Manic cackling swelled throughout the gallery, as keen blue-gray optics rested on the man who had entered the gallery. Since being deemed unsafe and locked away, the panda had not seen Michael. There was confusion wracking his processors. Unbeknown to the animatronic, this was his true creator and not William. But memories were fuzzy. His thoughts were askew. Like he had been programmed for another purpose other than to maim and kill but something had finally snapped last night. Many families had fled the pizzeria. Funtime Freddy was not the only animatronic who had acted…”beyond expectation” that night either. He was hiding behind the nearest wall, peering out to watch the man.
When he heard his voice he echoed back. Ƒ Ƒ｡ - ･:*:･ﾟ★, ❝ Haha, well, hello again!❞ The lights were not very practical for camouflage so he emerges from his hiding spot. Funfred wasted no time in closing the distance between them. ❝Birthday boy~❞ He chimed as he went along, grabbing for Michael instantly. ❝I’ve got a surprise for you! ❞
No Foxy on the stage, but that wasn’t abnormal. To the best of his memory, they hadn’t been there last night, either. Then again, relying on his brain to process– well, just about anything was a crapshoot. He contemplated restarting HandUnit, just to get some guidance, then decided against it. He’d shut it off for a reason, and while his father would almost certainly kill him if he found out Michael had been tampering with the equipment, he was confident in his own ability to undo what he’d done and have it looking right as rain when the morning rolled around and his shift ended. Until then, he could enjoy blissful silence–
Or not. Fuck, the bear. His stomach flipped right up into his throat, and he gagged at the sudden onslaught of nausea. Sweat gathered on his palms, and he struggled to keep a solid grip on his flashlight. Focus, Michael. You knew they were down here. Yes, but not moving! Okay, sure, but what the Hell are we going to do about it now? He inhaled deeply, trying to calm his nerves. He could handle this. After all, they were his designs. He could handle this. Moving with a dexterity fine-tuned by paranoia-fueled trips to the gym, he ducked Freddy’s grab and shot into the nearest vent. “Really?” he called over his shoulder, unable to wiggle around and thus having to awkwardly peek under his armpit at the opening. “Sorry, I’m not big on surprises.”
His lone hand finds the mechanical paw of the older, withering animatronic. Albeit it was challenging with one hand, he was more than accustom to dancing with Bon-Bon occupying his right arm and you did not necessarily have to be good to dance.
❛ You looked like you could use a little fun in your activation! ❜ Funtime Freddy cheered in elation. It really did prompt his sorbose to run cold when he witnessed another animatronic so down-hearted and beaten. It was unintelligible just how much the feline had been through but if it was anything like Funtime Freddy’s and Bon-Bon’s endeavours; it was indisputably distressing. To make things easier the robotic bunny opted to climb onto Old Candy’s shoulder, hanging on there and chuckling joyously.
❛ You’ll have to excuse Freddy he gets really excited when we get new company around here! ❜
❛ I bet you were pretty ROCKING in your golden days, old-timer! ❜
It was out of the usual to see the old cat in such a state; he was a ancient animatronic, but who never let his mood down and faced each activation with a positivity, as much as he knew his end could come tomorrow. He was a fatherly and, mostly importantly, a figure of hope.
…but today he wasn’t like that: Ever since he awakened in the underground facility he noticed a odd occurrence, that being, Blank nowhere in view. As he discovered later, his bandmate and friend was deactivated, and no matter how many times he tried to, he couldn’t turn on his brother-in-all-but-name.
It was no wonder he wore a sad expression in his face, one so apparent not even his limited facial structure was able to hide.
While sitting by himself, in a hidden part of the Breaker Room (his dark color have him little worry in disturbing the occupants of it, he was a hard target to see in the darkness) he barely managed to account for the presence of one of the Funtimes; this being of Freddy and Bon-Bon themselves, odd fellows as the old cat himself would say.
As the feline was about to address them, even standing up, his paw was catch by the sole free hand of the white bear. As elation was expressed, and the handpuppet held himself at his shoulder, the realization was quick to come: he was being invited to dance!
The old bot wasn’t built with such activity in mind, fact being that he just didn’t and wasn’t good at dancing…but was there any excuse to not, especially now?
“Oh no no, I don’t mind it; being alone gets uneventful very quick!” Was the answer to the bunny’s concerns; if anything he found so much excitement endearing. Oh boy, if it didn’t remind him of older days.
“Rocking? Maybe! But waltzing, not so much; not that I’d refuse a dance.”
Came the double answer to the bear, a friendly warning on his own inexperience, even if he accepted the offer.
The canvas-man-as it were seemed visibly relaxed when he was informed of his new state of being “out of order”. Well of course the old animatronic seemed battered, dented and fading signatures and doodles spread across his humanoid-body. Blank had been used, adored, loved to no end, he had lived the life that Funtime Freddy and Bon-Bon could only dream of.
The only one who seemed to acknowledge Blank’s demand to be put him down was Bon-Bon. He gently tried to encourage the arm he was on to drift down so that the withered animatronic could stand on his own. ❛ Sorry…he’s a hugger. ❜ He apologized on Funtime Freddy’s behalf.
❛ You betch’a, Blanket! ❜ He knew the latter animatronic had stated his name was Blank but Blanket was such a fun pet name.
❛ As we explained before it’s been a long time since we had a new friend. ❜ Bon-Bon felt the need to reiterate that after he friend’s distasteful and zealous actions. Freddy had meant well though. ❛ We were only on stage once. ❜
At that even the excitable bear seemed to grow uncharacteristically quiet, his ears flattening and his eyes somehow seeming to fade, soft. ❛ They must have really loved you out there! ❜
Bon-Bon caressed Freddy’s arm, trying to soothe him. ❛ Well maybe we can show Mr. Blank The Canvas Man around his new home.
Freddy suddenly perked up. ❛ That’s a great idea, come along Blank. Blank The Canvas Man. ❜ A goofy mimic of how the latter animatronic introduced himself. ❛ Watch the flying sparks and loose cables,… We would’ve cleaned up the place but we didn’t know you were coming. ❜ He jests, gesturing for Blank to follow.
Old joints cracking up even more noise as they were landed back on the ground, mostly thanked to the bunny (which he already could judge as the sane one of the duo), right after hearing his name being…pet named, something rare to him, usually he was called by his name only. He could get used to this.
So they were only on stage once? In their entire runtime? As much as he came to despise his job as a whole, he couldn’t help but feel something akin to feeling bad about them…not that he could easily show such expression on his face.
“They did love me for some time, I think. It wasn’t bad…while it lasted.”
His answer was somewhat bittersweet, as it was undetailed. If you asked why, Blank would just say he wasn’t in the mood to explain himself, not right now.
“Friend”, that was a thing he was unsure about, he never really made any friendships beyond with his showmate (Old) Candy, and that was because they were built together. But so far he was fine with indulging the bear, which, now that the lighting gave a better look at his face as a whole, seemed very familiar…
“Yeah, I’ll keep in mind the wires. Thanks for the warning.”
Said as he was made his way around a particualry active loose cable.
This was going to be a interesting night, and for his standards, it didn’t take much; but a tour was really something very interesting to say the least.
