#ur art for it RULES if u make more icons im pumped :3 :D

[mute-call]

"Yeah! Exactly. Uh... good." At least the kid paid attention to that part.

Steven isn't sure whether he should take offense to Nanashi's comment or try to defend the company in some way, but he ultimately decides on doing neither. It's not like Nanashi's wrong, after all.

"Well... you'll be helping out by taking this shift, at least for a while. I hope you know I'm not trying to be stubborn, or anything; believe me, I'd love to give us all less work!" He laughs, the sound coming out somewhat hollow, and spares a glance in the direction of the main showroom.

"But this is just how it is, y'know?" Leave the innovating to the creative minds up at the top of the ladder. Steven's been here for ages, and if there's one thing he's learned, it's that it's almost always best to keep your head down and your opinions to yourself.

There's an awkward moment of silence as Bell wonders whether he should warn the boy against getting too cocky. There's something about Nanashi's mindset that makes Steven think he's not taking things as seriously as he should be, but at the same time, the new guard has obviously internalized how dangerous the robots can get. In the end, Steven decides to give the kid the benefit of the doubt.

"Anyway, you'll do fine!" That's what he always says, and night guards rarely live up to his optimistic assessment. Maybe... maybe he should change things up, just this once. He doesn't want to feel responsible if something less than fine does end up happening.

"Let's just, uh, run through things one more time. Show me how quickly you can flip through the cams."

[Yet again, Nanashi's idea was scrutinized; without a full explanation as to why ( aside from the threat of termination ), he couldn't help wondering what it was about tampering that worried his higher-ups. It wouldn't be much more than letting the robots "nap" during his night shift. Shouldn't a guard be more concerned about intruders than the animatronics, anyway?]

[Why put so many lives in danger when you could just put the animatronics into a theoretical sleep mode? Was it really that important for them to "stretch" their servos and wander around?]

[Oh, well. If upper management wanted him to stick to the script, he'd do it...maybe.]

❝ Yessir. Understood. ❞ [Not really, but would he get a sincere explanation for why his methods were controversial? Definitely not. Might as well go with it.] ❝ Yeah, yeah, I know what to do. Keep an eye on the power and don't let them get in. ❞

[Even without rigging the odds, Nanashi was pretty confident about these nightly chores. It wasn't difficult to keep track of the animatronics, not with how many cameras this place had, and he could balance the building's power, easy. The real "thrill" of it was the possibility that they'd find him; the idea of that looming threat was fun, but putting a damper on the danger might be the wise thing to do. He'd thought he was proposing a sound idea, but apparently not.]

[Steven "subtly" expressed his newfound worries about Nanashi taking the night shift, insisting that he was free to back out or have Steven take over; Nanashi shrugged nonchalantly. He wasn't afraid ( though, by all means, he should be ) -- he could fend off a few robots, no problem. What he'd suggested was more of a safety precaution, a way to guarantee that there would be no more unnecessary deaths. Nanashi himself didn't mind ( and even enjoyed ) the risk, but these new hires were..."quitting" at an alarming pace. If there was a way to prevent that, wouldn't it be nicer than forcing unprepared people to fend for themselves?]

❝ Don't worry about it, sir. I really don't mind. Besides, you guys lose a new hire one way or another every week. It's no big deal -- I was just wondering if there was some way to help, y'know? ❞