#me when i fudge b.onnie's ai level: im sorry for slandering you i know youre not awake this early night 1 u_u

[mute-call]

@jackokinnies || permanent starter call.

"I wanted to record a message for you, to help you get settled in on your first night. I actually worked in that office before you-- I’m finishing up my last week now as a matter of fact."

Steven speaks along with his own recording, a voiceless whisper adding just another layer of static to the worn-out tape. He's only half-aware that he's doing so; he's felt untethered ever since they removed his body. His tapes ground him, give him some semblance of routine:

Day 1: A breeze.

Day 2: Everything's under control.

Day 3: Best not to get caught.

Day 4: He dies.

Over and over and over again.

He never quite gets used to hearing his own scream, but that won't come for a while, yet, and only if this new guard actually sticks around long enough to hear the last recording. For now it's only Monday, and Steven props himself up on the desk, resisting the urge to click the lights on and off like he used to on the slow days that come early in the week. He's here to help the night shift, not scare them-- or worse, run down their power before they know what the hell they're doing with it.

"Bonnie's up," he says after a while, forcing a camera switch to the main stage to show the guard that one of the animatronics is no longer in its starting position. So much for not scaring the guy-- the abruptness of the visual feed bursting to life is sure to be a little unsettling in the eerie silence of the office-- but Steven's seen too many new guards go hours on their first night utterly oblivious to the movements of the other ghosts to sit back and trust this guy to check the cameras on his own.

"You're welcome," Bell mutters to himself, letting his head fall back to hit the wall behind him with a nonexistent thunk. The boredom is the worst part of dying, he's found, but it's okay. He just has to get through tonight, and then tomorrow night, and then the night after that.

Ad infinitum.