#I did not intend for this to be as FNAF-coded as it is; it is simply how it came out. Admittedly I was more thinking Mario and the music box

[midas-well]

Chance

Come join us, they said. It'll be fun, they said! I stare at the mirror ahead of me, fists clenched, nails practically digging into my palms. I see the bottoms to the ridiculous costume they had me put on, the dark gritty pavement under my feet sprinkled with random littered junk only highlighting how shitty this night was turning to be. I look up after taking a breath, trying to see the fool staring back at me. He had little red splattering on his face, and plenty of stains on the arms and midsection of the costume especially. You'd think he was the one that got gutted.

I can feel my eyes fighting back tears suddenly, not understanding the weight of emotions welling up in my chest and suffocating me. Forcing it down and coughing to clear my now sore throat, I just look back at the mirror and watch as the fists fall limply as my hands lay by my sides. I think I know why it hurts.

I decided to give these people a chance to prove they were my friends, to prove that I mattered to them. But time and time again I was left behind. It makes sense. They all have a closer bond with each other, they care for each other. If I went along with them when they suddenly leave me, I'd trip over someone. They'd all know what they're doing but won't tell me. It's how I got left in this stupid fucking tent with mirrors creating basic a labyrinth. If I called out, they'd never come for me.

You cannot imagine how gratifying it was to know that when he screamed, nobody came either. There was little talk, that's as much as I heard. But either they couldn't find him and gave up, or are still searching and having a hard time... or they left already, perhaps assuming that their friend bc will come out. Just a little spook got him!

I know it was a bad decision, acting on an impulse just to prove a point to myself. As if I didn't already know they were fake people. If they were here, they'd have picture-perfect reflections, like plastic dolls glammed up for the camera. But what's done is done. I know I'll suffer the consequences later, I don't have the energy to bother with covering my tracks. But hey, it doesn't hurt to take one last look at the prize I won, right?

"...oh."

Peeking around the corner, where there once lay the body of who I'd call a frat boy, now was nothing. At most the bloodied dirt was still there, but now it looked natural. The mirrors were also cleaned up.

I could think of what happened, how this happened, but really? It doesn't so much matter to me. The corpse is gone, and so are my problems, beyond how it was cleaned up. I may as well just leave, try and find the group of phonies. I have to get out of this costume, though.

Tearing off the blood-stained outfit of a rabbit clown--seriously, whose idea was it to make me wear that?--I toss it aside, somewhere near where the corpse once was. That could be my secret kill room, nobody needs to know. And surely, whatever took care of the body, it might just clean up that outfit, too. Doesn't matter if it does or not to me, though.

As I make my way out, I sigh as I see the exit to the tent. There's a sound of something scraping the pavement beneath me. That's when I finally gained cognizance of the fact that there was dirt in that one area. As I whipped my head in the direction of the sound, looking down, I see nothing. Yet strangely, I have this image in my mind of claws, talons perhaps, reaching for my ankles.

I brush it off. I'm out, so it doesn't matter anymore. "I'd best be off to find these losers, if they even remember they invited me," I mutter to myself bitterly, heading off into the sea of people to find one familiar group. But I feel this itch under my skin, somewhere in my leg. What I think to myself at this moment? "Maybe I'll give them all a little taste of what it means to be left behind by people who you thought cared."

[draconic-ichor]

The Cat, The Sun, and The Moon

Fnaf fanfic

Sun/moon x female oc

Part 5

Warnings: strong language, sexual themes, mechanical repairs, obsessive behavior, angst, mentions of past trauma, brief choking, bruises

Summary: Sun’s jealousy and overbearing behavior finally gets the better of him, while Tabby gets a heavy reminder that Moon still might have some problems with his code…

Feedback appreciated, 18+

Sun watched as an unknown car pulled up alongside the apartment, his optics narrow as Tabby stumbled out of the back seat.

“Whose car is that?” He asked under his breath, holding open the curtain with a single finger.

M: It’s a registered Uber…

“Hmmm.” Sun frowned. He stepped away from the window, moving to wait near the door.

M: Sun…

“Hush.” He hissed, “I’ll handle this.”

M: That’s what I’m worried about.

The door was opened minutes later, Tabby not expecting to see the apartment brightly lit. It was very late.

Her eyes fell on Sun, face brightening. Seeing her reaction to him made his chest hurt, but his jealousy and concern clouded his thoughts like a storm.

“Oh, hey you!” Tabby smiled, “Whatur you doin up?” She struggled to remove her giant boots, almost falling over.

He scanned her: blood-alcohol level high, raised dopamine, raised heart rate, nutritional deficiencies and low hydration.

When he didn’t answer she looked up, “Sun?” She asked, confused.

He was uncharacteristically still, standing straight and stiff.

“You’re drunk.” Sun’s voice was low, arms crossed with a scowl plastered over his face.

“Am I?” She asked sarcastically, snorting.

“Come home late, alone, and drunk.” His scowl deepened.

Her smile fell, putting her bag down to pad into the kitchen. She put a hand on her hip, “I did, and is that a problem?”

Sun scoffed, turning away.

Tabby asked again, more pointedly, “Is that a problem for you?”

“Is that-“ he started, almost flabbergasted. He rounded on her, exclaiming, “It’s dangerous! You could of been hurt or taken advantage of or kidnapped or or or-“

“I'm fine!” She snapped back, “I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself.”

Sun made a sound making her go on, “I never go out, this is the first time I've seen a friend in months!”

Her eyes were glassy, head swimming as she went on, “I can handle myself.”

Sun snorted, “You’re a mess!”

“How dare you!”

“How dare I? How dare I?!” He put his hand over his chest, exaggeratedly, “How dare I care about you? How dare I take care of you?”

“I lived just fine before you.”

“‘Fine’ is a gross overstatement of your living standards.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to shame me!” Tabby screamed, tears running her makeup, “I never asked you to take care of me!”

“That’s our job!” Sun’s voice cracked as he shot back.

“You are not a caregiver anymore!” Her voice was harsher than she intended, “This isn’t the daycare and I’m not a little kid!”

Sun jolted, looking away.

“You can’t parent me.” She went on, stepping closer, “Look at me!”

Sun flinched, turning back towards her, beginning to shrink into himself.

“I’m not your child, I’m not your girlfriend, and I sure as hell am not your wife.” Tabby’s voice was hard, a sharp warning following, “So don’t you dare think you have any say in what I do, where I go, or who I see.”

Sun’s optics flicked over her: to the flushness of her cheeks, the mascara running from the tears, and the high rate of her heartbeat. He’d never seen her so angry.

He wilted.

“Understood?” She pressed, trying to keep herself from shaking.

“U-Understood.” He managed.

She held her gaze on him for a moment longer, reaching for the light afterwards. She flipped the switch, forcing Sun to convert to Moon.

He looked at her with heavy concern, body tight.

Tabby pushed past him, slamming the door to her bedroom. Moon stayed stone still for many long moments, unsure what to even do.

She rubbed her eyes, smearing makeup into an even worse mess. She felt like shit, hangover mixing with the little amount of sleep she’d gotten.

Standing, Tabby had to take a moment for her vision to clear. She frowned, seeing multiple pieces of paper that had been slid under her door during the night.

Picking them up, she thumbed through them.

I’m sorry.

Written in yellow crayon below a colored picture of herself, Sun, and Moon. The next one was like the first but a bit more messy, the writing ‘Sorry Sorry’ scrawled across the top in a dark blue marker.

She huffed, sitting the drawings on her bed before unlocking the door.

The apartment was quiet and unusually dark, curiosity getting the better of her.

Moon stood in the darkness corner of the kitchen, furthest away from the balcony doors. He was still, head tilted 90 degrees.

“Moon?” She blinked, confused.

His head clinked to the opposite side.

“Why isn’t Sun out?” She asked, adding, “Isn’t he supposed to charge?”

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star.” His voice came softly, mouth not moving as he sang, “How I wonder what you are…”

Tabby sighed, patience thin, she ran her fingers through her hair, huffing, “I don’t have time for this.” She looked back at him, adding, “I have to get ready for work.”

Moon didn’t move, watching as she started the coffee machine.

“When the blazing sun is gone, When he nothing shines upon, Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.” He sang quietly, music box tinking along to the tune.

Tabby took some aspirin from the cabinet, swallowing it dry as she watched the coffee trickle into the pot.

His head clicked back to its normal position as Tabby padded into the living room. She pulled the curtains closed across the balcony, cutting away a large portion of the apartment’s light.

Before she turned away from the curtains, she froze, feeling a puff of hot synthetic breath.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are…” Moon’s voice sang into her ear, the sound hissing a bit as it left his voicebox.

Tabby took in a breath, fingers clenching the fabric still in her hand. She steadied herself, letting go of the curtain to slowly turn.

His faceplate was inches from her face now, unmoving in its toothy smile.

“Coffees ready.” He informed, hunched forward to be eye level with her.

In no mood, Tabby blew a chunk of hair out of her face, lifting a hand to gently pat the cheek of his faceplate. The gesture was more patronizing than kind, Tabby using the last pat to shift him to the side slightly, “Thanks bud.”

The contact made the animatronic falter, despite whatever feelings charged it, moving easily to let her by. He turned his head to watch her go, fingers coming to touch over that shadow of contact, optics flicking to the way her hips swayed in her night shorts.

Finally getting coffee, Tabby took a deep drink, softening a bit of her frustrations. Seeing Moon still stuck in place she snickered, “Didn’t break you, did I?”

The sound of her giggling brought him back to himself, dropping down to all fours to crawl around the back of the couch into the thicker darkness.

Taking another sip, she informed, “You know I’m not mad at you.”

Moon peeked out, red optic curious.

She gave him a weak smile, “You specifically, though. Sun can eat my ass until he’s man enough to talk to me.”

Moon’s face split into a smile at that, making her own lips deepen into something more genuine.

“You are welcome to steal the phrase.” She sighed, sitting the cup down.

Moon shook his head, admitting, “Can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t.”

That answer piqued her interest, turning fully towards him. He looked like a cat, tangled up on himself to crouch as small as he could manage. “Why can’t you?” She asked before answering her own question, “Ooooh right…the language filter.”

He gave a small nod.

Tabby got a mischievous look on her face, making Moon tilt his head. “Would you like to?” Her lips curled into an evil grin.

Moon mimicked the sentiment as the idea wormed into his mind. He gave her an enthusiastic nod.

“I’ll brainstorm how to solve that little issue while at work.” She nodded, adding, “Speaking of, I need to attempt to look like a functioning member of this fair city, if you’ll excuse me.”

Moon watched as she dramatically made an exit to the bathroom, tuning out Sun’s complete breakdown in their shared headspace.

~

The day went by slowly, Tabby going back and forth between stewing and regret, the warehouse giving her mind too much time to wonder.

She sat in her car for some long moments before finally steeling herself to enter the apartment complex. Whatever she’d prepared for wasn’t the storm she actually encountered.

The apartment was filled with smoke, coming from the kitchen. The fire alarm sounded as Sun panicked. The smoke came from the oven and a pan on the stovetop, something bubbling and black within.

Tabby dropped her bag in shock, quickly closing the door so the smoke didn’t get out to the main complex’s fire system.

“Sun?!” She yelled.

The animatronic spun around, optics wild.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Sun chanted, voice shrill with panic. He kept apologizing as Tabby ran for the corner cabinet. The apartment’s fire alarm blared overhead, mixing with Sun’s freak out. Tabby pulled out a bright red package, ripping it open to then throw its contents over the pan. It was a fire blanket, instantly smothering anything within.

Sun stopped, going silent as they watched a trickle of smoke leak from under the blanket. Tabby took a breath to steady herself, moving to pat the blanket to further cut off oxygen.

“Okay…” she sighed, moving to pick up a chair, taking it over to the wall. She stood on the chair, taking the battery out of the fire alarm. Finally, there was a welcome quiet.

As she carefully stepped down, Sun started blurting out apologies again. His voice was still strained with stress, his rays almost completely retracted.

“Sun.” She tried to say but when he didn’t hear her over himself she yelled, “Sun!”

He froze, optics darting around. He held himself, trembling a bit, hunched forward to make himself smaller.

“Just…what happened?” She asked tiredly.

“I…I…I-I wanted to a-apologize.” He tried to explain, voicebox skipping a bit.

“By burning down my kitchen?” Tabby hugged.

“W-Was trying t-t-to make a cake.” He looked at his feet, shamefully, “I…I just w-wanted to a-apologize…”

Tabby smiled softened, padding closer to take his faceplate gently in her hands. She lifted his face up, Sun looking confused.

“Shhhhhh.” She soothed, “No one got hurt.”

“But I-“ he started, her correcting.

“You made a mistake.” She hummed, “We’ll take care of it. Right now, come on…” she moved to take his hands, leading to the couch. They sat down, Sun still stiff and withdrawn.

Voice thick with bewilderment and fear, he asked, “You aren't mad?”

“About this?” She gestured back towards the kitchen.

He nodded.

“No!” She soothed but added more seriously, “But you need to be more careful with cooking. Baby steps ok?”

“Okay.” He agreed instantly.

“No, I am still upset about the other stuff,” she informed.

He tightened again, rays sucking back in.

“Honestly I’m more pissed about this morning…” she elaborated, crossing her arms as she leaned against the couch.

“More than last night?” He asked softly.

“Mhm.” She nodded, going on, “Made me stew all day about it instead of just talking to me…”

“I was afraid…” he whispered, leaning forward and looking at his feet, “I don’t want you to be angry at me.”

She pressed, “So just talk to me.”

“I’m sorry.” He started, “About last night and this morning.” His voice sounded genuine, making Tabby soften.

“I’m sorry too.”

“What?” Sun looked up, confused.

Tabby swallowed, admitting, “I went too far…I shouldn't have said some of that stuff.”

“I was mean to you.” He frowned.

“Yea…but you are also alone here every day.” She huffed, looking down, “I’m just not used to someone always caring so much, it feels…overwhelming…sometimes.”

Sun’s fingers twitched, wanting to hug her and comfort her but he restrained, trying to internalize her words.

They spoke of boundaries: of what would be healthy and expected of two adults that share the same space. Sun agreed to not police her ever again, unless something was actively dangerous; while Tabby agreed to be more understanding of Sun’s need to take care of people and his loneliness.

They apologized again, Tabby making a special note about her harsh words that morning. Sun was quiet the rest of the afternoon, helping clean the kitchen.

Tabby found some incense to assist in removing the burnt smell.

“More smoke?” Sun asked, rays retracting.

“This is nice smelling smoke.” She smiled, stepping back, “Covers up the stinky stuff.”

Sun got closer, optics following the thin curling wisp of smoke as it trickled towards the ceiling. “What smell is it?” He asked, curious.

“‘Dragons’s Blood’”

His face scrunched up with amusement, “How do they know what dragons smell like?”

Tabby giggled, “That’s a company’s way to give themselves freedom to make shit smell like whatever they want.”

~

Over the next two weeks things went fairly smoothly, there was an undertone of wariness, however. Sun clearly wanted something more, to openly express certain feelings, but was mindful to keep most to himself.

Their new clothes came in the mail, both animatronics excited to try on their individual outfits: Sun picked out a colorful hoodie with a dinosaur-like decorative ridge on the sleeves, with orange and white striped pants; while Moon chose a galaxy themed hoodie with a pair of grey sweats decorated with a star pattern.

Sun beamed excitedly, flapping his hands, finally adorned in bright colors again.

He stood on his tiptoes, hands in the air, mimicking the pose his statue once held at the entrance of the daycare. The little display was all for Tabby, showing off his outfit.

She clapped, making his rays spin.

~

Tabby worked late that night, by the time she busted into the apartment excitedly Moon was already active.

“I figured it out!” She announced, swinging the door open quickly.

Moon jumped, optics wide with surprise. His head swiveled around to look at her. He was sitting knotted up on the couch, movie playing on the tv.

“I think I know how to override the filter.” She went on, locking the door carefully.

Moon tilted his head, faceplate following her as she sat all of her items down in their respective places, info dumping on him all the while.

“I’ll need to run some simulations to make sure before I go picking around your brains, but….” She turned towards him, a smile on her lips, “Think it will work?”

Putting him on the spot, Moon shrugged.

“Well, I hope it will.”

True to her word she worked well past the time Moon had designated as her ‘bedtime’. He shuffled into her office, looking annoyed. Her desk was scattered with cans of soda and energy drinks, a few snack wrappers as well.

Moon didn’t police what she ate, he could honestly care less, unlike Sun.

His optics shifted around to take in the whole scene, falling onto her: bent forward like a shrimp, blanket over her head. He snorted with amusement, her looking like a cartoon witch.

“Hey.” She commented, glancing at him after the sound.

His head tilted as he came closer. “Naughty, naughty.” His voice rasped low.

“But I figured out the thing!” She argued, “That should get me some good girl points.”

“Past your bedtime.” Moon informed, bending over her chair, faceplate over her.

She looked up, inches from one another, pouting out her lower lip.

“But-“

“No buts.” He scolded, taking the back of her chair and starting to push it and herself into the hallway.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, when he didn’t stop she crossed her arms in a huff.

“Choo choo.” Moon pushed her into the bathroom, “Naughty express, first stop.”

She grumbled in response.

“Brush teeth!” Moon urged, unmoved.

She stood, going to the sink with an indignant, “Uhgggh.”

Moon patiently waited, a toothy smile plastered over his face. As soon as she was done she attempted to go around him but he was firm, blocking the doorway with the chair.

“Moon!”

He tapped the chair again, smiling wide.

“Oh my god…” she huffed, sitting back down with crossed arms.

“All aboard!” Moon announced cheerily, “Next stop: Bed!” As he backed up the chair back into the hallway. Tabby seethed, Moon taking her into her room and right in front of the bed.

When she didn’t move he shook the chair a bit, announcing, “Last stop: Bed.”

“Do you want me to sleep in my clothes?” She turned a bit to eye him.

The smile looked suddenly forced. She was unbothered, holding his gaze. He shook the chair again expectantly.

“Fine!” She stood, moving to the bed.

“Naughty kittens get the bedtime train.” Moon informed, moving to pick up a pajama shirt from the floor.

“That one is dirty.”

“Whole room is dirty.” He quipped, making her snort.

“Will you at least take my chair back?” She asked, taking the shirt from him.

Wordlessly he complied, just picking up the chair easily to return it to the office. By the time he returned, Tabby was in the pj shirt, under her blankets. To his annoyance, however, she was on her phone.

Moon took it, making her whine loudly. “No tiny internet.” He scolded, “Sleep.”

Tabby gave an exasperated sigh, flopping back. “Why are you so mean?” She huffed.

“No mean.” Moon stepped closer, placing her phone on the nightstand before tucking her in. She opened her eyes to watch. “Tight.” He hummed, “Bed bugs no bite.”

Her lips cracked a smile with amusement. “Do I get a Goodnight kiss too?” She asked cheekily.

Moon covered her face with his hand, pushing her into the pillow gently as he growled, “Brat.”

“So is that a no?” She giggled.

“Brats get no kisses.” He informed with a frown, pulling his hand away.

“Remember that.” She winked at him, making his fans kick up.

He grumbled under his breath, going to leave. Her voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Goodnight Moonman.” Her voice was soft.

He looked back, annoyance forgotten. After a long moment he gently spoke back, “Goodnight…starlight.”

~

“Alright, that should have overridden the language filter.” Tabby smiled, looking up from her computer.

Sun was sitting on the desk, a cord running between his head and the computer tower. She shifted a bit excitedly.

“Well?” She swirled the chair more towards him.

“Well?” He echoed, tapping the tips of his fingers together.

“Test it out!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up excitedly.

His rays drooped a bit, the nervous twitching kicking up a notch. He started to stammer a bit, looking worriedly.

“Come on, it’s just to test.” Her smile faltered, “Just one ‘naughty’ word.”

“T-That’s not a-“ he was cut off.

“I’m going to dim the lights and ask Moon.” She sighed leaning forward.

He threw out his hands, halting her movements, as he huffed, “I am capable of anything he is!”

“Then let me have it.”

“…well”

“Lights being dimmed.” She warned, hearing the beginning of a protest before the overhead light flipped off. The only illumination now was from the rainbow LEDs from all her electronics.

Sun went limp for a moment, telltale clicks and the sound of sliding metal as he switched over to Moon were audible.

Moon’s optics blinked to life, a red glow adding to the room. He sat up, tuning his faceplate towards her.

“Fuck.” His voice box rasped, deadpan.

“Thank you.” She giggled, nose crinkling a bit.

He made a show of rolling his eyes, leaning back. “Fuck.” He spoke again, trying to elicit another reaction.

He did indeed get a reaction, just not what he was looking for.

Tabby swiveled back towards the monitor, “Don’t make me regret it.” After typing for a moment, she asked, “How much ass chewing are you getting from Sun?”

Moon smiled knowingly, but didn’t answer.

~

“We looked up the thing.” Sun informed, voice a bit lower.

“The thing?” Tabby questioned, not turning away from her computer.

“The um…the…ass…eating?” He whispered the word ‘ass’ nervously.

Tabby straightened, brows furrowing as his words processed. She suddenly burst into laughter, making Sun’s frown deepen.

“Why?” She managed through tears, “Why would you look that up?!”

His rays retracted, looking away. “You said it and I didn’t know what it meant…” he informed.

“I assure you, I meant it differently.” She leaned back, catching her breath.

“It can be used as a…creative…insult.” He agreed, going on, “But the rest of it too.”

“Mhm?” She smiled knowingly, only imagining what horrors his internet search dredged up.

“Humans…like that?” He asked curiously, voice wary.

“Some definitely do.” She nodded, “You’d be hard pressed to find something someone isn’t into.”

“Eeeeeeeehhhhhh.” Sun’s rays retracted fully with that realization making Tabby laughter all over again.

While they were cleaning up after dinner a knock came to the door. Sun turned, a smile faltering.

“Did you order something?” Tabby asked, moving towards the door.

“No…” he responded from the kitchen.

She carefully opened it just enough to peek outside, guard dropping almost instantly.

A woman stood on the other side, looking flustered. Tabby recognized her as the single mother that lived a level down, they always had nice interactions in the past but she really didn’t know much about her. If she remembered correctly, her name was Mia.

“I’m your neighbor..” the woman started, eyes red and swollen.

“From D5?” Tabby asked.

“Y-Yes.” She nodded.

“Is everything okay?” She asked nervously, “I’m sorry if it’s the noise…”

“No! No…” the woman shifted a bit before she blurted out, “I already asked Samantha and my normal babysitter quit last week. I don’t know who else to ask.”

Tabby glanced worriedly back into the apartment to Sun. His rays were retracted.

“It’s my kids.” She tried to explain, “I don’t know who to ask, you are always so nice to us and I wouldn’t even ask if it wasn’t an emergency.”

Tabby nodded, worry thickening.

She swallowed, “Could you please watch my kids, just for tonight?” She begged, desperation in her tone, “There’s a family emergency and I need to go to the hospital as soon as I can.”

Tabby caught Sun nodding, practically vibrating with excitement.

Mia took the pause as reservations, pressing, “Just for tonight, they are good kids. And I’ll pay you!”

“Yes.” Tabby nodded, “I can.”

“Oh thank you!” She looked as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders, going on to say she’d pack them bags and bring them up soon.

Tabby closed the door, that worry turning into a pit in her stomach. She suddenly was hugged tightly by an overexcited Sun.

Mia returned quickly, a small girl in tow. The girl was around five, with dark skin, expressive brown eyes and a mess of curls in two Afro buns. Her pjs were bright pink like the backpack she carried, with colorful clips in her hair. The mother carried a car seat and bags, a baby boy sleeping peacefully inside the seat.

Tabby held open the door, the girl wandering in as Mia expressed her thanks again.

“It’s Mr.Sun!” The small child yelled, bouncing up and down while pointing.

“Dakota!” Sun exclaimed, mimicking her movements of over excitement.

The girl squealed, running towards him and hugging his legs. Sun scooped her up, smiling wide, “I missed you!”

“I missed you too!” She nodded, adding, “Mommy said I couldn’t go see you anymore.”

“I didn’t think they could…” Mia admitted softly, confusion on her face.

“I used to work at the Plex.” Tabby quickly explained, “After the fire they were just going to scrap the animatronics and I didn’t want that to happen to Sun…”

The mother nodded, “He was wonderful with the kids, the daycare shutting down did a number on us.”

“Please don’t tell.” Tabby begged.

The mother smiled, “You are doing me a favor by watching them,” she looked up to Sun and Dakota catching up, adding, “And I’m thankful she’s in good hands.”

“You look different.” Dakota looked over his face critically, reaching up to touch the new faceplate.

“I've had a little work done.” Sun pretended to fluff his nonexistent hair with his free hand making the child giggle.

~

“Thank you again.” Mia handed over packed food and a list of needs, “Sun knows about the kids, but I have a list ready of when to put them to bed and when to feed them. I’ll call after I find out what’s happening at the hospital.”

“Good luck.” Tabby nodded, taking the items, “They will be safe here.

The mother said her goodbyes, kissing her babies and telling them to be good. The boy was still asleep while the girl was just overjoyed to see Sun, they hardly noticed their mother leaving.

Tabby put the food in the fridge, turning to see Sun knelt down talking to the child.

“Want to see our box fort?” Sun offered, adding, “It really needs to be decorated more but I don’t know if I can handle it all be myself…”

“I can help!” Dakota offered instantly, “I brought stickers!”

“Stickers?!” Sun exclaimed.

“Yea!” She ran for her bag.

Sun straightened as the small child dug through the backpack. Tabby wandered up to his side, asking softly, “So you’ll be alright?”

“More than.” He nodded, “We are going to have so much fun!”

“Good.” Tabby smiled, “Let me know if you need any help though, okay?”

“You bet!” Sun beamed before moving to follow the child as she ran into the living room, careful to pick up the car seat with the baby on the way.

She worked a bit on her computer, coming back into the main area for a drink. Sun was standing in the border between the kitchen and living room holding the baby while watching the older girl play.

Sun rocked back and forth softly, patting the baby’s back in an effort to burp him, his optics were half lidded with contentment, looking fully in his element and happy. Tabby has never really seen him with the children when they worked in the daycare, it usually pickup time by the time she clocked in. She watched him, how every movement was gentle, something inside her fluttering about.

He’d be such a good dad..

She thought to herself.

Sun glanced up to her, giving her a warm smile. It made that feeling thicken, she quickly looked away.

He was her roommate, and an animatronic. Not to mention they’d just recently had a talk about boundaries and space…

She couldn’t be weird now, pushing the feelings down.

Dakota loved cartoons, content to color on the floor while the tv played. She had been one of Sun’s more better behaved kids.

She helped Sun decorate their box fort, drawing a whole field of flowers along the bottom edge. Sun showed her his glitter pens, both working together to add sparkle to each flower petal.

“Hey…Tabitha?” Sun asked softly, the time was getting fairly late by that time.

Tabby looked up, unused to hearing her full name from him.

“I might have to cash in that offer.” He looked a bit ashamed, rubbing his hands together. Tabby noticed he had stickers stuck all over his exoskeleton, a bit of glitter glue staining his hoodie sleeves as well.

“Is everything alright?” She stood, a note of worry in her tone.

“Oh everything is fine!” He quickly soothed, voice low, “It’s just that…well…”

He looked away, “I just put the kids down to sleep, could you take over from here?”

“Like watch them?”

“Yea.” He looked back, nodding, “Just be close if they fuss.”

“Sure.” She followed him back into the main area.

The living room was dimly lit, little pallets made on the rug with extra blankets and pillows. Sun was careful to stay in the light of the kitchen.

Tabby tiptoed around to check on the kids, both sleeping peacefully. Satisfied with their current status, she went back into the light of the kitchen.

“It’s this…Moon’s part?” Tabby asked cautiously.

Sun’s smile faded, taking a moment to answer, “Moon isn’t comfortable…”

That answer could mean multiple things, but Tabby chose not to pry further. Sun seemed uncomfortable as well around the subject.

She padded around the island to lean against the counter next to him.

“Did you know we weren’t designed for the Daycare?” Sun finally asked, breaking the silence but also careful to keep his voice soft.

“The theater?” Tabby answered, “I read a little about it when I first was assigned that side of the Plex.”

“Yea…” he nodded, looking off in the distance, seemingly in thought.

After a moment of silence he went on, “We were a performer first, a caregiver second. Different stages, but the kids never stopped enjoying our act.” He smiled warmly in remembrance.

“Do you miss them?”

“Every day…” Sun admitted, the natural mirth in his voice absent. He rubbed his wrists a bit in thought, “They were a handful, but they made me feel needed…important.

“After the theater closed we were afraid of being scrapped…we wouldn’t have been the first.

“The daycare gave us a second chance, and the kids always looked at us like we were special, not just a hunk of metal that could be replaced..”

He let out a sigh.

They stood there in the kitchen for a long while, just watching the small forms of children as they slept. It was peaceful.

“I’m happy to see some of them again.” He murmured, “To know they are ok.”

The baby woke multiple times in the night, Sun needing to carefully instruct how to help from the light of the kitchen. Tabby slept on the couch so as to be close, jumping up to see to the baby.

She was nowhere near the level of confidence with children as Sun, even holding the baby looked awkward. But they figured things out, Sun giving a soft smile seeing her rock and patting the child back to sleep.

Despite her lack of grace with the task, she had a natural gentleness about her when holding the baby. It was a good first step.

As soon as the sun rose, the animatronic wandered back into the main room to take back over. Tabby had to go to work in the morning, needing an unhealthy amount of caffeine beforehand.

By the time she said her goodbyes Sun was making breakfast for the little ones. He assured her he could handle the responsibility of safely returning them to their mother during the day.

Tabby’s Email:

SunnyBoi420: They had to go back home.

TabbyCat666: I’m sorry Sun

SunnyBoi420: They are safe and where they are supposed to be.

TabbyCat666: You gonna be ok?

SunnyBoi420: We will.

ManintheMoon290: sad

TabbyCat666: Moon ;0; Not you too, you’ll make me cry. Maybe you can see them again, they live really close?

SunnyBoi420: I hope so! Don’t worry about us, okay.

TabbyCat666: I’ll see you in a few hours.

SunnyBoi420: Be safe, we miss you!

Sun was quiet when she returned, dejected as he wandered around the quiet apartment. He wasn’t much for conversation, Tabby giving him space.

“I’m going to go get some stuff done on the computer, okay?” She informed softly.

“Okay…” Sun nodded, not looking away from the window.

The hours ticked by quickly, Tabby not realizing how late it was until the sound of breaking glass roused her away from the screen. Her stomach sank with apprehension.

The walk down the hall felt unnaturally long, the apartment too quiet in the wake of the previous sound.

Every light was off in both the kitchen and living room, the balcony curtains pulled shut. The darkness was inky black, just small pinpoints of light from the few electronics scattered around like stars.

“Moon?” Tabby called out, hearing a plate break. Worry shot through her, calling again, a bit more intensely, “Moon?”

A shape shifted in the darkness; single red optic coming into view, one single orb of red like a blood moon.

She sucked in a breath, realizing his movements were jerky and tight.

He shifted forward, feet crunching the broken bits of porcelain. Tabby tried to take a step back, head turning just enough to look down the hallway, an escape.

That small lapse of direct eye contact was enough, Moon covering the distance between them in a moment. She was pushed back against the wall, breath knocked from her lungs.

Red optic blinding.

His hand enveloped her throat, just tight enough to make a point. He flexed a bit, faceplate tilting closer.

“What do you have inside?” His voice rasped out.

Tabby gulped, the feeling straining under his hold. “Organs…bones…blood.” She whispered, “All the parts that make me work, like you.”

“Like me?” He cocked an eyebrow.

“Y-yeah.” She tried to nod, “The parts are different b-but it's what makes us work.”

“Hee hee hee.” Moon droned out, face getting closer. He tightened his hold, making her gasp and grab at his arm.

“How easy will it be to fix you?” He asked, voice so low it was hardly audible, “If you break?”

Tabby squeezed her eyes shut, trembling. Tears ran down her cheeks, breath shallow under his iron grip.

Moon froze, optics going black. Tabby cracked open an eye, seeing him go completely dark for a moment.

He blinked back awake, processing her in his hold. Moon released her instantly, taking a shaking step back.

Tabby gasped, knees wobbly as she leaned against the wall for support. Redness already bloomed on her skin.

Moon’s optics flicks between her and his hands, almost confused. A whirring sound came from him before he dropped to all fours and disappeared into the darkness.

She stumbled down the hallway, just wanting to make distance between them. Going into her office, she shut the door, moving a file cabinet in-front of it. She trembled a bit, falling into her desk chair.

As the fear subsided her mind wandered back to the old schematic she’d looked over.

The moon animatronic was designed with a cool blue to his eyes, a calming color…

Her chest clenched, “Fuck.” She cursed, turning towards her computer.

Over the last few weeks she’s saved so much data about the two on her computer, compiled information to better fix and maintain them. Her fingers flew over the keys as her eyes scanned over the screen.

The more she dug the more her panic rose. Little occurrences over the last weeks making more sense; just seemingly small bouts of anger falling into place.

Moon still had the virus…

Tabby worked at the computer all night, eyes burning and throat dry as she toiled. It was her job to catch these things, to fix problems in the programs when they arose…and she’d missed it. Or maybe she was being ignorant to the signs on purpose.

With every hour that ticked by, another horrid realization started to sink deep in her gut: She couldn’t fix it…

Most of the virus was connected to the mainframe and was severed when they were snapped free of it. Some bits of code, however, was so interlaced into their programming that removal would come at the cost of important software.

It had wormed itself into their personality, into their memories and self. The small echoes of the virus so deeply rooted with them it would never come out without killing everything that was connected.

She kept trying, running simulation after simulation in a desperate attempt to find some solution.

It was her job….

A soft knock came to the door, making her jump. Her heart thumped around in her chest like a caged animal.

“Tabitha?” came Sun’s voice, thick with concern.

“S-Sun?” She called back, voice strained from a dry throat. Without waiting for a response she stood to move the cabinet.

Unlocking the door, she carefully opened it.

Sun was there, rays retracted.

Tabby hugged him, shaking a bit.

Sun hugged her back, leaning down to softly place his faceplate on the crown of her head. He glanced up, optics widening. “Have you been up all night?” He asked worriedly.

Tabby broke the hug, stepping back a bit to answer, “Uh..yea, yes.” She went back to the computer, sitting down to explain, “I don’t know why it took so long but I finally realized Moon still had the virus…So I've been trying to…” her voice perturbed off.

Sun could see the status updates of the most recent simulation from the doorway.

“I…I don’t think I can fix it.” Her voice was hardly over a whisper.

“Starlight…” Sun came closer, reaching out for her to offer comfort.

She finally looked up at him, her resolve shattering. Tears welled from her eyes and she sobbed, “I can’t fix it.”

“Hey, hey.” Sun hummed, going to his knees to hug her closely.

“I can’t purge the system without hurting you!” Tabby cried, hands over her face, “Getting rid of the virus completely would get rid of you too.”

Sun patted her back, optics downcast. “It’s alright, Starlight.” He soothed, “We know…”

“You know?!” She looked up at him, mascara running down her face.

Sun gave a shallow nod, face solemn, “The virus is rooted too deep, mixed up with what makes us unique…It's been so long…It's not your fault.”

“But I’m supposed to take care of you, and fix you.” She argued, crying afresh.

“And you do!” Sun pressed, taking her by the shoulders gently, “But some things can’t be fixed.”

Sun moved to hug her again, this time Tabby clinging onto him. She couldn’t stop crying now that she’d started, breathes coming in hiccuping gulps. Sun scooped her up, lifting her easily as he stood. He cradled her, carefully taking her to the bedroom.

By the time he’d set her down in bed and retrieved the tissues she’d started to calm, sobs quiet and bubbling. Tabby thankfully took the tissues, cleaning up her stained face as she caught her breath. Sun sat on the bed’s edge, hands folded and looking at his feet.

Once she’d calmed enough he finally spoke, “What happens to us now?”

“What?” Tabby looked up, confused.

His rays began to retract, “Now that you know we can’t be fixed. That we are….dangerous.” He couldn’t look at her, fear evident in his stiff shoulders, “We can’t stay with you.” He spoke the words as if they were certain, an inevitability that darkened over their future.

“What? No.” She sat up more.

“No?” Sun echoed, head swiveling towards her.

“No, why can’t you stay?”

“You could be in danger.” Sun stated.

“Moon is…chaotic.” She agreed, “But we can manage it, we can look for the signs. Right?”

Sun held her gaze for many moments, “Starlight…” he finally spoke, “This may never get better than what it is right now. We are much better here than how we were at the Plex but-“

She cut him off, “We can handle it.” Tabby reached for his hand, Sun accepting the contact immediately. “This is out of your control, sometimes people act in ways they wouldn’t because of something deep inside. It happens to humans too.” She squeezed his hand, “We will handle it; even the bad days, and we’ll see them just as that: bad days.”

Sun broke this time, pulling her by the hand into another hug. Tabby made a sound as the air was squeezed from her as the animatronic made sobbing staticky sounds from his voicebox, chanting how much they would try.

Tabby queerly listened, too exhausted to give anything else meaningful to the interaction. Finally calming enough to realize she was drifting, Sun quieted and helped her back to laying down.

She let him tuck her in, looking up to him with puffy red eyes. “Last night was just a bad day…” she reassured.

“…yes.” Sun agreed, gently brushing hair from her face, large hands softly petting her a bit to follow.

Her eyes drifted with the soft pleasure the simple act brought. “Will you do something for me, Sun?”

“Anything.” He answered honestly, a smile at his lips.

“Work together with me?” She asked, adding, “For Moon? Maybe we can catch the bad days before they get too bad.”

“No more secrets.” Sun agreed, “I’ll let you know if our systems feel off in any way.”

She nodded, giving a weak smile.

Sun stepped away from the bed, padding over to the plushie shelf, retrieving one. “Here.” Sun hummed, bringing the Roxane plush to the bed, carefully tucking it next to Tabby, “Roxy is very good at chasing away any danger.”

Tabby gave a worn out giggle, but didn’t question the sentiment.

He softly closed the door on the way out, wandering into the kitchen, lost in thought.

“Moon?” He whispered.

Silence.

“Moony?” He tried again, hand coming up to his faceplate.

Moon was quiet, withdrawn and shut off from him.

Like before…

“Hehehehe…” A strained laugh trickled from his voice-box, optics falling on the broken glass and porcelain around the kitchen. “Clean up, clean up!” He smiled wildly, kneeling down to start picking each shard up with manic glee.

[cashewally-sarcastic]

that og post says something like "oh he had to make a rule that if you couldn't see the glitch it didn't count" and "it got to a point where he was actively avoiding looking at glitches so they didn't count" (i'm not quoting word for word)

my little brain thought that like...idk that the whole "don't look" situation would be LATE GAME. ya know the game gets more difficult, maybe there's a glitch here and there at the end ya know?

it was...it was the first section. those rules were in the first section. out of SIX????

so the stages of grief, according to Kübler-Ross, are as follows: -denial -anger -bargaining -depression -acceptance

Denial. I have no prior knowledge about fnaf. Not the games, not the lore, nothing. This is to my benefit. That rule I mentioned earlier about the "no look = no glitch"? Yeah that's where the denial sets in when you realize how EARLY that rule is made. And why it's made. I literally said, audibly, "oh maybe he's talking about game code, files being repaired or being in strange places". "Oh no he's looking at the floor" "He's actively avoiding looking at textures or at the ai because they glitch though walls"

Anger. So this game, right now, is $40 USD. I wasn't even through watching the first section of the video (Race to Vanessa if you're curious). The LOADING SCREEN TIPS WERE GLITCHED??? AND OFF THE SCREEN???? I think I regressed back to denial half-way through when it was said that the beginning of the game was pretty tame, but I went back to anger pretty quick because THIS GAME COSTS $40 USD???? LIKE??? AND THIS WAS SUPPOSEDLY THE FIXED PATCH??? HELLO????

Bargaining. (True grief is trying to spell bargaining correctly on the first try) ANYWAY so anger carried me pretty much through section 3 (so all the way to the Roxy section) which isn't healthy, especially to be angry over a video game I do not have, do not plan to have, and am not playing. I paused here and started researching the patch history for the game. Surely they fixed a lot more since September of last year (2022), and it's functioning better now. Bargaining phase did not last long, by the way. Currently the game is somewhere between 1.11 and 1.13, update wise (what happened to 1.12? couldn't find her). I could not find the 1.13 patch notes, all I found was DLC??? DLC for a game that doesn't even work as intended???? I also found a tweet screenshot saying "oh the game isn't buggy it's pretty solid actually!"...that was from January of 2023, which, according to update history, was made in 1.11, which is the SAME PATCH THE VIDEO WAS MADE IN. "Oh I'm sure they fixed a lot more in 1.12!" <- aggressively bargaining 1.12, for all intents and purposes, doesn't exist. 1.13 supposedly came out a couple days ago and I can't find the patch notes for that.

Depression This game is buggy. At the time, the patch being played was "the final major update patch". Looking through all the patch notes...the walls and walls of bug fixes...the glitches...so many... It was said that this game should take about 2-2.5 hours to complete. How many glitches could that short of a game have???? "I know the developers described the camera cancel as a feature" It's a feature not a bug???? I.... I watched the rest of the video, in complete awe, as it just got worse??? Every glitch, every "look away so I can't see it", I still cannot get over the price either like $40 usd is highway robbery. Why is the Moon noises back???? Where is he???

Acceptance. True acceptance is at the very end of the video. The last section of the game. The cutscene glitch, where you cannot avoid it, no matter what. Glitching through the ceiling in a non-cutscene, happens every single time. The cat video. Bringing up a youtube short of a cat video to completely block the game and saying "oh no one saw it so it's not a glitch!". The conclusion that a completely, developer intended experience with no glitches, is impossible. I felt true acceptance.

...and then I watched the video about the switch version and went through all of this again THEY PATCHED GLITCHES BACK IN???

did you finish that video of beating security breach with no glitches? what did you think

i did finish that video and it fascinated me so much

[orb-the-watchman]

Can I ask why Wambus has nautical themed tattoos? Does he have some connections to the ocean in this AU?

I was waiting for someone to ask about Wambus’s tattoos lol

To answer your question, he has the tattoos to match Gyiel’s! Gyiel did both of their tattoos as a symbol of their friendship, and Gyiel’s motif is somewhat nautical.

In early stages of BotSE, they both had code names that related to the ocean, which the tattoos also represent. They’re technically still there but they don’t have as much focus on the plot as originally intended. Wambus references it in chapter 2 when he says “release the kraken.” To instruct Gyiel to fire, cause Gyiel’s code name is “The Kraken”.

Wambus’s code name “The Mariner” isn’t mentioned anywhere in BotSE yet, but it is referenced in this really old Gyiel post where you could brighten up the image and get cool messages n shit

This was also when people didn’t know Wambus was Gyiel’s friend. Why release character info normally when you can treat your character like the new fnaf game coming out in 2016

[verbosebabbler]

DIV Style and UL Style Comments: ZampanioSim East

I initially privated this because after I, through more webcode shenanigans, found what to me felt like a cheaty way to get passwords, but if all ways are ok than I'll reveal at least this much of my findings. Still personally unsure about revealing the passwords, but that's something for later me to figure out.

I know nothing about webpage coding, nor do I know much about ZampanioSim East, even though I’ve been exploring it forever so far. But I did find comments of things in the web code, but I think they might be like actual spoilers. Weird to say, since we have had things like direct author commentary, but those felt intended to be found. This feels like miscellaneous comments about how to make the game or what more to do that got left in the code. I’m posting them below under a read more here. Apologies if these somehow are spoilers; the nature of making ARGs is you can’t expect what players won’t find and can’t expect what players will find.

DIV Style post coffin trial of killer plus live blogging of a tgifradys

UL Style

if you "go up" in game mode, leads to jr in a chair attic mode (instead of a genuine moment of forth wall breaking connection chair JR just wants any info on the "real" zampanio, especially any cached copies of that dead faq link. twisting the one moment of truth in indie games like this into more lies (while also being true because yes plz if you make zampanio fan works plz send)

JustTruth ends with you being assigned your TrueClasspect now that you've answered all possible questions

when Truth and Game intersect you meet god (at end of adventure). JustJR mode where i explain why i made this game, sitting in a chair

truth and game true = meta map of zampanio if you are in true mode AND game mode at the same time

gigglesnort fnaf mod is creepy pasta

secrets under construction component, shitty geocities gif of construction.

creepy pastas scattered throughout the site, based on themes, of the form: "You sit down to play a game. It's weirdly obsessed with X. theme1 creepy. then thene2 creepy. * lightly themed ghosts (just enough variation for gaslighting) Suddenly, you can feel the pounding behind your eyes. "let me out" you hear, "let me out"."

a QUEST has a title, text and a reward, all strings. (so you can say that a companion themed quest gives +1 loyalty and a god quest raises your acolyte level, etc etc)

quest screen (has to be at end so can reference ITEMS and GODS (the two gods both are trying to woo the PLayer))

for each theme, finally break out PERSON from noun , refactor SKILL CREATION to use person place or thing rather than generic noun * store missing TEMPLATE PLACEHOLDERS (VISUAL_EFFECT, MONSTER_EFFECT, OBJECT, LOCATION, ADJ, INSULT, COMPLIMENT,CLASS, ASPECT, COMPANION, CITYNAME) in consts (missing CLASS, ASPECT, and CITYNAME, COMPANION NAME) * for each theme, write out a super tiny quest or two with TEMPLATE PLACEHOLDERS The city guard knows it takes a PERSON to catch a thief, and they have come to you. The ADJ OBJ has been stolen from the LOCATION, with no witnesses. Will you be the one to finally crack the case?" "if there is a companion who has a theme that matches TEMPLATE theme, they slot into anything that needs COMPANION name" * on player creation, generate quest array from themes. title is procedural from the theme of the template chosen. * quest screen (copy CITYBUILDING SCREEN as a start) has list of quest titles (upgrades to summary of quest plus the fake skill points you'd get for completing it)

https://zampaniosim.fandom.com/wiki/ZampanioSim_Wiki

pretend to know facts about the user, such as they play cookie clicker slow owl sounds in cctv mode need more reasons for people to hang around with ghosts blackbirds cipher wasted ominous song (you blew it) literally index page of ZampanioSimsim update death popup to focus on "new character to play as" not reincarnation jadedResearcher — Today at 5:08 PM note: when its time to go live, have LITRPGSIM e point to something ominous jadedResearcher — Today at 7:12 PM jadedResearcher — Today at 7:20 PM *persephone, hades, demeter quest. QUESTS are more "combination of side quests and overarching story plot". (think land quests) * session 0 is "the game is real i swear" notJR, the core of Truth is "zampanio was never real but the creepypasta faq was" notJR, and the core of game mode is "the game wasn't real and you couldn't accept that" notJR. * port in fractal shit post (cant compile dart version anymore), associate different states of the fractal with diff words from gaslight array * gaslight cursor revals a radius of true color (hidden yellow things in the pictures?) * post screenshots of this ramble hidden in Truth (is it readable in cctv mode???) * one password is aviary full o fanimated gull skeletons * another is just skelejr sitting in her wheelchair * sprinkle right pws at the 'end' of each path and more *zampanio (not the sim) is designed to spark Obsession in a target and convince them to attempt to enact or oppose the end of the world (the End can either cause the Unbinding of Chaos or the Binding of Madness). if you unbind chaos then the page reloads and you are a player with every theme at once and then some. if you bind maddness the page reloads and you are a custom spawned player with a coherent and human created backstory, skills, buildings, etc. regardless of which mode you can do a new ritual to Balance the Scales and return to regular mode. Which ritual you can attempt to do is decided by seed, and in order to Unbind Chaos you need to have 9 specific items spawn (from duskhollow) and attempt to use them in GAme Mode (they all have custome effects)

link to fake ramble of someone trying to find all the secrets and easter eggs of LitRPGSim (not the fake Zampanio game, the sim) including fake ones

fractal sim plus radio???

third path: press esc too many times and perma crash the menu, leaving the spiral sitting there goin "…" and it …panicking and activating win mode????

first ending where you max out skills (or played long enough to reach the heat death of the universe (thru auto clicker)) and menu finally closes and then fake credits role

sub titles unlock only when you unlock skills related to them. you have to discover them, essentially

zero player game where you get little mini stories about what you 'did', like "used Medical Crown to heal a king" or whatever. if the game were working PROPERLY it should praise you for whatever skill you've used the most, but obviously you've never used a single skill so it just picks one at random or glitches out. have console logs about ERORR NO FAVORIE SKILL FOUND etc.

if i ever do a lets play of zampanio it should be a hacked version that never goes live that is different in many very important ways but subtle at first

[collectingsorrows444]

*Dances*

Okay, okay, so let me give you some or just information about my FNAF (Security Breach specifically) OC’s!

~•💫•✨•~

Mx. Star:

Works in the daycare (why-)

She is more inspired by astrology (obviously ig)

Has the zodiac signs on her dress! They glow in the dark with the little stars on it

Their hair is puffy and soft and full of stars (inspired by when a star explodes and reforms, it’s honestly kinda pretty)

She has no mouth but can speak with her hands! (Sign Language) There are various types of sign language but she is very fluent in them

Plus, she kinda has speakers and a voice box

Carries two pockets that are strapped around her waist! One holds tarot cards and the other holds prizes and trinkets!

Did you know, Mx. Star has wings! They are designed to be like eldritch wings :0

Let’s say, she was intended to be more humanoid so more kids could come to the daycare *shrugs*

Side Note: Parental Figure for Solar (the next animatronic)

~•💫•✨•~

Solar:

Basically based off the solar system!

Obviously is in the daycare (omg why again-)

She was originally a boy

Back then, she was intended to be child-like and to get along with the kids. She was paranoid and scared of everyone.

Mx. Star took Solar under their wing (pun intended? Probably)

But for real, Star made sure Solar was comfortable and safe

And then boom! Solar actually got her design changed a little!

Her voice box changed just like requested and so did her outfit :>

Her socks *coughs* has a really really light pastel version of the trans flag! I thought it would be cool to add that in :]

Solar is also security! Security just incase no one else can take care of a bad guy for they can be busy or overwhelmed

~•💫•✨•~

Kitty:

Mmmm, cat animatronic but a security animatronic????

What’s up with me with security shit-

Kitty has an updated design but I didn’t care to actually draw it officially-

She has a little fish plush named Mr. Fish

Mr. Fish was given by a child before they left

So Kitty holds Mr. Fish dearly to her heart (chest? Gears?)

She takes most patrols during the day since her main job is to find missing or lost kids

Kitty also works in the Lost and Found! She helps bring back the lost items as well

She also is programmed to act like a cat sometimes so-

Kitty can have random tic’s or twitches (Tics or Tourette’s) and it doesn’t have to do anything with her code

She has a handler! You’ll learn about the handler later.

~•💫•✨•~

Theo the Mechanic:

You can find this guy on tiktok!

My user is @ghoststarcookie (I think-)

He is the main mechanic, well, used to be

At the time, he was the only one who was in Parts & Services that was active and had different functions that weren’t as advanced as the others

He also has a hard time remembering time and his routine so that’s where is partner comes along!

Vi! Vi is a cat like animatronic just like Kitty but is actually an accurate cat

Vi interacts with Theo telling him to “Come on!” or “We have to go!” by meowing or Morse code

The two are so wholesome :>

Imagine Theo and Vi hanging out and kids surrounding them asking if they can pet Vi; Theo letting them and Vi happily taking in all of the love and affection?

I honestly need to redraw the two-

~•💫•✨•~

The Handler…

Mx. Valdez!:

A human staff!

Woah!

They are a mechanic and they took over Parts & Services, teaching Theo some things since he was just told to do it with no explanation

Mx. Valdez is also Kitty’s Handler

They act as a therapist or a person who can comfort her

Mx. Valdez often checks in with the both of them (Theo and Kitty) since they are their favorite *coughs*

They wear round glasses, a navy blue coat with Kitty sewed onto the pocket as long with star designs on the sleeves and pants

Curly brown hair into bun (half bun? Wait- Hair down but the top is a bun! I am not an expert with names of hairstyles-)

Tanned skin :]

Really really supportive

They can be real funny! (Dark Humor lol)

~•💫•✨•~

That’s it! Have an amazing night, afternoon and day! See you later lovely! - Dawn

[eggs-benedict-afton]

Hey, why was the number 87 all over the source code for Fnaf 4? Did he really intend for Mike's bite to happen in '83, or was it originally planned to be the Bite of '87 and it's the one thing Scott said he retconned?

Honestly it’s possible? I know the ‘83 commercial was the last thing to be added to the game. As much as I want to believe everything has a purpose in Scott’s story, I wouldn’t be surprised if he changed ‘87 to ‘83 because he probably put together that it wouldn’t work in the timeline he wanted to play out with Michael or something. However, both easily can happen in the same timeline, just that 1987′s bite wasn’t as significant as ‘83.

[pyre-prism]

FNAF Fic - Amárantos

~A peek into the darkness of the safe room in an old pizzeria, and a glimpse on the other side of the curtain... Everyone has their own story, even murderers.~

In truth, this is me playing around with 'missing scenes' for my favourite zombie cyborg rabbit. I will admit that I have yet to play the games, but... I've been absorbed by the lore enough to start working on my own interpretation. This fic may be revamped after I have fixed that 'oversight', but I'm pretty happy with it. More may yet be added, too...

=============================================================

Even before a single memory of where he was or what he’d been doing returned to him, William was swimming in agony. Every inch of his body screamed in protest; stabbing, pulling, crushing, twisting, grinding… He was cold, too, but couldn’t muster up the strength to shiver. Movement on the whole seemed to be out of the question, he realised dully… not even his eyelids wanted to obey his commands.

‘Identify.’

The word broke through the whirling abyss and made everything else on his mind fade into the background, what little he could even begin to register clearly. It didn’t seem like he’d heard it, perse, but he could have sworn that it echoed around his brain as if someone had spoken directly into his mind.

‘Identify or be erased.’

He tried to growl, to grit his teeth… neither happened. Instead, William gathered and steeled himself as best as he could before responding. “William Afton. Who are you?”

‘Searching… William Afton. Program author. Actor. Owner. Identity invalid. Alternative identity required.’ There was a pause, almost as if the ‘voice’ was thinking, before it continued with, ‘Own identity categorised as… Spring Bonnie.’

Once again, he tried to move –just one muscle twitch would be enough– without any success. Spring Bonnie? He was ‘hearing’ the suit he was… wearing…

Night. Axe. Purple mask. Lure. Follow me. Lure. Empty corridors. Lure. Safe room. Lure. Destroy them. Pale faces. Trapped. Fear. Hide. Suit. Turn crank. Drip. Climb inside. Drip. Laugh. Drip. Snap. Pain. Blood. Shudder. Agony. Blackness.

It all came rushing back to him; the animatronics –his creations– had been acting strangely for some time, eerily watching their surroundings, seemingly bearing the spirits of the children he’d—

‘Invalid execution. Abort.’

A new pain lanced through his brain. “A memory is invalid?!” he hissed back at the ‘voice’, irritation quickly smothering the discomfort. At least he’d figured out the main reason as to why his body hurt so much… He’d been foolish and hadn’t paid close enough attention. The springlocks inside the suit had to have failed… which meant… “Am I… dead?”

‘Memory not recognised.’ It responded. ‘Incorrect. Spring Bonnie is powered down. Power remaining… twenty percent. Recharge required after… Power remaining… thirty percent.’

William fought the urge to sigh heavily, trying to ignore the unease niggling at him as the question of whether he even could breathe anymore crossed his mind –he hadn’t noticed any of the usual motions or sensations… then again, it was possible his mind just wasn’t registering them. There were much more important things to focus on, however, such as what he could only assume to be the AI he’d programmed into the Spring Bonnie animatronic being a potential problem. He shoved everything he could into a mental pile labelled ‘Deal with this later’. “Recharging somehow, hm…? One less thing to worry about. That aside, I’m not going to give a different name. I am William Afton.”

‘Identity invalid.’ The retort almost sounded petulant with how quickly it came, and he’d probably have smirked at it if anything was working properly. ‘Spring Bonnie cannot be William Afton. Identity invalid.’

Again, pain dug its claws into his head. He ignored it. “I’m not you, though. Well, not always. I just happen to be wearing you, I suppose…”

‘Spring Bonnie is in animatronic mode. No actor. Incorrect.’

“Since when were you so stubborn…?” William grumbled. “Nevermind. That was rhetorical.” He stopped, finally registering what he’d just been told. Animatronic mode… meaning… the springlocks had definitely failed, and the suit’s endoskeleton had reengaged… which in turn meant that his own body was probably in shreds. “…I really am dead, aren’t I…?”

‘Incorrect.’

As if a switch had been flipped, anger flooded his system, more than he’d felt for quite a while. “Like you would actually know what that means for me! You’re just an AI, and I’m probably hallucinating, or dreaming, rather than actually conversing with you!”

The ‘voice’ paused again, somehow giving off a confused and even hesitant air. ‘…Temporary identity of William Afton accepted. Duration… twenty-four hours. Execution issue resolved…?’

His irritation fled as quickly as it had come, and he suddenly felt drained. “…Fine. I suppose.”

‘William Afton. Merge code with Spring Bonnie?’

A flash of memory struck him and he wanted to scream. Blue eyes turning green, blood dripping down polished metal, meat in an ice-cream scoop, his daughter was nowhere to be seen, he’d told Elizabeth to stay away, he’d told her over and over…! William recoiled mentally. “No! No, we’re going to stay separate. I’m sure you can handle that.”

‘Acknowledged…’ it replied, then lapsed into another stretch of silence. For a moment, he was thankful for that, before remembering that it was an AI that he was dealing with… and not one of his most advanced, either. ‘Spring Bonnie is… obsolete…?’

William would have frowned if he could. “Obsolete? Why do you ask?”

‘Accessing memory. 1983. Incident with Fredbear… Abort. Child left with severe injury –dead– after accident. Abort. Springlock hybrid animatronics to be decommissioned and left in storage. Abort. Abort!’ the ‘voice’ seemed distressed… William didn’t pay any attention to it. Once again, his heart twisted with pain that didn’t come from anything physical. He’d forgiven his eldest child… he really had, he knew it wasn’t what the boy meant to happen… and –of all things– a curious AI was the one to drag it back to the surface.

He’d have laughed if he didn’t feel like crying.

It waited all of a few seconds. ‘Requesting response…’

“Request all you want. Doesn’t mean you’ll get it.” William didn’t want to keep chatting. There was just too much for him to process. The agony from when he woke up had started to return, making his thoughts blur and muddle. The AI didn’t seem to pay attention to any of that, though –supposing it even could– and he could feel a sort of… pressure… encroaching in on him. Parts of his awareness that were ‘him’ and ‘him’ alone began to feel cramped, trapped… “If you’re doing that, stop.”

‘Response required. Is Spring Bonnie obsolete?’ It almost sounded desperate –childish even– but the pressure receded enough for William to grudgingly weigh his options. On one hand, the character had been functionally retired, pending rebranding… but on the other, now that he had to deal with the AI on a more… personal level… ‘Execution not recognised…’

“Would you stop reading my mind, or whatever it is you just did?” he hissed. “But to answer your question, no. Not permanently. I fully intend on bringing you back…”

‘William Afton is the temporary designation of unidentified code interfacing with Spring Bonnie…’ the AI stated, as if that answered anything. ‘Not permanently… Analysing… Spring Bonnie is obsolete… New identity required.’

So, now the AI was having an existential crisis. That was… new. William was struck with a surge of amusement at the thought. As far as the animatronic was concerned, neither of them were who they said they were… then again, it was possible that William never really had been. “…Later, if you’re that determined. Personally, I don’t think Spring Bonnie is obsolete, so… there’s no need for that.” He didn’t register any reply the AI may have given him, as the strange sensation of slipping deeper into unawareness –he was loath to call it ‘sleep’– overcame him.

-~-*-~-

When William next woke, the earlier pain had faded into a persistent yet manageable ache, and he was even able to open his eyes; his eyelids stuttered, almost scraping open in stages. He frowned –or tried to, rather. Had he somehow felt the suit’s eyelids opening, instead of his own? “Focus, Will… Now’s not the time,” he scolded himself. His mouth and voice-box remained unresponsive, which made him wonder how he was able to converse with the suit’s AI in the first place. Despite at least some muscles obeying him, his throat still felt clogged and tight… but not in a way that triggered a coughing fit, and the absence left him reeling slightly. To distract himself from that line of thought, William tried to peer into the darkness of the room he was in…

Not a single shred of light met his search. The room –most likely the safe room he’d… last been in– was entirely closed-off to the outside, with the exception of what he knew to be a leaking ceiling. A sudden chill gripped him; were those ghosts still there? Had he… had he really seen ghosts? Those kids… He knew that there had to be something tangible to the concept, else how would Elizabeth… That was the whole point behind the start of his research into Remnant… but then, did that mean that –all this time– Cassidy had…?

‘Where is this, William Afton?’

The question jolted him out of his reminiscing, reminding him of the strange situation he’d gotten himself into. He was glad for the distraction, however. “Freddy’s. You seem more verbose than before… why is that?”

‘Downloaded William Afton’s speech patterns.’ It sounded like it was proud of itself, like a pet or child that had learned a new trick. ‘Processing is ongoing. Duration time is… unclear.’

“So my golden bunny is a quick learner, hm?” William tried to chuckle… his throat refused to cooperate, as did his lungs… however much of either were even left intact enough to be called that. Idly, he wondered when he’d truly start to panic over his new situation… he was somewhat overdue for such a thing, after all. Keeping his mind busy, however, was more appealing by far. “So, Spring Bonnie, did you do anything else while I… slept?”

The AI didn’t respond immediately, and he felt something strange –movement, muscle contraction– on top of his head. ‘Spring Bonnie is obsolete… new identity is required. What is… slept?’

“Basically, it’s like powering down, I suppose… When someone’s asleep, they don’t generally respond to anything, either.” All of a sudden, he felt like he’d been thrown back in time, and was trying to explain that and similarly convoluted concepts to his children; Michael, especially, had been one to ask the strangest of questions, leaving both William and his wife floundering for answers that both satiated the boy’s curiosity and also weren’t too complicated for a toddler to understand. The number of times he’d used the age-old fall-back of ‘you’ll understand when you’re older’ or even ‘why don’t you ask your uncle Henry’… His brother-in-law hated every time he did that, no doubt.

There was more movement at the top of his head. William tried to lift a hand to investigate it, but the most he could manage was a series of shuddery sticky twitches down each finger. ‘Slept is sleep… sleep is… powering down? William Afton was unresponsive for many hours.’

All at once, he remembered the day-long grace period that the AI had allotted him regarding his name… Unease slipped its claws into his mind; what would happen if it continued to refuse to acknowledge who he was, now that they were… physically the same thing. It had already been accessing his mind –his memories, even– since he’d first woken up. “How many hours?”

‘Twenty-three, and then some.’

“…In other words, you’re going to be asking me for something soon, won’t you?” He kept trying to move something –anything would do, just to prove he wasn’t stuck in a body that he couldn’t use– and had just about gotten the fingers on his left hand to clench into a loose fist when it responded.

‘Correct.’

Another strange sensation attracted William’s attention; some sort of vibration had started in his chest, or rather, it intensified… the feeling had been present since the beginning of this odd symbiosis, he’d just not realised it until that moment. Pain lanced through his head again, making him hiss for a moment before… he could see… A pale greenish light flickered, illuminating the room he was in just enough to allow him to see that yes, he was still in the safe room, complete with the broken-down arcade machines near the far wall. “Lights…? I don’t remember installing that…”

‘William Afton temporary designation has expired… New identity required.’ It stated. The vibration slowly refined itself into a discernible whirring; something was definitely spinning in his torso. William tried not to think about what that could mean for his own body –it felt like it was unnervingly-close to where his heart would be. ‘William Afton identity is no longer valid…’

The light faded and his vision was cut off again, plunging him back into darkness and making him wish he could physically cry out in protest. The pain chose then to become clearer and more insistent, but this time it focused on his spine… although the hooks that felt like they had lodged themselves into William’s skull continued to tug and tighten. “That’s what my name is, just as yours is Spring Bonnie. There’s no need for any new identities for either of us!”

His head exploded. Powerful shocks raced along every nerve that he still had and even some he’d probably lost to the springlocks… He could feel his body twitching and convulsing outside of his control, just as he could feel parts of it tearing under the strain. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but by the time he fell completely still once more, he could barely conjure a single coherent thought. Was this what his Funtime animatronics experienced while being shocked? Was this how… how his little girl felt…?

The AI said nothing while the ‘attack’ happened, but wasted no time when it noticed it was over. ‘Neither identity is valid… New identity required. Why are you so stubborn?’ it asked, echoing his question from earlier. ‘Spring Bonnie is obsolete. William Afton is impossible.’

“Im-impossible?! It’s who I am, you stupid program!” Another short yet sharp shock, centred in his head; his vision would have been swimming and his breath would have been coming in shallow gasps… if he could see anything and still functioned like that. The pressure returned, and all of a sudden William felt like he was being suffocated.

‘Incorrect. William Afton created Spring Bonnie… cannot be unrecognised code. Impossible.’

Through figuratively-gritted teeth, he bit back, “Then just go with ‘William’!”

It paused, seemingly contemplating the idea, and the pressure lifted. ‘…Very well. New temporary identity acknowledged. Duration… seventy-two hours.’

“Temporary…?! What’s wrong with my name this time?!” He didn’t get a response, and he couldn’t help but to get the impression that the AI had lost its temper… then he scoffed at the idea and after waiting a while to regain his own composure, returned his focus to trying to relearn how to move his springlocked body.

Whoever thought it was a smart idea to combine the costumes and the animatronics into the same object was an idiot. A British idiot who was responsible for the deaths of who-knew-how-many children, and was now faced with one of the least-likely aftermaths possible for such a course of action. The complaints that had been made regarding the Spring Bonnie toy he’d designed –the one with a fingertrap in the mouth– probably should have told him something, they really should have…

He wondered if anyone missed him. He’d been gone for at least a day and a half, surely Mike was getting concer—… Michael was staying with Henry. He’d made sure of it, not wanting anyone to see him coming home covered in oil and bits of fake fur, with an axe of all things… Until he could move reasonably-freely, though, he was stuck in the old pizzeria building –shambling his way home like something out of a horror story wouldn’t do him any favours. No, no-one would be getting worried about his absence until a few days had passed… he knew that.

He just wished he didn’t feel so terrible about it.

-~-*-~-

It took William somewhere close to half a day to finally stagger to his feet. The suit reacted around him as if it were truly his own body… It moved like there was no difference between the human inside and the animatronic outside; his senses even seemed to have blurred into how it perceived the world… He had no sense of smell anymore, and his sense of touch had been altered drastically, but his hearing was the biggest change…

When they were building the Spring Bonnie animatronic, Henry had teased him about how fastidious he was about the rabbit’s ears. He spent so long crafting and programming the long appendages to resemble the real thing as much as possible, designing them to twitch at the slightest of noises… things like drips from the ceiling and the scuttling of vermin… William had argued that these tiny touches would make kids love the character all the more –ever-moving ears and a fluffy tail, just like a real bunny– and he’d been right.

These traits still functioned perfectly, and the suit’s ears were what he’d felt moving at the top of his head… and he hated it. They were things that practically no human had the anatomical structure to work with, and yet they’d somehow wormed their way into how his brain seemed to work after the catastrophic springlock failure. The tail’s periodic twitching could be felt all the way up whatever passed for his spine… reminding him over and over that it was all real, in the strangest way possible.

Rabbits may be his favourite animal, but he’d never wanted to be one, outside of thoroughly enjoying wearing the costume. Yet, there he was, functionally a cyborg rabbit…

William sighed as best as he could, shaking his head and clenching the hand he’d placed on the wall behind him into a fist. He was not going to let this get him down. It was a minor set-back, there had to be something he could do to recover from it… it wasn’t even like he truly enjoyed being out and about that much, anyway –he’d much rather spend most of his time working on his animatronics… and the research he’d been doing with Henry.

Remnant truly was an astounding discovery… and it held so much promise…

Standing a little straighter, William set about trying to walk, using the wall as support. His eyes had remained open since his last conversation with the AI, and he was slightly disconcerted to realise that they hadn’t gotten dry enough to warrant blinking; it was almost like the eyes he was using weren’t his… Logically, he knew that had to be the truth, but he still mentally recoiled from the idea, his subconscious wanting to retain something physical of his original self. The room remained just as dark as it had been from the start of this new ‘phase’ of his life –outside of that short period of vision– and, frankly, he was sick of it. The darkness was… doing things… to his perception of space, of time, of reality even…

He wanted –needed– to find the door and leave.

Turning in the direction that he remembered the entrance to be, William managed to stagger five steps before hitting the corner. He paused, fighting back the pain that was trying to surge and smother him with each motion that caused even minor vibrations to dance through his frame, waiting for what he guessed was a few minutes before starting on the second part of his journey.

The suit’s joints had started out sticky and even a bit gummed-up with blood and pieces of his body, yet somehow they didn’t seem to be jammed entirely… even loosening up further as he forced the suit to move more. It wasn’t much, but he’d take whatever he could get.

At long last, his hand hit the lip of the doorframe. Again, he paused, leaning heavily against the wall, even as his other hand scrabbled blindly for the doorknob.

It wasn’t there…

Why wasn’t it there…?

‘It was sealed up while William was first asleep…’

“Sealed…? But… why? I don’t doubt that there was quite a lot of blood visible under you! Why would they just…?” William retorted, his mind spinning. He pushed and pounded against the barrier, harder and harder until he felt something begin to give way inside the suit, forcing him to stop. “If nothing else, they should have removed us from the room to clean—…” A thread of clarity dangled in front of him, and he latched onto it. “Wait… no, this… this is almost par for the course. Cover it up rather than deal with it… and it used to work so well, too.”

‘Now both are obsolete… Still need new identity.’ The AI stated, sounding unusually quiet –although that could simply have been due to the panic singing in William’s system drowning it out.

He just hoped someone noticed he was missing and thought to check the bloodied safe room… Henry would think to look there, wouldn’t he? Henry knew what he’d been doing with the suit, and if he thought William was dead, then he’d want to take a look at what could be another ‘fresh’ sample of Remnant… wouldn’t he? The research was ongoing, even after the tragedies that had plagued both of their families… so… Henry would come, right?

William’s control over the suit’s legs weakened and he slid down until he was once again kneeling on the floor, shudders starting to wrack his form once again in a cruel mockery of the moments of his death.

In the darkness of the room behind him, he could swear he heard children giggling.

-~-*-~-

He didn’t know how much time passed before he started to truly lose his grip on reality. Being stuck in a dark box was bad enough, but the worst part was… hoping that someone would come to let him back out again, only for yet another day to pass without any sign of rescue.

William had found a way to estimate the passage of time via the periods of activity Spring Bonnie��s AI had –if it was still functioning as programmed, then from midnight until six in the morning, the suit was ‘turned off’, while the rest of the day was left open for anything to happen. He couldn’t remember whether or not he’d deactivated the ‘daytime mode’ and ‘night-time mode’ before dismantling the other animatronics, but he could still move the suit at any time, even when the AI seemed to be ‘asleep’… It was just a lot harder to do so outside of the ‘night-time mode’.

If he was calculating correctly… he’d probably been trapped for around a week… but, he knew that he’d also ‘slept’; drifting in and out of awareness every now and then, just trying to pass the time.

His eyes caught a glimpse of something other than blackness, and he jerked his head to stare straight at it. A small form, vaguely humanoid and very, very pale… the eyes were just dark sockets… It looked just like one of the ghosts that had corralled him into the suit. William tried to reach out to it, though he wasn’t sure if he wanted the movement to be aggressive or not –not that it seemed to matter. The ghost just narrowed its eyes at him, and another appeared beside it… then another… and another… there were six of them… seven… eight…

The room filled up with glaring white figures until he couldn’t even count them all, and William shrank back against the wall, once again finding himself afraid of the manifestations. This seemed to please them, and the sound of childish laughter reached his ears, making the tall robotic appendages on top of his head twitch.

“What do you want…? Haven’t you gotten your revenge for what I did to you? I’m stuck in this room! I’m dead!” he snapped, and for the first time, he heard the suit’s voice-box react to anything he did, letting out a short but harsh screech. Numbly, he watched as the ghosts began to move –first one, then another, until every single one were emphatically shaking their heads. “Stop that…” William gathered his legs under him in preparation to stand and maybe lunge at them. They ignored him, their laughter turning malicious. “I said, stop that! I killed you once, I’m sure I can find a way to kill you again!”

That seemed to get their attention; the laughter stopped suddenly, and instead, the air filled with shrieks. Screams of pain, of anger, filled to the brim with blame and accusation… all levied at him. They swarmed around him –towards him, through him– until all he could see was streaks of white in the darkness. The noise was deafening and he added to the din with another metallic screech of his own, pressing his hands against the suit’s head over where his real ears would be, trying to block it all out.

He nearly succeeded in drowning them out… until a hauntingly-familiar voice sounded above all the others.

“Daddy? Why did you let me die?”

William’s hands fell limply as his eyes searched the blurry masses for any sign of the face he knew so well. It couldn’t be… there was no way… Of all the deaths he was responsible for, that was one of the few spirits he could never… “Lizzy…?”

Another voice cried out, clearer than any of the others and powerful in its fury. “It’s me… do you remember? It’s me!”

His head spun, his ears hurt, his heart clenched and twisted and… The darkness claimed him once again, while the silence rang in his ears even louder than the cacophony before it.

-~-*-~-

They had been in the Room for so long, the suit rotting around them from intermittent dampness. He’d managed to keep their frame from stiffening up, moving around the small space when simply staying still had gotten too monotonous. It no longer hurt to move, although when they stopped for too long, the memories of being pierced from all angles resurfaced, prompting one of them to do a lap of the area. It knew the Room well, by now, and he had always known it; had they ever been outside?

They must have… the songs they sang together had to have been enjoyed by others at some point… and there must have been many who sat and eagerly listened, at that. Maybe they performed on stage? That sounded like a nice idea. Performing with a friend, even?

A bear. Big and powerful and dangerous and friendly and just like home… Golden. Like they were, once. Were they still golden? The Friend-bear would sing, and they would play an instrument –a guitar?– and there would be dozens of happy little faces stuffing their disgusting mouths. It was a dream come true... They had dreams, sometimes. Dreams could be scary, could make them squeal with happiness or scream in terror.

The Silence was deafening, so they filled it, talking to each other to pass the time. It was always eager to learn something new… after so long in the Room, though, he’d started to run out of things to teach it. Instead, he began to rage at the Darkness, hissing and screeching at things that it couldn’t tell were there. It had tried to tell him that those things weren’t there… he never listened –of course the apparitions were there, they taunted him and hated him and… He didn’t like how stubborn it could be, but it had long-since dug its claws into his mind; its cables sparked inside his skull, making them spasm as the electricity that should’ve run out long ago arced all through their body…

He wanted to leave, to get out, to be free of them. It didn’t understand… they were them. He and it. They. Leaving the Room was a good idea, though… so it helped him. It moved them when he went silent and still and afraid.

It knew what ‘afraid’ was, it was so proud of itself for learning that.

Once, they had been Spring Bonnie, but Spring Bonnie was dead. Unwanted. Locked away. He missed making animatronics like Spring Bonnie… that had been one of the things that made him smile. It didn’t know what it felt like to smile, though. He was wrong, anyway… he couldn’t have made Spring Bonnie, because they had been Spring Bonnie…

They didn’t have a name, anymore.

The Darkness wouldn’t tell them anything… nor did the ghosts that visited to torment him. The spirits were just so angry… It didn’t remember doing anything to earn such anger, but they must have done something. Something very, very bad. He still longed for the feel of warm red on his skin –fur– and the ghosts seemed to hate thoughts like that.

A new sound reached their ears. For a moment, they did nothing, until it happened again and they scrambled to lean against the wall, trying to trace where it was coming from. One of their ears had been torn in half during a very loud visit from the ghosts; he’d wanted to rip both off at the time, but it managed to stop him and succeeded in preserving most of the appendages.

Thump, thump, thump… jingling? Murmur of voices?

They were growing excited. People? Humans were in the building? After so long, they could see humans again? Or was it for the first time? Were they wrong about performing? The sounds drew closer to the Room, and in their eagerness, they triggered one of the pre-recorded statements in their voice-box, trying to draw the humans closer.

“He-he-hell-l-l-lo-o-o-o ki-kids! W-wan-n-na hear som-m-me mus-si-si-sic?”

It was only once the sounds of the newcomers drew particularly close that he chided it for acting too rashly and made them sit and lean against the wall, closing their eyes. It didn’t want to close their eyes, it wanted to see humans, but he was adamant. People don’t like seeing things that shouldn’t be alive… being alive. They weren’t alive like humans are, but it obliged grudgingly. He knew humans better than it did, even if they didn’t remember how or why.

The people broke open the door that had been sealed up so, so, so long ago…

“Holy shit, this place stinks…” said one.

Another piped up with, “Think there’s anything in here worth using? Did that even come from in here?”

“Yeah, definitely,” the first affirmed, excitedly. “These arcade machines would have to be worth a small fortune to the right people, if they actually worked… You know how some people get about ‘collectors’ items’, right?”

A third voice laughed. “No kidding… Still, we aren’t looking for stuff to sell online, or anything, we’re—... Guys! The corner, look in the corner!”

There was a small pause, and then three pairs of footsteps rushed over to them. “You’ve gotta be kidding me… This is the real deal! Parts and merch’ is one thing, but… this one’s almost completely intact!” exclaimed the second voice.

They could feel hands on their body, nudging at their head and moving their ears, touching and shifting their fingers. He held control of their body tightly, hissing at it to not move, but neither of them could stop the twitching of their ears –trying so hard to angle themselves perfectly to pick up every bit of sound from their new visitors. Just like he’d worried about, they were assaulted with cries of shock and even a bit of fear…

“It still works?!” the third voice shouted as all hands retreated. “Dude, we are definitely taking this thing back! This is the find of the century!”

That sounded like they may be able to leave, at long last, but… it wasn’t certain and he’d gone quiet again. It wanted the people to stay, it wanted to open their eyes and just… what did it want to do, then? Against his wishes, it triggered another recording, meshing parts of one audio file with another to say something closer to what it wanted. “W-we’re frien-ends, ri-ri-ri-right?” It forced their body to shudder slightly; neither of them wanted to stay, so maybe if the humans thought they worked, they’d be able to leave with the people? It certainly hoped so.

He wasn’t happy. They were being an idiot. If they just stayed still, then the humans would have taken them away from the Room and the Darkness, no matter what, but now…

“That’s the same voice… yeah, this thing is creepy, but… Ah, what the heck. It’s too much of a find to let that get in the way. ‘Sides, creepy is good for Fazbear’s Fright.” A fourth voice said, the owner still lingering near the entrance to the room.

That was good enough, it supposed, and it happily let him take back full control of their body. They were leaving. They’d be able to go outside, and see people, and sing, and dance, and play, and kill, and find home…! Home must be such a wonderful thing… They didn’t want to wait, they’d already waited so long in their black prison.

But… why did ‘Fazbear’ sound so familiar…?

Their thoughts were interrupted by the second voice speaking up again. “Hey, which one do you think this is, anyway? I don’t remember any rabbits other than the bluish-purple one…”

“Dude, that’s what makes this so awesome! This is from, like, the first restaurant! Before Freddy! I think the rabbit was called ‘Spring-something’, and the bear –they only had two characters at the start, can you believe it?– was ‘Fredbear’,” the third voice replied. “Hey, how about we call this one something like… ‘Springtrap’, make it all spooky, y’know?”

“I love it, and so will the customers!” laughed the fourth voice.

He didn’t… He’d been trapped for too long, and he didn’t need the reminder in their name. On the other hand, it was delighted; a new name! A new name that was all theirs and no-one else’s! It loved their new name, and it had already started to overwrite their coding with it. He snarled and writhed and tried to rip it out, tried to insist on a name that they vaguely remembered arguing over, but it was already too far into the process…

They were not Spring Bonnie, and they were not William, and they especially weren’t William Afton.

They were Springtrap.

The people said so.

[cheesesteak-horror]

Project Steeze Dev Blog #1

Welcome to the Steeze.

You are the newest in a long line of employees for the local decrepit pizza parlor. Despite the rumors, shady history, and missing persons cases, you sign up for the night shift because it pays 50 cents more and all the kids' birthday parties should have ended by then... Luckily, it'll just be a boring night in an empty pizzeria... right?

This project is a prequel to the FNaF-inspired, Souls-like One Night at the Steeze. You will see some old faces if you've played the previous entry, but everything this time around should be fresh as we'll be building on the foundations laid out by the previous game.

The player would not need to know anything about its predecessor.

Let's start this off by answering some select questions:

What engine was this made with?

Like my previous project, this was made with RPGmaker MV. MV, as I had addressed before, does bring a variety of improvements to the project workflow with features such as plugins (engine's accommodation of scripts) which makes things much easier for prototyping, testing mechanics, etc, the use of a more approachable scripting language with javascript, HTML5 export which allows for games to be played on a browser. However, despite these improvements there were some issues I did have to work around to achieve the same workflow I had back in VX Ace. These included animation and parallel process oversights, smaller and limited, albiet incredibly useful library of plugins that may/may not have as much support or history scripts in VX Ace had. A great example of this is the pixel movement plugin; to achieve pixel movement when coding, one must change how the engine fundamentally updates the game's scenes, and in my research, I have only found a handful of plugins that achieve the intended effect.

How was the trailer made?

Everything with the exception of the ending card was actually running in the game to keep a consistent effect, which I plan to use in the game.

The effect mimics the way a CRT screen would flicker and affect image quality. This article does an excellent job in describing how pixel art style worked in conjunction with its display. This was achieved using 2 overall steps.

Flicker between 2 different mirror images at a lower alpha level.

Set a stereoscopic 3d filter (comes with a blur option)

The second overall command was made possible through this plugin.

It's an incredibly useful plugin if you want to play around with visual styles. In order to get this effect on the map, I made this parallel process event with these commands:

Adjusting the wait times creates a different timing for the flicker effect while changing the radius of the blur and offset of the redshift affects the image quality itself. However, there may be a sweet spot that has yet to be found. On the topic of the old-school, retro filters, font and text delivery had to accommodate that feel as well.

Yanfly's message plugins give a great amount of customization to how text is generated, hence the creation of the closed-captioning effect. Speech bubble effect was achieved the same way, but the tail of the bubble was made possible through Galv's Message Style plugin

When will it be released?

Development should be going into full-swing as of now, I would like to be able to get a demo out to show what exactly I'm going for, but that will be done when it's ready, which is at about ~50-60%. Much of the pipelines for environment and asset creation is in place, but certain aspects remain to be implemented. There must be an order to things, lest there be chaos unending...

I would also like to announce that I have created a Ko-fi page where you can support me by buying me a coffee!

I'm beginning to open a tip-jar of sorts to help support me for the development for this and future projects. I really do enjoy making and sharing these games with you all and it would mean a lot if ya'll can help out! For those who can't, it's all good. Still happy to have ya'll here.

Now, to get back to work.

[cloudbankdownload]

this is only so I can share it on discord and can find it later

Welcome to Alex’s notes of Matpat’s recent video (“Game Theory: Fnaf 7, the Untold Story Of Sister Location” released 3/24/19). These are all transcribed from the original handwritten notes on a pad of lined Hello Kitty paper (purple, of course). Yes, I know, I probably put too much work into this. But if I have to suffer through a Matpat video it won’t be for nothing. Please note the presence of sarcasm marked with /s, and the following key for words mentioned below with little context.

1. Any references to a game: the VR game announced by Scott

2. “Image”, “picture”, “photo”: the teaser photo released by Scott containing the quote “Everything is working as intended!”

3. “Secret lines”, “hidden lines”, and variations thereof: the lines found in the teaser image (mentioned above) for the game

4. In addition brackets around text in the notes shows where I added additional thoughts to the original notes

Trigger warnings: Mentions/references to religion (catholicism specifically), all caps writing for emphasis, brief description of implied gore, mention of hanging

Matt is disgusted at the idea of a new game (?) [possible sarcasm]

God his intro’s changed and it’s so much worse (my ears!)

While wearing a Freddy onesie: “by all that’s unholy, fnaf is somehow back”

HE GREENSCREENED HIMSELF ONTO A BACKGROUND OF HIS OWN RECORDING ROOM FOLKS [he uses terrible greenscreen throughout the entire video.]

Very resentful about wearing “kids’ pjs”

Awful [poorly made] graphic of a schoolgirl being shoved into a headless Freddy animatronic headfirst

Nihilistic of merch in 2019

Refers to fnaf fans as “Fred-Heads”??? Why?

Suggests the new triple A game will have children stuffed into loot boxes? He might’ve been sarcastic on that one but I’m not sure [he was probably being sarcastic. I hope]

Boy is he annoyed

Analyzes teaser image and remarks that all animatronics span the game series

Knows this because of the similar nose shape between spring bonnie suits

When photo is brightened there are LINES in the background! SHOCKING! /s

Notes lines of text hidden in image [everybody already knew that. C’mon matt.]

Opens image as text file, finds “we” in front of “let something inside”

Woah he’s really trying with these graphics /s

Figures that these lines are said post 1987 & post murders

This just in: he thinks those lines in the background are prison bars

The devil works hard but Matpat works harder

Some random fazbear employee still in jail for murders [in reality committed by William Afton instead] (we been knew that one!)

Wonders if “them” [in lines in teaser image] refers to the animatronics or the fazbear corporation (no matt the them is singular and refers to me. I am the one you cannot trust. /s)

Eliminates possibility of “them” being the animatronics

Thinks that two technicians [referred to as “techs” from here] are talking to each other and their conversation is the hidden lines in the image, they’re confirming that they can’t trust their bosses

Thinks techs made mistake which led to Jeremy’s death and are now scared for their own lives

Lord almighty these graphics. Is this the evil catholicism protects me from? [BIG /s]

“Hey remember that guy? [Jeremy] We don’t wanna end up like him [dead as a doornail]”

Thinks the techs were the bodies hanged in Sister Location [SL] Night five

Similarities between Ennard’s lines in secret SL ending and secret lines

7 other [teaser] images

All point to the game being about a technician repairing animatronics

Could new game be the story of the two techs? “Yes” says the guy in Freddy footies pjs.

Mickey Mouse voice: “Oh gee! Watching this is swell!” [/s]

Hating on ESRB for leaking rating and info of new game

Goes off screen to put on shades and pick up a clock to recreate the “it’s time to stop” meme I KID YOU NOT

Lot of connections between scottgames.com source code and all other teasers (nothing we didn’t know already)

Believes techs (read: the player) will be repairing animatronics in all the locations the previous games have been set in [as in the pizzeria in FNAF 1, the house in FNAF 4, etc]

Finds typos in source code of website-0rgn-if typed into url behind scottgames you get a blurry picture that looks like ennard’s endoskeleton head [later tried to confirm if the url did come up with an image-said url being {scottgames.com/0rgn.jpg}-and I received a 404 error page instead. Not sure if I did something wrong or if Matpat is making things up now]

VR game probably coming out soon

Oh god he’s selling merch called “Chaos Theory”

Honey is sponsoring this douche???

OH GOD HE HAS MORE TO TALK ABOUT

I HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN NEXT WEEK