head was bared. Liza scrambled out of the bridal carry, falling on her butt with a grunt. She snatched her scarf off the stage where it must've fallen and wrapped it, a little too tight, around her scars. All the animatronics were staring at her. "I'm going," she said finally, pushing past Ted to disappear into the office. She came out a minute later with her stuff and disappeared into the early morning.

"She's not too bad nowadays," Rex said, handing Kitty her guitar. She squealed quietly. "I mean, she really was influenced by-"

"Not a word," he said. Rex shrugged as Ted stalked out of the room. He ignored the little girl that replaced his reflection.

"Blaming yourself for what happened to Elijah will not make the past heal." Of course, he would wander by here. The Puppet was still working at the crossword, considering the boxes. Instead of the calavera paint their creator had carefully done, it had a face full of tears and a red chin. "We need to get to work. Your twin has already warmed up to her."

"Would've preferred someone else, anybody else. Instead, you chose another night guard." Ted looked around the office. The kids' pictures were dulled with age. He chose to stare at one in particular. "You chose her."

"Time is running out."

"Hasn't she suffered enough?"

"We needed someone."

Ted nodded at the awful truth, turning to take his place on-stage. The Puppet huffed, disappearing into the box.

On the wall, a picture of a girl in yellow, standing next to her bear, stood staring.