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Sunlight filtered in through forest green curtains, painting all the light touched a serene greenish hue. Birdsong could be heard outside the window, open a crack to let fresh air into the musty room. The light and noise eventually registered to the sole occupant of the room, causing her fingers to twitch as she started to wake up.“…” She groaned a bit as she turned her face away from the light, not wanting to get up just yet. Cracking her cerulean eyes open, she took a glance at the clock on her bedside table. 8 AM. Two hours since opening time. She checked her internal calendar. It was Wednesday. She and the others got Wednesdays off the stage, able to do whatever they pleased around the Plex, though they would still pose for photos should someone ask. Of course, most of them had other duties to attend to outside of their performances. For the woman currently still cozy in her bed, that meant stepping in as a floor manager for all the waiters in the Atrium. But she didn’t need to worry about that today. When they had enough human employees, they could usually cover that job for her on her off-duty days. She hadn’t received any messages from Helpy about someone calling in or quitting, so she figured she was off the hook in that regard today.Just as she started to drift off again, the sounds of traffic and birdsong outside made her ears twitch towards them. She glanced at the clock again.8:20 AM “… I should still probably get up. I need to pick up Rae from school later… the Farmer’s Market doesn’t start until next week…” With a yawn, a woman with long brunette hair emerged from under the covers of her red plaid sheets, rubbing her blue eyes awake. Her furry ears wiggled as she stretched her olive toned arms, stepping onto the hardwood floor. She paused for a moment at the mirror that hung from her closet door. She smiled at her reflection, admiring herself for a moment before she went to open her curtains. Bright sunlight flooded the room and the woman’s optical sensors, causing her to blink rapidly to let her eyes adjust to the sudden onslaught. Once properly adjusted, which took only a second, the woman looked outside her window into the front parking lot of the Fazbear PizzaPlex, where she and her fellow robotic mascots lived and worked. She could feel the mild temperatures through the slightly open window, as well as the pollen in the air. She could see some of it had accumulated on her window sill.According to the forecast, via the woman’s internal internet access, there were rain clouds on the way despite there being not a cloud in the sky at the moment. “Hm… it’s not supposed to rain until tonight… then again, the forecast can change. What to wear for today…” The current temperature read 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Typical for this time of day in early May. As the brunette looked through her wardrobe for something suitable to wear, passing by her usual ensemble of a black suit top and skirt, she eventually settled on a nice orange T-shirt with a pretty paisley pattern and a long sage green skirt with a brown butterfly stitched on the side. She then slid open two of the topmost drawers in her dresser, opposite her bed, and without looking took out her undergarments for the day. She put all these at the foot of her bed before stepping into her personal bathroom, just outside her bedroom in the hallway leading to her apartment-sized kitchen/living area. Each of the mascots had an apartment of their own within the Plex, courtesy of the company and their more innovative minds. Each apartment had an elevator that could take them directly to their individual Showrooms a level below, and further down into Parts and Service should any maintenance on their systems or hardware be required. This particular mascot was the supposed ‘lead’ of the entire show, though she usually didn’t feel like she deserved such a title. Most would try to convince her otherwise, but Winnifred Fazbear was humble to a fault. Still, she did her best to be a good example for both the children she catered to and her fellows. She was proud to be Glamrock Freddy’s successor, and she endeavored to keep making her mentor proud. While Winnifred got ready for her day, most of her compatriots were already up and about and doing whatever. She tended to sleep later on her days off in early spring, still coming out of her winter hibernation mode. Seeing as it was their collective day off, some of them took the opportunity to perform some needed maintenance on their equipment that the actual employees weren’t allowed to touch, or take a walk through the Courtyard Garden, or even outside into the surrounding pine forest. Winnifred thought about doing that herself. She always liked walking along those well-trodden nature paths. The only ones still not awake yet were Winnifred’s co-head mascot, Candy “Ace” Cat and the Daycare Attendants. Winnifred felt the Ping! of an incoming message through her internal communicator just as she was rubbing pine scented shampoo into her hair. Each of the new models had an internal comms system so they could talk to each other from opposite sides of the Plex in relative privacy. “Morning, Winnie! You up yet?” Said the voice of the band’s guitarist, sports coach and resident anime nerd. The bear-eared woman smiled to herself. “Yes, I’m awake. Still in the shower.” Winnifred messaged back.
“Well, let me know where you’re dressed and ready to go. We’re supposed to be meeting the new night guard today.”
Oh! That’s right! “I almost forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me, Lonnie.”
“No prob, girl :)”
Was the response before Winnifred finished washing the shampoo out of her hair and started on the conditioner. There hadn’t been an official night guard in the PizzaPlex since it’s opening two years ago. Those duties were usually handled by either Vixen, Rattigan or Chester. Whoever felt like and could afford to stay up that late without needing to recharge for too long afterwards, really. In Winnifred’s opinion, Vixen was always their night guard. But the female fox was also busy during the day taking care of Kids’ Cove and doing odd jobs around the Plex. She was perfectly capable of showing the new guy the ropes. Ten minutes later, Winnifred was out of the shower and finished with her morning routine. She grabbed a bag of orange slices from her refrigerator and her brown leather purse on her way to the elevator She started munching on the citrus fruit as she exited into her Showroom, the curtains drawn to indicate to customers she wasn’t available for photos at the moment. While it always saddened her to see the looks of disappointment on the kids’ faces, she couldn’t say no to selfies and such outside her Showroom on her off days. Stowing the remains of her breakfast in the closest waste basket, Winnifred walked out the side door of her Showroom and into the Grand Hall. Waiting for her by the entrance into the Atrium was Lonnie, aka Bonnelyn Rabbit. Her name was technically Bonnie, just like her lapine predecessors, but she didn’t want to be confused with them. Her fellow android mascots thought the same and went by different nicknames most of the time. Today, Lonnie wore a simple ensemble of a blue T-shirt with the Metallica logo on it, blue and white striped elbow length fingerless gloves that matched the thigh- high socks she had on under a pair of denim shorts. She also wore black combat boots with a matching fanny pack strapped to her waist. Her shoulder length lavender-blue-grey hair didn’t look like it had been brushed much, but that was her usual look. She appeared as a young woman of East Asian descent, despite the rabbit ears that swiveled in Winnifred’s direction as she heard her friend approach. “Hey, Lonnie! Are they here yet?” “No, not yet. But Ness and Ms. Wolf are on their way to the Foyer.” “Let’s not keep them waiting then.” Of course the Head of Security and Supervisor would be there to greet the new hire. ‘Vanessa probably interviewed them too.’ Winnie thought to herself as she and Lonnie made their way downstairs. She was genuinely curious about the new guard. It made sense that management would want them to meet the human who would be responsible for keeping them all safe during the night from now on. Once they descended the escalator from Floor 1B, they were greeted by not only Ness and Ms. Wolf, but Chickadee and Vixen as well. “Abou’ time ya showed up! Ah was startin’ ta get worried.” Vixen said, a teasing grin on her freckled face. The tall redhead didn’t bother hiding her Scottish accent, not that she ever did. “Hey, you know Winnie has trouble waking up earlier in the colder months. Hibernation programming, remember?” Lonnie said as she and Winnie approached.Vixen huffed good-naturedly. “Righ’, righ’. Ya know it’s almost tha end o’ May, though? Shouldn’t tha’ be goin’ away soon?” “I think today was the last day, actually. It’s supposed to get into 50 degrees at night.” Winnie said. “Oh that’s good! It’ll be nice to see you at opening again.” Chickadee piped up, her voice soft and sweet like the pastries she enjoyed baking. The small yellow wings on her back flapped excitedly as she clapped her hands together. They matched her hair, contrasting a bit with her tanned skin. “Yeah. It’s been such a blustery spring that the temperature’s been lower than usual.”“Ugh, tell me about it.” Ms. Wolf groaned. Her silver and green hair swished as she turned to face the four girls. She had been discussing something with the Security Supervisor as they walked up. Wolf-like robotic ears stuck up from the sides of her head, unlike the more subtle human-shaped ears the main mascots wore. “All that lightning has been messing with the power systems, it’s making my hair all frizzy.” She started patting it down annoyedly as she noticed a loose strand sticking up. “Times like this I wish I still had my Salon.”She grumbled. “There’s a salon at the college nearby.” Chickadee said. “It might not be the same, but I’ve been and I think those students do a pretty good job. The girl who helps me prune my feathers used to work there and she recommended it.” “Huh.” Roxanne said, humming in thought. “I’ll have to check it out. Oh, speaking of college students, the new security hire will be one too.” That’s when Vanessa decided to speak up. “He should be here any minute.” “Hey, where are the others?” Lonnie asked while they waited. “I thought they’d be here too?” “Greg and Cassandra are working their usual rounds, I believe Ratti is sorting the items in Lost and Found. Candace wanted to be there with him to prevent anything from ‘going missing’.” “I see…” Winnie nodded in understanding. Everyone knew the mouse boy was a bit of a hoarder. Okay, he was a hoarder and he had a bad habit of keeping things he liked stored away in his room rather than putting them in Lost and Found… or keeping them there.Among his other duties around the Plex, the Cat’s job was to make sure his mousy friend didn’t take anything that didn’t belong to him… at least not too often. That was why management put Rattigan Mouse in charge of Lost and Found, so he could use it as his hoarding storage. But he still had to return any items should someone come looking for it. “I assume Chloe and Chester are still in the Daycare, then?” “Most likely yes.” Vanessa responded. “We’ll be giving the newbie a tour around the place so he’ll meet them all eventually.” She glanced at her wristwatch. At that moment, among the people that flooded the foyer on Wednesday mornings, a young man with sandy blonde hair and glasses walked in. He wore a nice polo shirt and slacks, and immediately spotted Vanessa standing near a golden statue of Winnifred and Candace. “Oh! Miss Supervisor!” He called out, coming toward the older blonde woman. “And there he is.” She muttered, smiling, before turning to face him as he approached. “Ladies, I’d like you to meet our new night security guard.” The man stopped before the small crowd of six, eyes widening in realization of who they were. “Uh-hi! M-my name’s Oliver. It’s nice to meet all of you.” He said, bashfully adjusting his glasses.Vixen smirked, pale arms crossed and tail swishing, her green eyes looking the new guy up and down. Chicka smiled and shyly waved. Lonnie nodded her head with a “Hey” in greeting. “It’s nice to meet you too, Oliver. I’m Winnifred. That’s Bonnelyn, Chickadee and Vixen.” Winnie said, gesturing to each in turn and extending her hand. “Just call me Lonnie.” The rabbit girl added. The college student shyly shook the android bear woman’s hand. “Same here. Wow, so you guys are the mascots here, right?” “That’s right.” Lonnie said, ears twitching at every sound around them. “I’ve heard a lot about you guys. You’re all persocoms, right? Like the ones from Japan?” “Yeah, we are. Why, you into robotics or something?” Lonnie said, somewhat guardedly. Last thing she wanted was someone asking to poke around in their systems. “Ah, no, not really.” Oliver admitted. “I just think it’s pretty cool how you’re all so humanlike. I’ve seen you around campus sometimes. Do you take classes?” The four girls smiled at the supposed compliment. “No, but we like to use their facilities sometimes. We get a lot of our staff from there, as I’m sure you know.” Winnifred said. She would admit that she’d like to try the traditional college experience sometime. Although, the fact that they did get a lot of their human staff from the college meant they had a high turnover rate as most of them only stayed for a couple of years to help pay for tuition and books. Very few employees stayed on after their college tenure, except to pay back their college debts. There were also several that returned later on, or even came as customers with their children in tow. Being robots, they all had near-perfect memory and could recognize former employees no matter their age. Fazbear no longer held the policy of not allowing former employees on the premises, with exceptions to be made of course. Winnifred personally thought that was a ridiculous policy anyway. “Yeah, I know. A few of my dorm mates already work here. They recommended me.” “I remember seeing their signatures on your application form.” Roxanne said, causing Oliver to turn to look at her. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Roxanne Wolf, Head of Security.” She and Oliver shook hands. The young man couldn’t help but notice her long, green painted nails. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. Wow, you’re a persocom too!? That’s so cool!” Roxanne laughed. “Yeah, most of the senior staff are that way. But not all. Vanessa will be introducing you to some of them on the tour. I have paperwork to attend to, unfortunately.” Roxanne groaned a little as she turned to the four younger androids. “You four can go if you want to. It’s your day off so… go do whatever.” She said somewhat dismissively. “That’s alright, Miss Wolf. I’d love to help show the new guy around. If that’s alright with you, Miss Vanessa?” Winnifred asked. The Security Supervisor nodded. “That’s fine by me. It should only take a couple of hours. Anyone else?” “Hm… I think I’ll hang out in my room for a bit. There’s a new song I’ve been working on and I think I’ve almost got it.” “Eh.” Vixen shrugged. “Ah think I’ll go for a walk. An’ just ta warn ya, lad, you’ll probably be seein’ me tonight. Ah was the… unofficial night security here before ya. I’ll be teachin’ ya whatever Nessie here doesnae.” “Thanks, Miss Vixen. That’d be a great help.” Oliver said gratefully. “Wha’ abou’ you, chickie?” “Oh! It shouldn’t take too long for me to make something for Oliver here, you know, to take back to your dorm with you?” Chickadee piped up. “What would you like? Cookies? Cupcakes? An actual cake?” “Oh! Um… I-I dunno… “ He paused to think a moment. “Something that’s easy for one person to carry… um… a box of cookies would be nice.” “Alright, what kind?” “Uh… is macadamia nut doable?” Chickadee nodded, smiling brightly. “Yes, of course! You want that with white chocolate or anything else?” “Ah- yes- wait, no, uh… oh! Do you have butterscotch?” “We do, yes! One box of butterscotch-macadamia cookies coming right up! If they’re not done by the time you’re done with the tour, expect them on your desk tonight, okay?” “O-Okay. Thanks, Miss Chickadee. I appreciate this.” “It’s no problem, honey! I love baking! Besides, I do this for all the new hires on their first day. It’s practically tradition at this point.” “It’s true. Everyone loved her baked goods so much, every time a new hire asked for something new and different we add it to the menu temporarily. Now we gotta add this one…” Vanessa sighed, smiling fondly. “I’m sorry…” “Don’t apologize. Now, come on, let’s get this tour started.” The older woman reassured the new guy as they all went their separate ways. Soon it was just Vanessa, Oliver and Winnifred making their way towards the Main Security Office. That would be where Oliver would start and end his rounds. Later that day… A little girl sat on the step leading to the front doors of her elementary school. She had dark brunette hair and blue eyes, wearing a cute green shirt with a flower design and blue jeans. She also wore sneakers and a green headband to keep her bangs out of her face. Green was her favorite color. “Hey, Raechel.” The little girl glanced up at the other girl that had stopped to talk to her. “Stuck waiting for your folks again?” “Hey, Sarah. And yeah… Dad’s still busy at the lab and Mom’s in the middle of a job.. again. Winnie’s supposed to pick me up today.” Sarah was Raechel’s third grade classmate. She was a second generation Japanese immigrant and, like Raechel, was part of the homestay program for the PizzaPlex’s mascot androids. While Raechel’s family had hosted Candace and Winnifred, Sarah’s had hosted Bonnelyn.“You’re so lucky, Rae. I wish Lonnie would come pick me up more often.” “Hey, you’re pretty lucky your mom can do it too.” Sarah hmm’ed as she smiled, sitting down next to the brunette. Her black hair was tied up in pigtails with blue hair ties, matching the blue dress she wore. “I can’t get that song out of my head.” Sarah said idly. “What song?” “The one we learned in Music Class today? Um…” Sarah tried to replicate the words and beats of the song. “it’s from that one Dreamworks movie, right? Um…” “Oh! Right… I watched it with Mom once… it’s that one with the dragons.” “Yeah! I loved that movie!” The two girls giggled, not noticing someone approaching them. “What are you two giggling about?” A smooth female voice said amusedly. Raechel and Sarah looked up to see a familiar brunette woman wearing her usual sun hat. “Winnie!” Raechel exclaimed as she got up from the steps and ran to hug the persocom. Winnifred hugged her back. “Hey, Rae. Hello, Sarah.” “Hi Miss Winnifred.” Sarah greeted. “We learned that song from How to Train Your Dragon today!” “Oh? Which one!” “Uh… the one that goes, uh- duh duh… where no one goes….” “Oh that! I like that song too. Jonsi was a good artist.” Just then, a blue car pulled up to the curb, the driver rolling down the window. “Oh! There’s my mom. See you tomorrow, Rae!” Sarah said as she sped off towards the car. “Okay! Bye, Sarah!” “Bye!” As the black haired girl got into her mother’s car, Winnie looked down at her former host-sister fondly. “Well, shall we go?” “Yeah!” The little brunette took the taller’s hand as they left the school grounds. “So how was school? Learn anything new besides that song?” “It was good. We learned some multiples and we wrote in cursive. Miss Jones let us pick another book to take home for next week’s Book Report. I picked this one!” Raechel stopped a moment to dig into her backpack for the book she chose. She held it up proudly. Winnifred leaned down a little to read the title. “The Chronicles of… oh, Narnia! Good choice, sweetie. I’ll have to show you the movie when you’re done. You should see if they have the sequels in your school’s library.” Raechel nodded, putting her book back and resuming their journey back to the Plex. “I will! So what did you do today? You get Wednesdays off right?” “Mm-hmm! Well, I got to meet the new night guard and give him a tour of the Plex. His name’s Oliver. He’s nice, I think you’ll like him if you ever get to meet him.”“Really? I thought Vixen was the night guard.” “Unofficially yes. She’ll actually be teaching him how to do his job tonight. Hopefully you’ll be asleep in your own bed by then.” Raechel nodded, suddenly sullen. “Uh-huh.” As much as she loved spending more time with her big host-sister, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to spend the night in hers or Candace’s apartment. “Hey, I’m sure your mom or dad will come get you later. I have something that might make you feel better.” Raechel looked up at her curiously. “What?” Winnifred smiled as she reached into her purse, pulling out something small wrapped in a couple layers of napkins. She wordlessly handed it to the child, who proceeded to unwrap it. Her blue eyes lit up when she saw what was inside. “Cookie! Did Chicka make it?” “She did! This was actually Oliver’s request. Go ahead and try it.” Raechel didn’t need to be told twice as she bit into the soft cookie with reckless abandon. “mmm… it’s good! Tastes weird though…” “It’s macadamia nut and butterscotch. I think it’s an odd combination, but as long as you like it, others will too.” “Thanks, Big Sister!” “It’s no problem, sweetie.” Raechel munched on the cookie the rest of the way to the Plex, the two of them walking along and holding hands in amicable silence. Winnifred internally thanked her lucky stars that the company allowed her and Ace to live with the Larsen Family in their earliest days. She feared how they would have turned out had they been kept cooped up in some laboratory and treated as nothing more than lab rats… or worse. She’d heard stories about the endoskeletons that were kept beneath the MegaPlex. She tried to rid herself of these thoughts as she noticed grey clouds gathering in the sky. So there would be rain today after all. It was almost 4:00 PM by the time Winnie and Raechel made it back to the Plex. “Big Brother!” The little girl exclaimed as she spotted another familiar figure waiting for them by the statue. “Hey, kiddo!” Candace greeted as he returned the girl’s hug and ruffled her hair. “How’s my favorite third-grader?” Raechel giggled. “I’m good! Winnie gave me a cookie!” “Did she? You trying to bribe the kid or somethin’ Wins?” Winnifred scoffed. “I would never. I just thought she’d like to try the new item on the menu. As a test.” The cat man stared at her with a deadpan look, rolling his yellow-green eyes. “Suuuure. Anyway, you still want something to eat first?” “Um… I think I’ll get some homework done before I forget. I’m not hungry.” “Always so diligent. That’s good, keep it up.” Candace ruffled her hair again before following her and his co-star to the Daycare. “So… I didn’t get to meet the new guy earlier. Should I be worried?” Candace tossed a teasing grin to Winnifred, who just rolled her eyes fondly. “There’s nothing to worry about, Ace. He seems like a good kid. Vixen will be taking care of his training tonight.” Candace winced, his feline ears folding down a bit. “Oooh. Well, if he can survive what she has to do every night, then he’s probably a keeper. What did Moon think of him?” “Well, he’s the head of Night Security for a reason. I think the first few nights will just be training and then he’ll put him through the wringer.”Candace smiled with mischievous mirth while Raechel pouted. “I hope he’s not too mean to him.” “I’m sure he won’t be.” Winnie said, trying to be reassuring. “He’s just doing his job.” “Yeah… I just don’t want any nasty surprises tonight.” Ace said, folding his hands behind his head. “Same. First things first, let’s get this one settled.” Winnifred gently patted Raechel’s backpack, nudging her forward towards the Showrooms. When Raechel was younger, she enjoyed hanging out in the Daycare, attending preschool there. But as she graduated to elementary school, she felt like she’d outgrown the ‘baby area’, and preferred to be in either Winnifred or Candace’s rooms. She didn’t lord her privilege over the other kids. Rather, she kept the fact she had access to those select guest restricted areas a secret. She didn’t want others asking her to sneak them in. Besides, she wasn’t the only one. All the home stay kids were given the option of hanging out in their respective persotronic’s room, if and when they came to visit.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Freddy sighed, leaning back on his swivel chair and running a hand through his yellow-orange hair. He’d just finished an onslaught of digital paperwork and email correspondence that, with a glance at the clock, he realized took him four hours. “That’s a new record… looks like I am getting better at this. Ugh…” It used to take him much longer to complete that much work, that was until he’d learned to delegate certain tasks to the other managerial staff. Helpy, as per his namesake, was a great help as well when he could spare a few hours. But it still left him inexplicably tired. He’d long since understood how the human management must’ve felt in his old home, and why they were eager to automate everything. The persocom formerly known as Glamrock Freddy stood up from his chair and stretched his arms over his head, groaning as he felt his synthetic muscles contract and expand. That was a relatively new sensation he’d slowly gotten used to since he awoke in this new body, but it still surprised him sometimes. He glanced around his spacious office. It resembled his old showroom with its wallpaper and the accessories he chose to keep in it. Otherwise, it looked like your regular manager’s office. “I should go check on the others…” He mused, walking out the door into the third floor hallway. He chanced a look over the railing to the two floors below, separated by a one-way glass ceiling, the type you’d find in some grocery stores separating the office spaces from the consumer floor. He saw his and Bonnie’s successors making their way to the Atrium, likely to get lunch seeing it was almost noon. “Maybe I should get something too. I’ll ask everyone what they want.” With a plan in mind, the ursine android made his way down the hall to the closest office to his own, Roxanne Wolf’s.The layout of offices was similar to how it was in the old Rockstar Row, except that there were three more offices across the way from them, belonging to Bonnie, Eclipse and DJ respectively. Freddy glanced at Bonnie’s office longingly, idly wondering if he’d like that carrot cake flavor leftover from Easter at the smoothie place downstairs. “Hey, Freddy!” A familiar voice greeted from beside him. He turned to see Chica standing next to him, partially leaning on the railing. Her white hair was neatly combed and pulled into a high ponytail with a pink bow. Like her successor, she had small white wings poking out of her back, and long Persocom ears. Their bottom halves were the same purplish-pink color as her eyes. She wore a chef’s uniform, indicative of her secondary role as an extra chef. “You taking a break?” “Yeah. I was thinking we should all go get breakfast together.” “That sounds great! I just finished helping some of the restaurants with prep, and all those smells were making me hungry.” “It’s always nice that you’re willing to help them with that.” “Yeah, well, they need it. It gives me something fun to do.” Freddy nodded. “Will the others be able to come?” “Roxy’s busy showing the new night guard around, and I’m pretty sure Monty’s working on something important. All that leaves is Bonnie and Rigel.” “You sure he’s not busy with the daycare and the theater?” “He might be. But we can ask him after Bonnie.”“Sounds good to me.” “Alrighty then! Let me go change and I’ll meet you across the way.” Chica smiled good-naturedly as she headed towards her office. Like their successors, each of the senior staff had their own private rooms connected to their offices. Freddy watched her go with a warm smile of his own. He looked back towards Bonnie’s office, moving towards the bridge connecting the two sides of the third floor. …… While operations were proceeding as normal in the upper levels, in the lower levels of the PizzaPlex, a certain Persocom sat in a meditative state. She was smaller than the main cast, the size of a doll rather than a full grown person. She had fair skin and long black hair she wore in pigtails with white ribbons. She wore a black and white dress reminiscent of goth Lolita with stripes on her sleeves and leggings, with little black boots and white gloves. She also had red cheeks and purple triangles under her eyes. She was what was known as a Laptop Persocom. There were two others in the Plex whose primary functions were maintenance and navigation. This one’s job was general security. She’d already met with the new hire earlier that day. She deemed him okay, with nothing nefarious to hide. Mari was unsure about hiring human night staff at all, experiences from her past life making her understandably wary. Mari was hooked up to various machines around her, monitors nearby reflecting what she saw in her mechanical mind’s eye. “Almost there… “She muttered. “Just a little more… and I’ll get you away from Her.” The main monitor showed something that resembled Mari in coloration, but that was where the similarities ended. The figure was black, almost skeletal with a white mask decorated with purple tear marks. The cords coming from that monitor were black and white striped. “I know… I’m being careful… just do your part and I’ll do mine.” Staticky noises emanated from another monitor, this one showing two yellow figures. Their visages were horribly blurry and pixelated, but one could just barely make out a black top hat on one and what looked like rabbit ears on the other. The wires from that monitor were hooked up to two desktop persocoms laying prone on beds tucked into a corner of the room. They looked freshly bought, still wearing the outfits they’d worn while on display in the store. Both of them were male models, with blonde hair and animalistic features. Mari was grateful to her fellow Laptop Persocoms for arranging their delivery with minimal questions. The wasn’t sure how she could lie about it if they’d asked. She’d stumbled upon the digital plane by accident one day, while performing a routine check on the security systems. She found something resembling residue, and decided to follow it to its source. Before anyone else on that plane noticed her, she’d made contact with two entities wishing to escape. That was when something woke up within her, and she started working with the perversion of the animatronic she resembled, the Guardian of that digital plane, to free the two. That was their deal. Mari would provide new bodies for the entities to inhabit and in turn, Nightmarionne would open the way for them. As Mari concentrated, she felt two distinct energy signatures flow through the cables connecting the persocoms to the computers. “I hope I made the right decision… and that Alfred won’t be too mad at me.” She felt a pulse of reassurance from the entity. “… thanks. We’ll work out the details once they’ve initialized. Are they through?” She felt a pulse of confirmation. It was already closing the gate, leaving the escapees nowhere to go but into the androids. It only took another minute for them to fully upload themselves, but Mari felt it once they were. She disconnected herself from the wires and hopped over to the beds, carefully stepping over the bodies until she found their switches. She glanced back at the computer screen. The entity nodded to her, before it went black. The connection was lost. “Here goes nothing…” She muttered, before pressing the switch on the first android. The regular noises of a persocom starting up were heard, Mari stepping aside to monitor the process. Suddenly, his eyes burst open, a clear sky blue. The humanlike robot took his first artificial breath, gasping. His ursine ears twitched and swiveled as he turned his bearded head towards the smaller persocom. Mari smiled. “Welcome back, Fredbear.”