#from Roxy's Wrath

[monty-glasses-roxy]

interesting SB headcanon, el chip and helpy were transfers from FNAF 6's pizzeria after it burned down, those 2 suffered a bit of bad fire damage but were still functional when they escaped the burning building (the rest of the non-possessed animatronics escaped the flames too and in storage somewhere), helpy and el chip got fixed up after they got transferred to the pizzaplex

Oooo interesting!

Consider: Since the FNaF 6's place is right underneath the Raceway, they could have been found by the others while exploring and fixed up by them. I can imagine Chica being the most curious, so let's say she finds the lift down and discovers El Chip and Helpy. She was about to leave 'em be but with some curious prodding, she noticed that they weren't that damaged, and in fact, despite them being inactive, some of the old safety mechanisms on their endos still function.

So, worrying they both might still be conscious or might have gotten trapped down here - and also wondering if they would remember anything about what the hell happened down here - Chica drags the pair of them up to the surface. She has El Chip on her back, slouched over her and Helpy in her arms as she awkwardly runs to Roxy's garage and very excitedly rambles about her adventure as she casually puts the pair down on the floor.

Roxy confused as hell to who these guys are and what the hell they're doing in her Raceway and once it's all explained she's pretty horrified there's stuff like this just under her home like that. Anyway, Chica convinces her to fix them up on the condition that Chica steals some stuff for her, tells everyone else about these guys, and takes full responsibility for whatever the fuck will happen once they wake up. Chica thinks nothing of it! It'll be fine!

It kind of is fine but she definitely didn't expect for everyone to gain a small bear for a son or a beaver for a new family member.

Helpy and El Chip never expected to wake up again and oh god all their parts are completely different to what they used to be holy shit they never used to be able to do that oh god oh fuck-

But hey, they have each other and a brand new family so they guess this is a win.

Actually, with that set up, you would easily have Roxy acting as the mentor/older sibling figure to El Chip whether she intends to or not and she and Chica just end up with Helpy as their kid somehow. Roxy forever wondering how she ended up with another one when she's already basically the Mini Music Men's second/third parent just oh god someone save her why does she keep ending up with tiny robot kids someone save her please-

[sithbvcky]

Gimme Shelter: Part One

70s gangster bucky barnes x fem!reader au. Warnings: mature themes, drug use, alcohol, guns, blood, violence and nudity.

Synopsis: James "Bucky" Barnes, better known by his fearsome moniker, The Winter Soldier. It's Los Angeles in 1977 and only one man owns the city. Until someone decides to challenge the king for his throne.

Note: I do not give permission for my work to copied or translated anywhere else but this blog.

For as long as you'd known him, Bucky was the man of Los Angeles. He knew everyone who was anyone and they all bowed to him like he was the second coming of Christ. Course if they didn't there would be consequences of varying degrees.

To you, Bucky was an angel. Sweet, gentle and caring. When you met you were dancing at The Rainbow and he stopped a particularly handsy man from trying to tear your glittery little number off your body. He knocked the man out cold with a single punch and within the same breath lent you his hand to help you out of the chaos.

Since then you've been on his arm. You knew he was a kingpin and he pushed all sorts of product around the city, he had the police in his pocket and always assured you everything would work out. But you weren't privy to all of his dealings, especially the more dangerous ones. He preferred to keep you as far away as possible when it came time to do dirty work. He'd sometimes disappear for days leaving you questioning if he was still alive only for him to show up at your shared penthouse apartment with a smile and a bouquet of flowers.

Despite it all, you loved him and he loved you and you knew he'd do anything for you and you felt the same. It was a wild kind of love but you wouldn't trade it for anything. You got to see the world with him and no longer needed to strip for money to eat. Some of the members of his crew even became like family to you too. You were especially friendly with Bucky's right hand man, Steve Rogers. They'd known each other since they were kids and Steve was as loyal as they come. He was always kind of enough to keep you updated on your lovers well being when he was off in some God forsaken place doing things you probably didn't want to know about. Then there was Natasha Romanoff, a beautiful red head who was as deadly as she looked. She was the brains behind most of the operation and often you two would go on shopping trips and became fast friends. As the only women in the circle you clung to each other like glue. She was insanely deft with a gun and knew how to hold her own in a fight. You'd only seen her skills up close once, and you felt bad for the man on the other end of her wrath.

Lately, everything was smooth sailing. Tonight you had a date to make an appearance at The Roxy. A big party was planned and having Bucky show his face would do good for business.

You sat at your vanity adjusting your hair and makeup. Bucky was in the bedroom, sprawled out on the cream colored silk sheets, a cigarette balancing in between his fingers as he watched you. You could see his smug face in the mirror as you continued prettying yourself for the evening.

"God Damn you're beautiful." He commented. You smirked as you put the final pin to hold your hair in place. You looked at him through the reflection in the mirror,

"Don't you forget it."

Bucky laughed and got up from the bed. Wearing nothing but his underwear, his hair disheveled from previous activities. He walked up behind you, his cigarette free hand guiding your face to look up at him so he could place a kiss on your freshly red lips. It was a fervent kiss, so much so when he pulled away his lips were stained with red. You reached up with your thumb and smeared the red from his mouth.

"Can't have you going out like that, darling." You cooed. His blue eyes burned holes into you as he smiled. He moved to kiss you again when there was a knock on the door, he stopped just before your lips.

"This better be important." He grumbled before striding to grab his robe to cover himself up.

You listened as Bucky opened the door,

"What is it, Steve?" His voice was laced with annoyance but you knew as much as it bothered him when business interrupted your time together, Steve would never show up without necessity.

"We got a problem." You heard Steve reply. It was a quiet for a moment then the door closed. Bucky must've let Steve in not wanting this conversation to be overheard by anyone in the hall.

You stopped what you were doing so you could listen closer.

"Word is a new pusher arrived in town and he's looking to take your place. I've had a few clients come up saying they've been visited by a Mr. Stark offering them more product and more protection." Steve said. Your blood went cold. For so long it had been peaceful. No one dared to challenge Bucky on his turf, everyone was too afraid to step to The Winter Soldier.

"He thinks he can just come into my city and start negotiating with my people and that I won't notice?" Bucky's voice was filling with rage, you could hear it simmering in him.

"I've been told he's gonna show at The Roxy tonight. Natasha says the intel is good so I'd say we gotta be careful." Steve continued.

There was a loud smash and you flinched. Bucky just broke something in his fit of anger and you hesitated as you stood up from your vanity.

"Get everyone who's in town, we're gonna make sure we're ready should this Stark decide to play games." Bucky growled.

You stepped into the living room where to the two men were standing, on the floor was a broken glass vase. You walked over to Bucky and placed a soothing hand on his back, the cigarette was now hanging from the corner of his mouth. Steve gave you a friendly nod and you returned it.

"Y/n, I'm not sure you should come tonight." Bucky turned to you, putting his cigarette out in the ash try on the coffee table.

"Baby, where you go I go. If this man is foolish enough to challenge you in public I wanna be there to support you." You said. Bucky shook his head,

"It might get dicey, babe. I can't have you getting hurt."

"I won't get hurt, I'll stay with Nat. Or have Steve protect me." You argued. Bucky sighed, Steve folded his hands in front of him.

"I need Steve with me, but I guess I can spare Nat to protect you."

You reached up on your toes, took his face in your hands and planted a kiss on his lips.

"I promise you I'll be fine."

He kissed you back,

"I'll make sure of it." He let go of you and turned back to Steve.

"Get Nat and Sam ready, tell them to be prepared for anything and that Nat's priority is Y/N's safety if anything starts to get hairy."

"You got it, boss." Steve turned on his heels and moved to leave when Bucky said

"And Steve." He ran a hand through his brown locks. "Tell em The Winter Soldier is coming."

Steve nodded and left. Bucky kissed your forehead and walked into the bedroom. You stood in the living room, the broken glass around your feet as you wrung your hands together. Hoping tonight wouldn't go the way you knew it would. It always ends in a fight.

[techbonnie]

I had a concept in my head, No Idea if I'm gonna follow through with it or not. I've always wanted to do a Mafia AU type thing but never found characters I felt fit.

None of this would be canon compliant in anyway shape or form lmao

some Bios under the cut

The Fazbears

First we've got the Don, the Boss, Fredbear "Goldie" Fazbear. He's the godfather, his family and Springs, have been part of this operation since the days of Al Capone. The police have been trying to get him for years , they've never been successful. He's a ruthless criminal and a strict father to the Freddles: Junior (Freddy), Teddy, and Ned (AKA Nightmare). Fredbears family diner is more or less a functional resturaunt but mostly acts a shell corp for his money laundering.

The eldest of the sons is Fredrick Fazbear, To his buddies (Bonnie, Chika, and Roxy) he's merely Freddy (Never Fredbear). To his brothers and Father Freddy is Junior. He grew up best friends with Bonnie and Foxy. He's set to inherit the "business" from his Father, he knows better than to "go against the family" but it doesn't stop him from wanting to leave the life with Bonnie on his arm and not have to worry about being raided at any moment.

Teddy Fazbear (Toy Freddy) is the youngest of the three and while he is younf he is a Capo in the Family. He's annoyed that his father wants Freddy to inherit the buisiness instead of him. Its all Teddy has always wanted. Goldie promoted him to Capo at 16, he saw promise from his youngest. But he's still young and very enthusiastic about his assignments. Goldie believes that Teddy has some growing to do before he can name him his successor.

Ned "Nightmare" Fazbear (Nightmare) He's the middle son, but the biggest. The boy is built like a brick house. He has no drive to be head of the family, but is more than willing to act a bouncer/bodyguard/ muscle for either his father or brothers.

The Bunny's

Spring "Bonnie" Bunny, Joined the Family at 16, when his father insisted. Was best friends with Fredbear, and eventually went to college, had to drop out after the mother of his children got sick, hospital bills piled up and Spring had to return to the family, tail between his legs, luckily Fredbear understood that he couldn't get in trouble with the law, with two kids reliant on him, and a sick wife with expensive hospital bills, Fredbear opened the diner and let Spring head the restaurant.

Bonnie Bunny, named after his Dad sort of. Spring tried to keep Bonnie out of the business, but then found out about Bonnie and Freddy's relationship and is doing his best to protect his son, and Freddy, from Goldies wrath should he ever find out. Bonnie was trained in Cello, Bass, and Guitar. He loves music and wants to pursue a career in music with Freddy, but has a back up of business major (If the music doesn't work out he wants to own a bowling alley). Currently Bonnie is a college student(On the college Bowling team), and works the Bar and Ice cream Parlor at Fredbears family diner.

Theo Bunny, named after their mothers father. He was young when Mrs. Bunny died. He doesn't remember her much at all. But he was a prodigy when he was younger, played Violin, his brother taught him Guitar. He knows about Freddy and Bonnie's relationship and often blackmails his brother with it, threatening to tell Goldie. So Bonnie almost always gives in to what ever Theo wants.

[eight-cats-in-a-box]

Made a one shot based on my idea that got spawned by @definitelyunhingedagentphoenix's chat thing

Hurt/comfort roxanix ahead

Warnings: cussing, minor heartbreak (?), mental breakdown (sort of?), iffy POVs

"What's that for?"

Roxana sighed heavily, hand twitching as Phoenix asked yet another question, probably the fifth in half as many minutes. As she answered, tersely, Phoenix watched her work, enraptured. They genuinely enjoyed seeing the engineer work, and even though they didn't quite understand, they still found it fascinating.

"...Hey Roxy?" They interrupted the tense silence quietly, unsure of themself now.

"What?" Roxana snapped, still not turning away from her newest project.

"What's your favourite sound?" They're a little quieter, genuine curiosity driving their actions.

But as we all know, curiosity killed the cat.

"The sound of silence." She snipped, looking at Phoenix pointedly. It didn't last long as the engineer turned back to her work, leaving Phoenix reeling.

Were they truly that obnoxious? That Roxana would prefer the sound of nothing over their earnest questions? As they sat there, feeling like an astronaut whose tether had been cut, Roxana continued to work, seeming almost relieved at the absence of Phoenix's interrogation.

She didn't even notice as Phoenix slipped out of the workshop on silent feet, wandering into the kitchen. And immediately back out as they spotted Roxana's coffee cup, forgotten where she set it that morning. Set down when Phoenix nearly burnt the eggs. Forgotten.

They nearly stepped into the room they shared with her, thinking better of it and going to lay down in the guest room. Better to avoid her wrath, and keep quiet so they wouldn't make it worse.

_______________

Days passed like that. Phoenix had taken to using sign, the way they had when their vocal chords had nearly fried in the volcano. But they weren't injured this time.

They just didn't want Roxana to be angry at them, and if eternal silence was how to achieve that, then it would be well worth it.

Roxana was content, at first. Phoenix hadn't been bothering her, only foraying into the workshop to bring her a snack every now and again. But when she thanked them, they responded in sign.

They weren't hurt, they said, and she shrugged and returned to her work. But she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was horribly, terribly wrong.

It made it all the worse when she found them broken and crying. All the worse when she realised what had happened. That she was the reason for their sudden silence. And the cherry on top? They apologized. Apologized for crying, for making any noise at all, and Roxana felt her heart shatter.

She pulled them in, holding them close. "Don't you dare apologize. This is my fault in its entirety, Phoenix, and I'm so fucking sorry you thought it was yours." Murmuring soft apologies in their ear, holding them gentler than she thought possible.

She could feel them shaking, their hoarse voice finally in use again after days of self-inflicted silence. "...You promise?"

"I promise, Phoenix. I'm so sorry I made you think otherwise." She was shaking too, crying just as hard as they were. She traced lines down their spine, trying to ease the pain they had felt.

______________

The next time Phoenix wandered into the workshop with a snack for her, they stayed, flopping down in the chair Roxana brought in for them. Scootching closer to watch her work, and piping up cautiously when it inevitably escaped them.

And when they fell silent, lost in their own mind, Roxana asked a question of her own.

"Are you alright? You've not spoken a word in almost five minutes." She looked up at them, concern written across her face.

They beamed, and continued with the onslaught of questions, firing off a new one practically the instant she finished explaining the last.

Curiousity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Masterlist

[sabrina-bee-art]

The Terrestrial Fairies

Let’s talk a bit about the Terrestrial Fairies, because so far, I haven’t really gotten into their whole deal.

So initially I found the idea of this season revolving around the mysterious disappearance of the Terrestrial Fairies kind of intriguing. It’s a question that was introduced all the way back in season 1 and hasn’t been answered since. We do get the answer pretty quickly though, and in a bit of an underwhelming way. Not so much the Winx figuring out the mystery, as the answer getting thrown at their heads by our conveniently monologuing Ogron. But even then we only learn that the Wizards are responsible for their disappearance, not why they did it, or how that affected the course of the Earths history. Or how the Wizards, four rather regular dudes, managed to wipe out this whole culture of Warrior Fairies.

I find the idea of Dark Fairies as antagonists for the Winx very interesting. A sort of opposite of how they perceive themselves as good and kind guardian fairies.

When the Terrestrial Fairies show up in episode 17, we haven’t really taken the time to learn anything about them. They barely ever came up, apart from Nebula possessing Roxy in Episode 9. The circumstances of their defeat by the Wizard’s hands are still unknown to the Winx, as is their culture. The girlies are not really interested in learning about it either, not even Roxy, even while trying to find the Terrestrial Fairies. Maybe they could have looked for clues and stumbled on remains of their existence and pieced together some information. Instead, the Winx start looking for, and find the Fairies, that is Tir Na Nog, within one episode. I felt cheated when I first watched it, especially since this has such enormous ramifications for the remainder of the season when the Fairies turn out to be antagonists. I really like that as a concept, but I found the way it was executed disappointing.

In my opinion, the last third of the season is the strongest part, just because the stakes are so high. The fairies have a clear plan and motivations, and best of all, that is communicated to the audience. Them destroying humanity is a big enough threat to make sense for the Winx to stand in their way, when previously the conflict with the Wizards didn’t challenge the Winx on a character basis. The fact that the Winx don’t seem to feel much urgency once the Terrestrial Fairies aren’t directly attacking, is not great, but I take what I can get at this point.

What I don’t like is how the Fairies coming back and all their antics seemingly have no consequences for the wider world. This should be a huge thing. Diana is attacking the planet via nature, Aurora is freezing half of the northern hemisphere…how does that affect humanity? And – how does it affect the Magical Dimension? How can the girlies just go back to Gardenia and work at the Love & Pet Shop? That is some missed opportunity to do something interesting with the Winx character wise. The girlies fucked up. Even if they couldn’t have known the severity of bringing the Terrestrial Fairies back. They should still feel responsible for the, possibly, thousands and millions of deaths the Terrestrial Fairies caused. Even though the Winx are not responsible for the Fairies actions, it should have an impact on them. They decided to open the portal to Tir Na Nog. How does it affect them emotionally? How does that change their self-perception? What will they do to fix it? It could even spark conflict between the characters, have them deal with some opposing opinions. It’s realistic that at some point in your life you find yourself disagreeing on fundamental questions with your close friends, so that is something the show could explore in a season where they try to have the Winx grow up beyond the school setting. Nothing there though because we have a concert to prepare for!

The Wrath of the Terrestrial Fairies is then resolved so quickly and unceremoniously that it almost retroactively cheapens their threat as antagonists. And honestly, given that the Terrestrial Fairies are probably responsible for a good amount of death and destruction, the Winx just accepting their change of mind feels very lacklustre. There should be some consequences for the Fairies. They should have to make an effort to be redeemed. They did, after all, attack innocent people. Yeah, they are pissed, in way rightfully so, and want revenge, but also, the people they are attacking now are not the same people that lived a millennia ago when they were first fighting the Wizards. It’s a complicated conversation that has real world implications and feels like a much more mature topic for Winx Club to tackle than what we had before, especially when it’s crammed into only 10 episodes. That was maybe too little time for this topic to be explored in an appropriate way. Also, since we never find out the details about the first war between the Terrestrial Fairies and the Wizards, we don’t know anything about the involvement of humans in that conflict. So the Fairies attacking people seems more unreasonable and straight up evil than it maybe would otherwise. We don’t know what happened back then, and we never find out. Did the humans just look away and let the Wizards pull off fairies wings in broad daylight? Or were the Fairies always a little separate from human society as is implied by Tir Na Nog, their Dimension, being a separate thing with a portal in between Earth and the Magical Dimension. And if so, did the humans even really notice what was happening? Context is important when the conflict revolves around revenge for the injustice done to the Terrestrial Fairies and their reaction to it. It’s important for the audience to know so that at the end, when the Fairies come around again, we can also understand that they are not truly evil but came from a place of hurt. Instead of attacking the Wizards, the cause of their hurt, they attack the Earth and humanity and cause a lot of damage. To the audience that is an extreme reaction, especially since “the Fairies Wings grew back” so there’s not really any severe, long-lasting consequence of the Wizards actions. The Fairies behaviour though seems disproportionally brutal, which makes the rushed conclusion of them turning around again, very hard to swallow.

And then, at the very end, they are under attack from the Wizards again. And loose…the super powerful, not even Believix works against them, Terrestrial Fairies can’t even deal with the Wizards. I just. I can’t.

I wish we had seen more of the Terrestrial Fairies as a distinct culture. How are they different from Fairies of the rest of the Magical Dimension? Their status as Warrior Fairies, what does that mean? How does the Magical Dimension react to their reappearance? I mean, I get why we didn’t see more of that, explored their culture a little, because their, lets call it “arc”, was really tacked onto the last third of the season. Now, imagine if in the first two thirds we didn’t spend so much time with the Love & Pet Shop or the Rockband or Relationship Drama and instead tried to find the Terrestrial Fairies and learnt more about them, that could have been so cool, and served as a better connection between the rather separate parts of the season. Ugh. I’m so tired.

[triptychgardener]

HOMESTUCK KIDS AND HOW THEY WOULD PLAY DARK SOULS

June: Fairly standard beginner dark souls player, get stuck in Undead Berg for a while until her more experienced friends start dropping her gamebreaking gear and letting her know all the shortcuts. Her build is whatever's handy and useful!

Rose: The one who gave June the items. Has a full walkthrough written by the third day, uses fall cancel quitout tricks to skip past most of Blighttown, and regularly wrongwarps to endgame areas to try and solo Gwyn at Soul Level 1 Darkbead only. Typical speedrunner.

Dave: Tells everyone he was good at the game from the start, but he only got that way by throwing himself at the brick wall of difficulty and stubbornly sticking on to using the beginning Broken Sword because "it's more hardcore that way." Despite it all, becomes very good at the game. Not as good as Rose though.

Jade: Loves exploring! The first to discover the Great Hollow, draws out little maps to try and find all the places where the world interconnects. Cries her eyes out when she has to fight Sif. Eclectic build that somehow still works, keeps the binoculars in her hotbar.

Jane: Unleashes her anger and utilizes a prodigious miracle healing setup to become an unstoppable killing machine. Starts out on the Kindle the Flame ending, with the Princess Guard covenant. but slowly starts to unravel the game after she gets frustrated and throws a dagger at Gwynevere. Starts peeling back the lore with a fine-toothed comb and, in the future, nearly always chooses to let the flame go out.

Jake: Constant Warrior of Sunlight, likes to join co-op sessions and help, but is actually doing that because he's nervous about soloing a boss, and wants to practice a lot before the real thing. Struggles a lot at the start, but somehow always manages to pull in clutch at the coolest moment. Loves Solaire to his dying day and gets utterly heartbroken when he discovers one of Solaire's quest endings. Wrath of the Gods+ Lightning Spear offensive faith build.

Roxy: Mods the shit out of the game when she's not running an absolutely broken build and doing constant Darkmoon invasions, partially for the play and partially because she just really likes Gwyndolin. Probably on NG+7.

Dirk: Isn't actually very good at Dark Souls even though he keeps playing it. Constantly harried by Hal invading him online, and as such has gotten pretty okay at PvP. Uchigatana all the way, keeps trying to go for cool parries but gets flattened. Though he wants to be a lone wolf, he has much more fun playing with friends.

[glambots]

I don't know if you'll remember me, I had made an ask about the 4 group members having an assistant like…a very long time ago! Well, PLOT TWIST, what if they fall in love with the assistant of another member of the group? Maybe this assistant had to cover for their usual helper for a while or until they find a replacement? Or maybe they were the assistant of Bonnie but lost their job when he…well you know…. THANKS!

{ A sequel/cont. of This Ask !! }

🎩Glamrock-Freddy + "Falling For Another Band Member's Assistant:" 🎩

It is very obvious and very awkward for everyone involved (except for Freddy, because he's Oblivious). Because Freddy thinks he's being really subtle about it! But...the fact that he can spot you from across an incredibly crowded stadium and will come running the second he does? A bit of a give away. If you're assigned to Chica, she'll tease you about it, but isn't all that bothered. Monty and Roxy though, are a bit more vocal about how "annoying" they find it. Roxy especially, because: Hey! You're her assistant, and he's got his own! (Yeah, she knows he's got "A Thing" for you, but still...)

🐊Montgomery Gator + "Falling For Another Band Member's Assistant:"🐊

The man's already kind of a terrible flirt (both in the fact that he flirts a lot, and he's terrible at flirting), so you're not actually sure if he's being serious or just. Being Monty. Everyone else, though? Is very aware that Monty is trying his hardest to be sincere, which comes as a shock to most of them. Freddy is more than willing to try and "nudge" the two of you together (despite Monty asserting that he doesn't need Freddy's help--but thanks, or whatever). Chica thinks his attempts are sweet, and Roxy is just embarrassed and annoyed. Though she is a little impressed at how hard he's trying.

🍕Glamrock-Chica + "Falling For Another Band Member's Assistant:"🍕

Chica is very much a "teenage girl" when it comes to her crushes: giggling, twirling her feathers, constantly staring at you with big ol' Goo-Goo eyes. You'd have to either be blind not to notice it, or be Monty. Because out of everyone, only Monty doesn't notice it, until it's pointed out to him. Then he'll tease you about it to no end. Roxanne will try and get you two to stop dancing around it and just Confess Already! And Freddy would do his best to give you what "advice" he can on the matter. All of their reactions are pretty different, but all lead to the same end result: you two, together.

🐺Roxanne Wolf + "Falling For Another Band Member's Assistant:"🐺

She likes to think she's so smooth about it, but everyone knows. But no they don't. Because she doesn't. And wouldn't even if she did. So like? Don't even talk about it. Ever. No matter who you're assigned to, she's threatening everyone into silence. Freddy would keep his word, but do his best to try and drop "hints" now and then, without crossing boundaries. Chica wants to tell you so, so, so bad--but she's a little too afraid of Roxy's wrath. And Monty? Might just go ahead and tell you anyway--or he would have, until he really thought about what might happen if he did. Uh...yeah, nevermind.

[hspolls]

And here we are at the end of Round 2! Just like last time, let's go ahead and do the Round Roundup!

Egbert and fedorafreak met at some sort of impasse - Only one could progress. The rules of the tournament are straightforward like that. Egbert hesitates, because looking upon the wonder that is fedorafreak, they don't know if there's any way they can win. But then... fedorafreak places a hand on the Egbert's shoulder. "Go on," he says. "Go far. Win, even. Your father spoke highly of you, and he would want to see you succeed." Egbert nods. They will do everything they can to make their father, and fedorafreak, proud.

Roxy frees Erisolsprite from his misery. Huh? No, he's still alive. She just told him to go do something else because he obviously wasn't enjoying the tournament. He's just going to go be miserable somewhere else.

The Condesce brutally murders Trace, having no place for him in her plans for domination.

The Aimless Renegade makes the dire mistake to challenge Kanaya, mistaking her for an aggressor. She does what she has to, only in self-defence.

Meanwhile, Rose participates in another kind of battle. It's a rap battle. Again. Yeah, Squarewave really likes to rap. Anyway, Rose defeats him with witty wordplay and solid bars. Didn't think she'd be good at rap, but hey, first for everything!

Terezi manages to outsmart Jasprose, who suddenly decided the tournament wasn't so fun anymore and left to do something else. Which kind of negated the outsmarting that Terezi was doing. But let's let her have this win.

Dave and Davesprite try to battle for supremacy, but then get distracted just talking about crap, and they decide they're both actually pretty cool but Davepeta has more cool powers to give them an advantage. They mutually agree on Davepeta going forward, in order to win for the both of them.

Crowbar, who suddenly recognises that hey, isn't this lady meant to be deceased? How did she get here? In fact, how did so many of these guys get here - some of them are from completely different timelines...! Decides to challenge the closest anomaly he sees. Unfortunately for him that's Mom Lalonde, who is a far more formidable opponent than he bargained for. The battle is over before it even began.

Becquerel, the best dog, and Ms. Paint, the sweetest lady, find themselves in a tie. They'll both progress onto the next match, one with a new, unforseen opponent. Who could it be...?

WV's uprising continues, but is quickly ended by Jade, peacefully, who encourages him to go make a pumpkin farm and retire somewhere with his friends. He decides that's a pretty good idea. Uh... nobody tell him about AR.

Gamzee makes the mistake of seeking out Nepeta to attack... But this time, she gets the upper hand. The timeline is rectified. Nepeta survives.

PM and Lil Hal participate in a battle of popularity. Unfortunately for the digital fellow, PM destroys him. Completely. The mail NEVER fails.

Casey defeats the Handmaid, the demoness of the Alternian Empire, beholder of the powers of time. Casey absorbs another great figures power. Something is changing. A power is growing... [Casey has become Viceroy Bubbles Von Salamancer, wielder of great powers beyond our understanding].

The Summoner stumbles upon a stray cat. How cute...! He thinks to himself. It is the last thing he thinks. Another falls to the cat.

Another falls to Clubs Deuces' horrid wrath... And he is left, the last standing member of the Midnight Crew. He carries the memories of his fallen comrades with him. It's personal now.

Aradia sits with Dad. She talks with him. They talk about their worries. Their pasts. Their... memories. Dad realizes... he's no longer alive. He hasn't been for quite a while. But still, he will cheer for his child. All he ever wanted was to help the little Egbert grow strong. He too, shall lend Egbert his power now. Aradia moves on.

Meenah, even with the Psionics powers to aid her, is still no match for the powerhouse that is Vriska Serket. The blueblood moves onto the next round. Is anybody capable of stopping her...?

Feferi and Jane go head to head to determine who the ultimate heiress is. And Feferi comes out on top. With a little bit of help from her Mum. Thanks, Gl'bgolyb!

Calliope and Damara also battle, and despite her inexperience in battle and Damara's ruthlessness, Calliope wins.

Dirk faces no challenges up against Eggs. It's an easy win for the Strider. Onto the next round he goes.

The battle between Latula and Diamonds Droogs is a close, and arduous one. It almost seems as if the both of them will fall. But, at the last moment... Diamonds falls first. The brains of the MC is out of commission, severely depriving them of their staying power. Weakened, but victorious nonetheless, Latula soldiers on.

The Grand Highblood does s EDIT: I forgot to finish this sentence in the original post. What GHB did to that old man is up your imaginations.

Karkat and Clover go face to face, once again. And once again, Karkat proves his superiority over the lucky leprechaun. Even though the leprechaun also had a gun this time. Er... maybe Clover didn't actually want to win this tournament? Maybe best not to think about it. Moving on.

Serenity faces off against Dennis of Gamebro fame. Who proceeds to trip over an (in)conveniently placed skateboard and absolutely stack it. Serenity wins. But Dennis gets a great laugh and wonderful memory with his mates. So who's the real winner here?

Finally, Dave faces off against Porrim. And despite the Maryam being a formidable opponent herself, the power of Strider fans carries Dave onto the next round.

A SPECIAL CHALLENGER APPROACHES...

[angelofrainfrogs]

Spend the Night: Ch. 22

~Coauthored by @zeitghest~

Fandom(s): Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: The familiar melody of Grandfather’s Clock chimes through the echoing halls of the Pizzaplex…

Charlie wakes up in her Puppet’s vessel yet again with one goal in mind: to stop William Afton’s reign of terror for good. She enlists the help of Glamrock Freddy, the emphatic leader of the newest iteration of the Fazbear Band. But there seems to be more to this bear than meets the eye—and the same goes for the mysteriously familiar kid the duo find tinkering with animatronics down in Parts & Service.

With some help from friends new and old, Charlie’s journey into the bowels of the Pizzaplex will unravel mysteries none of them ever expected. 

Rating: T

Read on Ao3

Aren't we having lots of fun Whoa oh oh Live the nightmare again Aren't we having lots of fun Whoa oh oh We will sleep when we're dead Aren't we having lots of fun

~Lots of Fun by Tryhardninja~

The bear kept a steadfast watch while the others slept, and they got a solid few hours of rest before the commotion outside began. Originally, it seemed like the dayshift staff was slow to arrive—in reality, they were simply looking elsewhere in the Pizzaplex as it was immediately clear that Chica and Roxy weren't in their rooms. Freddy peered out the window just in time to see Sophie's familiar face marching towards his door.

“Everyone, wake up!” Freddy exclaimed in a whisper, rushing over to lightly nudge the group awake. “Dayshift staff is coming to check on me—hide in the back until they are gone!”

The day guard didn’t seem as easygoing as she was yesterday. This was bad. Really bad. Half their robots were missing. Someone had swiped the refurbished Foxy animatronic before they had a chance to announce his grand revival—a fact few staff even knew about. Roxy Raceway was smoldering when Sophie arrived at the Pizzaplex.

Mr. Emily couldn't come into work and see this. Despite his kind heart, Sophie had a feeling the high-strung man wouldn't hesitate to fire all of them for such a fiasco.

“Freddy!” She knocked, unaware of the issue that the team was having waking up Gregory.

The kid was out cold. It hadn't taken Charlie or Michael much time to get up, but because of how sleepy Gregory had been, he was waving them off and rolling over to ignore their pleas to wake. The kid mumbled something about feeling too sick for school before Charlie went to pull the blankets off of him—

Then, the door unlocked with a master key and security guard Sophie let herself in past the threshold, only to blink at the oddball group.

Right. That was another thing: the Fazbear Entertainment heirs had stopped by for a check-in.

“Uh... Pardon me. Mr. Afton, Ms. Emily—” she acknowledged, rightfully assuming their identities based on rumors she’d heard about special visitors.

Don't ask the snooty rich people why they were sleeping in Freddy's room, Sophie thought, slowly making her way inside. That’ll just be awkward...

“—Freddy! What the heck happened last night?!” Sophie interrogated, mindful of the sleepy child in the room by directing her anger into a rough whisper-shout.

“Ah, I... do not know, Officer Sophie; I am afraid my memory banks are still on the fritz,” Freddy said, stalling for a moment as he processed that the others were not about to be taken into custody.

It seemed Vanessa had regained consciousness in time to inform dayshift that the Afton and Emily heirs were currently visiting for an extended period. Staff were instructed to be as cordial as possible and listen to any request they had, lest they feel the wrath of the CEO bearing down upon them with swift consequences.

Michael had frozen along with Charlie as the door was wrenched open, staring wide-eyed at the intruding woman. He recognized her from yesterday, though she sounded in a much fouler mood than before—rightly so, he had to concede, for the stress of losing three of the main animatronics in a giant Megamall would certainly make anyone a little snippy. Upon realizing their ruse from last night still held up, Michael allowed the tension in his shoulders to relax, shifting his face into the more serious imitation of his father. He acknowledged Sophie with a light nod, then went back to trying to gently wake up Gregory, though not nearly in as much of a panic.

Gregory gently batted Mike's hand as it nudged him. He was determined to sleep, and hugged his Freddy plushie accordingly.

“Freddy... Are you lying to me? I know you’d been escorting our uh... friends around.” Sophie said, with lack of a better way to describe the surprise guests. The two other people in the room were dressed like they’d grabbed stuff off the racks in a dark room, all things she recognized as merch from their stores. Though referring mentioning such a thing with or without provocation would certainly end in Sophie’s termination.

Charlie finally managed to get Gregory to wake up by sliding his plushie from under his arms and earning a frustrated simmer of words.

“Why is everyone being annoying?!” Gregory moaned, stopping Sophie in her accusations while she watched the tiny, presumed Afton complain.

“Shush, Gregory,” Michael said tartly, though he made sure to run a hand over the boy's hair to show his tone was just for show. “We've got a visitor.”

“I am not programmed to lie,” Freddy responded to Sophie, his face a mask of innocent confusion. “As you said, I have been escorting the Afton and Emily heirs around all night... I did not notice anything amiss.”

The bear glanced towards the trio questioningly, head tilted in detached deference. He was a machine with selective memory loss at this moment, and that's all that he was.

“I didn't, either,” Michael said with a shake of his head. His eyes narrowed at the guard, his tone ice-cold. “Why? Is there a problem...?”

Oh fuck, Sophie was in trouble now. When she looked to Michael her face burned, a flustered red stripe glowed over her nose and onto the apples of her cheeks. Obviously he would rat her out to his father—wherever the hell he’d been all this time—about the current and ongoing issue.

Though if Mr. Afton was here, along with Mr. Emily's daughter, then surely they were here as employees? Despite the man's cold, blue stare, perhaps he was here to help...

“...Yes. Every day I've been coming in to do my security rounds, animatronics have gone missing. They've all been experiencing a personality glitch, too. We can't even find where the robots are going on the security feeds, because they stopped recording weeks ago,” Sophie admitted. After all, she wasn't the one supposed to be watching them at night!

Sophie managed to stand tall, hoping not to appear meek or inexperienced. She watched as Gregory quickly assumed a position behind Michael, gazing at her with judging, suspicious eyes. “It just doesn't make sense, sir.”

Charlie feigned a wide-eyed glance, as if surprised at this discovery. “Did you speak with the night guard?”

“Hardly. She told me the issue, that her wrist had gotten worse, that you three were visiting. Then, poof; she probably clocked out...,” Sophie explained further, acting as if she were talking before administration. Though one of the people who outranked her here was 12 years old. 

Michael’s face relaxed slightly as the poor day guard tried her best to explain the issue. He felt bad for stressing her out, but he needed to play the cool, commanding roll of authority. While he took ironic inspiration from his father, it didn’t mean he had to be exactly like William—especially in terms of compassion.

“…I see,” Mike said after a moment, his tone less sharply angry and more just annoyed. He let out a small sigh, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he looked at Sophie, who was clearly trying not to directly meet his intimidating stare.

“Well, this is certainly a major issue… but it seems like blame for lack of surveillance falls under jurisdiction of the night guard, doesn’t it?” He rolled his eyes with a click of his tongue. “Honestly, it’s insane that they only have one person to patrol this entire building after hours…”

“I am sorry I cannot be of more help,” Freddy said, looking as genuinely apologetic as a robot could. “As I have explained to you all separately, my connection to our internal network has been severed since the other night, so I have been unable to contact the other animatronics.”

“You’re not the security guard, Freddy,” Michael pointed out dryly. “It’s not your job to keep tabs on everyone…” He gave another sigh, then looked to Sophie again. “We can at least confirm that Freddy's functioning properly in Safe Mode, as he gave us a tour last night and didn’t show any issues.”

Sophie let out a breath she hadn't realized that she was holding. Michael may have intimidated her at first, though at his reassurance she allowed herself to stop fretting over whether or not she’d be blamed for the current state of the Mega Pizzaplex.

“Best case scenario, they're broken down without power, which is why they aren’t responding to the manual call-back buttons inside their rooms,” Sophie explained, looking to Freddy with an exhausted smile. “At least you're still kicking it, right, superstar? Heh…”

The bear seemed to be in better shape than the state she found him in last night anyway. Sophie’s attention was pulled back to Michael, the most adept liar of the group for answers. “And you guys didn't notice anything out of place last night then, I take it.”

“Not at all,” Mike replied easily, shifting his weight so he leaned against the couch with arms still crossed. “Well, we noticed the other animatronics weren't in their rooms—although they've always tended to wander.”

A faint, strained smile crossed his lips for just a second as his eyes flitted to Freddy. There was a slight, awkward lull in the conversation, before Michael decided to ask: “Do you need Freddy for anything today?”

Hopefully she'd say no and he could remain by their side. Although, even if the techs did want to check him out just to be safe, at least Michael was no longer afraid of being discovered and having police called on them for trespassing.

“I need Freddy to stay in his room,” Sophie replied much to the dismay of Gregory, who desperately required a proper breakfast in his stomach asap. Sophie seemed set on this, hands on her hips as she made it clear: “While dayshift’s out looking for the rest of the band, no other animatronics are to leave their rooms. Obviously we’re on temporary shut-down from customers while we find the Glamrocks. Not to mention how messy all the attractions have gotten...” She sighed, shifting into a more demure stance. “You’ve probably heard all this from the big boss already, though.”

Charlie wanted to protest Freddy’s jail time, though any excuse she had lined up wouldn't have made sense with their current situation. There technically wasn’t a need for Freddy to be outside of his room, since there was no one to entertain today. The Mall would stand empty this weekend—a rarity for the money-making pit. Luckily, Gregory spoke up in their bear friend’s defense.

“But—” he interjected, peeking from behind Michael. “—he's my friend. Mike said he gets to play with me as much as I want!”

“There's other great animatronics, too,” Sophie reminded gently, firm in her conviction on this point. “There's the Sun character from the Daycare, the DJ...”

While it wasn’t an outward no, she’d essentially told Gregory to go kick rocks.

“It is alright, Gregory,” Freddy reassured, smiling brightly. He knew it would be even stranger if the others stayed in his room all day, and he could tell that Gregory was getting hungry. Still, he hated the thought of just being stuck in his room while the other three wandered the Pizzaplex...

Although, he reasoned that they wouldn't be alone, as the entire stock of dayshift staff were around—and Freddy also hadn't forgotten about that animatronic presumably still lurking in the vents. Despite Michael's obvious hatred of the thing, Ennard had saved him and Gregory, so Freddy presumed they'd offer the same protection if circumstances became dire.

Michael had a similar thought process to Charlie—he could probably get them to let Freddy wander around by throwing the Afton name around a little harder, but it would only cause unnecessary questions. It was all well and good for a 12 year old to be attached to the bear, but his two adult caretakers should agree with the other adult in this circumstance... At least for right now.

“Hey, we can still visit Freddy anytime we want—plus, it'll be easier to find him now that we know he's staying in one spot!” Michael pointed out, looking down at Gregory and pleading with his eyes not to fight the issue. His plan was to go along with Sophie's wishes for a little bit, and then swing back and pick up Freddy after they got Gregory some food. If they were questioned about the bear, they could deal with it then.

There it was, rearing its ugly head again: Gregory was beginning to develop separation anxiety. Though clearly it would be easier to go along with their wishes, Gregory could only cross his arms and pout. There was no way to protest this without feeling like he was jeopardizing the mission. So, silently, he glared at Sophie who took this in stride.

Charlie ruffled his hair in response, doting on him while excusing his behavior. “Sorry, Ms...?”

“—Walten,” Sophie filled her in, introducing herself fully to them. “Sophie Walten.”

Charlie smiled kindly at her, holding Gregory's shoulders as she felt the boy seethe with silent anger. “You'll have to excuse him; the kid didn't sleep enough.”

“And he gets grumpy when he's hungry,” Michael added, flashing Gregory a grin much closer to his normal demeanor. Settling his face back into cool detachment, Mike looked back to Sophie. “Do you happen to know if there's any dining location in this place that sells breakfast food? We’re not quite familiar with everything yet.”

Michael hoped it would cheer Gregory up from having to part with Freddy if he could get something other than pizza, since he still seemed a little queasy from inhaling an entire one last night. Besides, who knew when the last time the kid had a proper breakfast was...

As Mike posed his question, Freddy moved closer to Gregory so the boy could stay by his side a little longer. He even patted his back gently, as that wasn't out of the realm of what Freddy might do to comfort a random, upset child. Hoisting Gregory into his arms would probably cause some questions though, so the bear avoided that for now.

Sophie softened more when Michael relented to smiling at the child. Maybe he wasn't the hard-ass she presumed him to be.

“El Chip technically sells lunches. But I get their 'Not breakfast' Burritos when I get here early enough,” Sophie offered as their solution. It was one of her favorites, the pork burrito drawing a fine line between breakfast and lunch but remaining mild enough to eat first thing in the morning.

“That sounds tasty—right?” Charlie asked, nudging Gregory some until she saw a faint smile on his face.

“Can I have two burritos?” Gregory asked, feeling his stomach quietly rumble at the mention of food.

“I suppose that’s fine,” Michael said with another faint smile. He patted Gregory's shoulder as he addressed Sophie, telling her: “Well, we need to get this one some breakfast. We appreciate the update on the situation, though—please let us know if anything else comes up.”

His tone indicated this wasn't a request, but a command. Mike wanted to be the first one to hear any news—they never knew what might help their situation down the line. Besides, to his knowledge there still hadn't been any update regarding Monty's missing half—a fact that Michael easily forgot about over the course of the stressful night, but was concerning nonetheless. There were only two things that could've happened: either Monty crawled away on his own, or someone took him... and Michael wasn't sure which was worse.

“Uh right—I can give you both updates, sir,” Sophie assured, nerves making her play with the hem of her shirt sleeve. “In fact, if you happen to swing by any of the security offices, you can grab some walkie-talkies stored in the desks. That way you both can stay in the know a little easier.”

She made sure to smile at both of them. Her job was on the line at this point, and as Sophie began to egress, she waved.

“I should check on the others. Stay safe, you two.” Sophie tried to sound optimistic despite the dire circumstances. Upon her departure, Charlie nudged Michael in the shoulder.

“Dude, you were going to make her pee herself.” She was barely holding back a snicker at the way Michael's acting had the security guard wracked with nerves.

“Ugh, in a way I wish I wasn't so good...,” Mike replied with a dramatic shiver, then nudged Charlie in the arm. “But look at you, playing the sweet, innocent one; you almost had me fooled for a moment there!”

Michael tried to play this comment off with a straight face, but that only lasted about three seconds before he burst out laughing at his own lame joke. Now that the coast was clear, Freddy crouched in front of Gregory and began fixing up his sleep-mussed hair, wanting him to appear as presentable as possible for the dozens of staff who'd inevitably see him. The less questions they had about the random appearance of the founders' grandchildren, the better.

It seemed Charlie could only remained straight-faced as long as Mike did. Once his dam of giggles burst, Charlie was barely holding back her own laughter. Was it lame? Yes; it was still funny to her regardless.

Gregory may have done well with a comb, though the naturally wavy hair hid how under-groomed he was. This kid probably needed a shower more than anything, still hiding the sweat and blood by simply changing his clothes whenever possible. Gregory closed his eyes as Freddy swept a claw along his bangs, trying his best to clear the boy's face of his messy hair. The cut on his cheek had faded into a thin, pink line. Bruises that were already yellow when they first saw him had disappeared into obscurity on his face.

“I'll see you soon, Dad,” Gregory said, making sure his Fazwatch was turned on with its sound on the louder side. It wouldn't hurt him to make sure they could reach Freddy whenever possible.

“Yeah, don't worry—we'll get Gregory some food and head right back to bust you out of here, alright?” Michael added, filling the others in on his plan. He stood straight-backed and, in the poshest British accent he could manage, proclaimed: “Let's see what they'll do if Michael Afton Jr. insists on keeping the robot around, hmm?”

Freddy chuckled at this display, glad to see Mike in good spirits.  Still crouched, Freddy pulled Gregory into a quick hug before letting the boy go to join his siblings. “I will see you shortly, superstar; enjoy your breakfast!”

“Eugh, dude—the voice,” Charlie griped dramatically. She pantomimed a look of nausea as Gregory gently slapped her arm while laughing at Michael's over-pronunciation.

To strangers, Mike came off as aloof and threatening with this impression. To Gregory, he sounded like Mary Poppins. It was all an act anyway, and sure, it was fun to pretend to be someone else for a while. After Gregory gave his dad a farewell hug, he parted to run between Michael and Charlie.

“If anyone asks, Gregory, who are you again?” Charlie drilled quickly, holding his hand as she quizzed him to see if he remembered what they told Vanessa yesterday.

“I'm Michael's cousin!” he replied quickly, hoping the distance in relation would excuse his lack of emotion. Surely no one would be so interested in them or their family lineage to ask such invasive questions, though it was good to have a little background.

“Perfect.” Charlie gave his hand a squeeze for luck. Soon, they were freely roaming Rockstar Row, no worries now that the sun had risen.

It was strange to see the Pizzaplex bustling with life. Though Michael and Charlie's souls had technically been around since its inception, they'd only woken up once the terrible threat of William Afton reared his ugly rabbit head yet again. Even though no guests roamed the floors, the flurry of staff running to and fro gave a hint as to what life might be like when things were normal around here.

Mike felt a pang of wistfulness as he watched a group of younger staff members chatting and laughing together. He'd given the dayshift a shot during his early years, but he had a nasty habit of getting attached to people that inevitably met an unfortunate end, so he tried to stay friendly but aloof enough that it was easy to cut ties when the time came. Despite the terror of his nightshift duties, he appreciated its solitude for similar reasons. Even so... sometimes he wondered what it would've been like if things had been different.

But he didn't need to dwell on those thoughts now—he had a family that would stick by his side through thick and thin now, and for once he dared to feel a little bit happy.

The walk to El Chips was surprisingly short, since the trio were distracted by all the bright colors of the Pizzaplex in the daylight. They also got some stares as well, but no one dared come up and speak to them. Sophie's warning that it would be in everyone's best interest not to bother them, especially the Afton boys, certainly did the trick.

The group of young adults had seen the trio coming, and after one elbowed and sharply whispered to the others, they grabbed for the nearest task to look busy. One swept over a clearly clean spot with a broom, another began wiping down a help desk, while the third pretended to answer a call.

Watching them made Charlie wistful, too. It may have seemed that she and Mike were judging the workers, but really their glares were only filled with envy. Charlie had never gotten a chance to form solidarity in a group like that when she was alive. Thankfully, she’d been given a second chance to try it with her new family.

Inside the restaurant the S.T.A.F.F. bots were busy cleaning, though one rolled behind the counter once recognizing customers coming in.

“Two burritos, please!” Gregory shouted, running up to the counter;

“That will be eight dollars and twenty six cents,” the bot replied in a scripted form.

Gregory narrowed his eyes, on his toes to be able to send a dangerous glare over the counter. “I don't have any stinking money! Just put it on Mr. Afton's tab or something!”

When the robot repeated the question, Gregory felt his bottom lip wobble. He was exhausted and hungry, and this might just be the final straw to send him over the edge. Why did all the robots around here want him to starve?

“No worries—I've got this. Gregory, keep a lookout,” Michael instructed, taking a furtive look around before hopping over the counter. When assured no human staff were wandering by, he opened a back panel in the S.T.A.F.F. bot that gave the techs quick access to its computer system. Being such a rudimentary design compared to the likes of the Glamrocks, it took Mike less than a minute to finagle some base coding around to turn off the bot's insistence on monetary compensation.

Michael closed up the back panel and returned to the correct side of the counter, waiting intently to see if his little trick worked. The robot was still for a moment as it reset, before suddenly perking up and responding:

“Thank you for your patronage. You are order number...” It paused, accessing data from the last time someone had bought food. “...87. Please listen for your number at the window. Have a Faz-tastic day.”

“Yesss!” Michael cheered quietly, pumping a subdued fist at his side when the robot wandered off to the kitchen to start preparing the food. He then glanced down at Gregory, trying to be serious despite the grin twitching up the corners of his mouth. “It's not good to tamper with company property like that, okay? If you're with anyone but us, you could get in biiiig trouble.”

Gregory felt his own smile grow as he witnessed the blatant vandalism of the robots. With both him and Charlie watching for any signs of human intervention, Gregory was excited to finally hear the order number after one grueling minute.

“Of course, Mr. Afton.” Gregory snickered, happily confident that they had the whole facility tricked into thinking they were allowed to be here.

“With Michael hacking the server bots and that fake coin of yours, we could have a fun day today,” Charlie pointed out. It would be good for them to try and unwind before what was sure to be another night of insanity.

“Oh, yeah!” Mike perked up at the mention of Gregory's handy coin on a string. He glanced to their right, where if they listened closely the faint sounds of beeping and electronic music could be heard. “You know, we're right next to the arcade... One of them, at least. If you want, we could play a few games before picking up Freddy?”

He glanced down at Gregory, wondering if the boy's desire to be a kid or his newly-formed separation anxiety from his animatronic dad would win out.

Gregory took a moment to toss the idea around in his head. It seemed as though every time they strayed from Freddy for too long, something got in the way. There was always some mishap or disaster that required immediate action. Charlie bent at the waist, shaking Gregory by the shoulders to encourage the boy’s more explorative side.

“Gregory—think of the prizes we could get,” she teased. Charlie wanted him to forget his worries for a little while, and video games were the perfect distraction.

“Alright—after I get my burritos, we should hit up the Arcade!” Gregory finally relented, conceding to the impromptu plan of relaxing with some video games. Anything to remove the lingering fear this place still held over him. Then, they would return right back to Freddy. No harm, no foul.

“Order number 87—your food is ready at the window.”

As if on cue, the S.T.A.F.F. bot's voice called to them from a little window off to the side. A bright orange tray with Freddy's face on it was set down, though the image was mostly obscured by the plate on top of it that contained two piping hot burritos. Michael grabbed the food before Gregory could crawl up on the counter and attack it in a frenzy, walking the group over to one of the little tables in the back. He set the tray down and slipped into a seat on the opposite side, patting the spot next to him for Charlie to join.

Gregory had thrown himself into the tan plastic chair. Surrounded by orange, green, and bright glowing cacti he practically vibrated under the neon lights for the burritos he’d been promised. He wasted no time as Charlie squeezed in besides Michael, mindful not to sit on his hand before looking at the food Gregory opened with envy. Sugar was one thing, but she wasn't exactly sure if they were made to withstand eating normal meals.

“How're the burritos?” Charlie asked, watching as Gregory took a bite and swallowed a portion, yet didn't seem fully satisfied until he reached for a bottle of Tabasco. He quickly poured a good fraction of sauce into the burrito before taking another critical munch.

“Tangy,” Gregory replied, trying not to spit his food everywhere as he spoke with a full mouth.

“What a rousing review,” Michael snickered.

Tentatively, more afraid of Gregory trying to bite his hand off than the consequences of what he was about to do, Mike reached for a small piece of extra pork left on the plate next to the untouched burrito. He held it up to the light, suspicious as always of Fazbear Entertainment food. Then with a shrug he put the pork into his mouth, chewing experimentally before swallowing it down with shining eyes.

“Okay, we'll see what this does to my systems in a few hours, but I sure hope we can actually eat—I missed horrible, cheap food like this,” Michael admitted, watching as Gregory inhaled the rest of his first burrito and moved onto the next one. Whereas the sugar had been sweet, the pork was even better than Mike remembered. Maybe his pure desire to taste food again was clouding his taste buds, but he didn't really care.

“Are you kidding me?” Charlie asked, wide-eyed as if the Fazbear food hadn't been everything when they were younger. Being raised on a steady diet of processed, cheesy pizza, made it Charlie's comfort food. Or, perhaps the idea of it was. “The sawdust they probably packed that burrito with is flavor country.”

As the pair spoke, Gregory was currently trying to beat the world record for most El Chip meals eaten in 30 seconds or less. That didn't even count the time he took to inject a heavy dose of Tabasco into this tortilla as well. He couldn't make for conversation, as he was busy devouring his breakfast like it was his last meal.

Mike relented with a laugh, raising his palms up in a gesture of peace. The food might be horrible in an objective sense, but he had to admit he couldn't get enough of it, either. He turned to check on Gregory, eyes widening as he saw the plate completely empty and the boy licking his fingers clean.

“Wow... I suppose we're done with breakfast then!” Michael pushed a stack of napkins towards Gregory. In his frenzy, the boy had gotten Tabasco all over his face, and Mike watched Charlie out of the corner of his eye to see if her sisterly instincts kicked in enough to try and wipe off his face again like at the diner.

No, it wasn't Charlie licking her thumb this time. She thought smarter and licked a napkin first as she leaned over the table. As Gregory attempted to escape her reach, Charlie's reflexes were superior to his. The back of his head was held in place as she dabbed the orange vinegar and spice solution from around his mouth and cheeks.

“Bluh! Pfftt—” Gregory raspberried the air, trying to get Charlie to cease her sisterly actions. This had only spurred her on out of spite.

“Oh stop! There's no one even here; are you embarrassed because I love you?” she remarked, feigning offense to his refusal in allowing her to clean him.

“No! It's because you put cooties on that napkin!” Gregory griped, entirely serious, which only made Charlie laugh harder.

“No, wait, Charlie—he's right!” Michael exclaimed, eyes wide and serious. His words caused her to pause and stare at him with a raised eyebrow. “You do have cooties...”

He shook his head with a dramatic sigh, then flashed a wicked grin. “But I don't—c’mere!”

Faster than lightening, Michael had licked his own napkin and took over Charlie's attempt to wipe the remaining half of the stubborn orange stain from Gregory's face. His shrieks of protest only made Mike laugh and work harder until, finally, Gregory was sufficiently clean enough to let go. Mike sat back in his chair with a satisfied nod, discarding the crumpled napkin on the table and smiling brightly. “See—that was much better, wasn't it?”

Oh how badly Gregory wanted to frown. As he flopped his backside back into the plastic seat Gregory tried so hard to pout. Yet a smile twitched back in at the last second.

Charlie nodded in agreement. “Much better, we can see your cute face without all that grease.”

Gregory's was red with embarrassment as he wiped away the synthetic spit. Though everything had been carefully removed by Michael, he still felt as if it was there just clinging to him.

“I'm not cute!” he protested further, then felt the need to get up and throw away his trash to escape the attention. The kid’s reaction had only made Charlie excited for the future.

How could they collectively embarrass Gregory with their familial affection in public spaces?

It reminded her of when she’d tried to be more independent, but her parents refused to let her feel like anything except their baby. Gregory may have acted mad, but Charlie could spot the hidden smile from miles away.

Surreptitiously, Mike held out a hand underneath the table for Charlie to high-five, murmuring too quietly for Gregory to hear from across the room. “Good one, sis.”

And it was true—he and Charlie were best friends to the end, but sometimes it was hard to tell where that line of friendship ended and family began. Besides, thinking logically as Freddy would, if Charlie and Michael were both Gregory’s siblings, then it stood to reason they were each other’s as well.

Charlie would try to sneak him a high-five, finding herself smiling at Michael’s little nickname for her.

“Careful,” she reminded him “That hand’s covered in cooties.”

“Who wants to get their asses kicked at Faz-Fighters?” Gregory asked upon regaining his composure. He already knew the answer though. His siblings were practically begging for one after rubbing spit all over him. Charlie stood up to let Mike have space to leave, shooting Gregory a mock glare as she rose from the chair.

“Those are strong words for someone within noogie distance,” Charlie warned him fair and square, causing Gregory to laugh and hide away by Michael’s side. The kid seemed to be in better spirits with some more food in his stomach.

“Oh, you’re on, Gregory,” Michael said, eagerly leading the way to the arcade with Gregory tagging along close to his side. “Little did you know that I was the master at arcade games back when I was your age!”

Michael’s chest puffed up a bit. He hadn’t been able to gloat like that in forever! Sure, he might be competing with a twelve year old, but he had a feeling this kid had more skills than Mike’s other siblings and the Emily’s combined. With the confidence of someone who thinks they’re unbeatable, Michael grinned down at Gregory with a raised eyebrow. “Want to make it a real competition and add a bet to this thing? I’ll even let you set the conditions.”

Charlie knew if they had any of the older games like Fruity Maze or Midnight Motorist, Gregory would be toast. However, the kid seemed to have an overabundance of confidence when it came to arcade cabinets.

“Bet? I thought we didn’t have any money!” Gregory replied with a smirk. Though that wasn’t him dismissing the idea outright. In fact, Gregory looked curious. “Alright—if I win, you gotta carry me on your shoulders and introduce me as Champion of the World.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. For a tiny kid, Gregory had a big ego. Luckily, Michael could relate at times.

“High stakes,” Charlie replied with a laugh. Gregory seemed as if he knew what he was doing. Hell, the kid risked his life to play video games, so he must love them.

Michael didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest, merely sticking out a hand for Gregory to shake on and still wearing that overconfident smirk. “Deal.”

He didn’t bother setting victory conditions for himself. The chance to take a mental and physical break from the horrors his life had become was enough of a prize. Besides, though he was loathe to admit it, watching Gregory attach himself to the Faz-Fighters game console like it was molded to his hands did give Michael pause—

But only for a second. He was the reigning champion of high scores back in the original diner, after all. Surely this would be a piece of cake.

***

It was a piece of cake… just not for Michael. In a shockingly short span of time, the kid had wiped the floor with him, leaving Mike to stare open-mouthed at the flashing screen proclaiming Gregory the victor.

“No way…,” he muttered as the disbelief stared to wear off. In a slightly whining tone not unlike when he lost as a kid, Michael corrected: “I mean, no fair! This competition was rigged from the start! I demand a rematch.”

“Someone's a sore loser,” Gregory mentioned, perhaps trying to irk him intentionally as little brothers were want to do. He wore an impish grin, and pointed over to Charlie who’d been racking up tickets from one of her own games. Surely that was cheating; of course she'd be able to play the Puppet's Gift Giver like nobody’s business.

“We could play again,” Gregory said, swinging the drilled coin in his hand. “You're still gonna lose though.” He leaned against the machine, realistically thinking Michael may just be severely under practiced, hence his good luck this round. “I'll even be balloon boy this time! You'll totally win...”

The kid was a hustler and a con artist, that much was evident. As Charlie played her rather relaxed game of giving presents, she’d been laughing at the boys for the past five and a half minutes.

“No, I’m not falling for that—we’re playing Fruity Maze this time,” Michael said, crossing his arms resolutely so there was no room for argument. Gregory had picked one of his games, so now it was Michael’s turn. He shot Charlie a glare for her continuous snickering, though it was playful enough not to actually seem threatening—and Michael’s grumpiness only seemed to make her laugh harder. With bright eyes ready for revenge, Mike led Gregory over to one of the Fruity Maze consoles and gestured for him to slip his handy-dandy coin in the slot.

“You can go first,” he said with a wolfish grin. Surely the kid didn’t stand a chance on one of Michael’s old favorites.

Fruity Maze? Gregory scoffed and went towards the isometric, table shaped game. After quickly examining the controls, Gregory replied with a scoff. “Too easy. Just a maze...”

The clueless boy let his coin fall into the slot before pulling it out swiftly. As the game activated, Gregory realized that it was a timed challenge, every round started with so many seconds and although he did manage to earn some, the maze was nearly impossible being mostly dead-ends.

Who makes a game like that? Just to torture people?

The anxiety of wasting time on the clock eventually caught up with Gregory. On the third round, he met his fate in yet another dead end and let out a groan. “This game cheats; it's busted— there’s too many corners to get trapped in!”

“—Games are supposed to be fun, boys,” Charlie remarked with another laugh, her current pile of tickets stacking up heavily. What she was saving up for was unknown.

“Let me show you how a pro does it,” Michael said, stepping up to the console as Gregory faked the machine out with his coin again. He’d spent hours and hours of his life learning how to avoid every dead end and get all the power-ups he possibly could. His concentration narrowed into the small square window of the display, and soon he'd well-surpassed Gregory’s score. He could’ve played for much longer, but decided not to torture the kid too much and allowed his character to lose all his lives shortly thereafter.

“I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve,” Mike commented, trying to sound nonchalant despite the twinkling of mirth in his eyes.

A prompt was even displayed, telling Michael that he could input his initials to be immortalized in the High Score Roster. The roster itself wasn't very full, people not willing to go through the learning curve of a 40 year old game. Hell, Gregory would bet the machine itself was a salvage and wondered idly whose initials of SUZ still stood the top of the chart. It’d nearly been knocked off by Michael's score, just thirty points away.

“That's amazing!” Gregory replied with a hearty laugh. “There's only like six people on this chart and you got second place!”

Gregory would have to come back and learn the machine, just to get first place and rub it in Michael's face later.

“Thanks, kid,” Michael replied, taking his compliment as genuine and not realizing Gregory’s secret plans to dethrone him on the leaderboard. He typed in his initials and turned back to Gregory with a smile no longer wicked with fierce competitiveness.

“Even though we’re tied, you technically won the original game we made the bet on… so I’ll give you the win this time.” Michael held out his hand to shake on again, but as Gregory took it his grip tightened and he playfully threatened. “But next time, you’re going down!”

Gregory opened his mouth to disagree, his hand grip strength trying to match his brother, but when an alarm blared from Charlie's game in the corner his vision snapped to her. A robotic voice sounded from the speaker system, over the synth music they played on repeat inside the arcade.

“NEW HIGHSCORE!” it shouted, highlighting whenever someone topped the leader boards for any of the games. Tickets flew from its metal-box dispenser. Charlie knelt on the ground and just barely able to fit the roll she was collecting in her arms.

“I lived inside of an Arcade for like 30 years! I had a lot of time to get good at this game!” Charlie said, humbly averting her gaze before gathering her winnings together. She used to be sort of a newbie when it came to games and remembered having either Sammy or Michael beating levels for her that she just couldn't figure out. Now, she could operate one with her eyes closed.

Michael slowly shifted his gaze from Charlie to Gregory, murmuring to the boy: “Alright, good to know: never challenge Charlie to a high-score competition…”

After laughing at his jibe, Gregory rushed over to Charlie’s side and helped her pick up a ream of tickets that fluttered to the floor before his eyes. “What exactly are you gonna use those for, anyway?”

Charlie looked like she’d been waiting for someone to ask. Pointing back to the prize counter, Charlie diverted the boy's attention to the top shelf. On it was a 'deluxe' Fazbear vintage backpack. She spied it the last time they'd come to the Arcade. It came with a sticker sheet, a themed notebook, plus a Fazbear crayon pack. The backpack was familiar, and reminded her of the one a certain dead-beat Uncle had gifted to her long ago. She wanted it for the nostalgia factor mostly, but it wouldn't hurt to have a backpack to carry about things for both themselves and Gregory.

“Feast your eyes,” Charlie remarked, pointing to the saturated canvas bag. It appeared to be based off of Freddy's color scheme, the red's, tans and browns allowing a singular blue lightning bolt on the front to pop. “Two thousand more tickets, and it'll be mine.”

Michael let out a low whistle. “Wow, I didn’t notice that before…”

Likely because the last time he’d been here, he was still stuck in Freddy’s head. Plus, they’d either been running from Roxy or trying to find where Gregory wandered off to on the way to the security office. Speaking of which—

“Hey, Gregory—what was that game you found the other day? Princess-something?” Michael asked, eyebrows furrowing inquisitively. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the machine for obvious reasons, but the brief flash of images he’d seen intrigued him. He glanced to Charlie again, gesturing to her ticket pile. “You won, right? Maybe we can check it out again and help Charlie get some tickets!”

Never mind the fact that they didn’t need tickets to get whatever merchandise they wanted. They were already wearing half the gift shop’s supply of clothes, but because of their Afton and Emily status, no one would dare question them even if they took the most expensive prizes in the whole mall. Still, though Michael’s instinct was to simply snatch the backpack off the shelf, he could appreciate Charlie’s want to do things the right way.

It was an endearing trait that Michael had really only seen in one other person—a good, good... friend and coworker from before he’d been scooped. The guy once recounted a story of how he racked up tickets for months to get a silly little prize he could’ve easily encouraged the mangers to gift him for overtime compensation… Michael rolled his eyes at the good memories, refusing to think of the bad ones that came afterwards.

“What do you think?” he prompted, nudging Gregory’s shoulder with his elbow and using the physical touch to ground himself. “Want to help your sis kick ass at video games?”

“Princess Quest?” Gregory asked, though really he knew which one his brother was talking about. The ticket payout was decent if you beat the game after unlocking everything. He could probably beat it again, faster now that he knew the paths and secrets.

“Yeah! It's in the corner; be back with a butt-ton of tickets!” he reassured, happy to show off in front of his siblings.

“Oooh! Thank you so much, Gregory!” Charlie made sure to tell him. After all, they could pool whatever was left over and get Gregory and Michael a prize, too. They could hone their skills for a bit and collect their tickets to get any number of things—or, if that didn’t work by the end of the day, go with Michael's plan to steal anything they wanted.

Charging towards the back, Gregory retraced his steps from two nights ago, his memory leading him correctly now to the dusty old game. Charlie did her best to roll up the absurd amount of tickets and fit them into her pockets.

“Here, let me take some,” Michael offered, holding out a hand when he saw Charlie struggle. When she hesitated, he rolled his eyes with a laugh. “I promise I won’t steal them… this time.”

He flashed her a grin, all teeth and unconvincing innocence, though he got Charlie to relent and hand over a small stack of tickets that Michael folded up and shoved into his pockets. While it wasn't entirely Michael's fault for having such an untrustworthy face, that devilish and toothy grin did not do well to convince her.

“I will destroy you if you use them to buy those cheap sunglasses again,” Charlie warned. She would never forget that time she'd gone to use the bathroom, coming back to find Michael with the brand new Fazbear aviators on his face. He wore them inside the whole day while Charlie struggled to earn back the ticket loss.

They followed Gregory’s path to the Princess Quest console. Michael frowned as he examined the area and the machine itself, both of which looked like they hadn’t been touched in a long time.

“Weird,” he murmured, running a fingertip over the console and coming away with a fine coating of dust. “It’s like no one’s played this for months…”

“It must have a reputation. I know when I played it, the game was glitchy as hell,” Gregory admitted, lining up with coin with the slot hole again before pressing start.

“No wonder no one wants to touch it,” Michael commented, watching the screen light up. He frowned, staring at the little yellow player character as she ran around per Gregory’s direction.

Something about this game was… not right. Michael couldn’t place why, though. It just left him with a queasy feeling in his stomach the more he watched the princess fend off the glitching purple creatures. Although, maybe the queasiness was just from the meat he’d stupidly consumed earlier.

“Looks like it’s part of a series,” Michael pointed out, speaking more to Charlie since Gregory was clearly in the zone. He gestured to the logo at the top of the console, which had a big Roman numeral “one” next to the Princess Quest name.

“Huh...” Gregory paused, hesitating on pressing on. If there were more, he would rather find a newer version to play. “Let's find the sequel! Maybe they fixed some of the glitches...”

There was something awful about those bunny creatures. They just reminded Gregory a little too much of William. Then again, the likelihood of him having some part in this games creation was high. After all, the other games had at least one of the co-owners names as credits for the IP.

“Isn’t there another arcade?” Michael asked, trying to recall his mental map of the Pizzaplex. They were in the East Arcade, so it stood to reason there was a West as well. “Maybe if we can’t find part two in here, it’ll be in the other one!” He paused with a slight tilt of his head. “…We should probably pick up Freddy first, though. And maybe get a walkie from the security office nearby.”

“Oh good idea! I can go grab the walkie-talkie,” Charlie offered, unafraid to go alone with all the employees freely meandering about.

As Gregory finished the level, this game left him with an odd headache. It was very easy to get distracted by the hypnotic sounds and atmosphere of it all. For it being a simple 8 bit game, its magnetism almost had Gregory asking Charlie what she said before he was able to pull his attention back.

“Oh yeah! We'll see you in a minute,” Gregory replied, figuring it best to pull away and try to contact his dad. Both to let him know where they were, and that they’d be swinging by, Gregory raised the themed watch to his face and began to phone him. “Freddy? Come in, Papa Bear...”

“HELLO, SUPERSTAR!” Freddy’s voice blasted out of the tiny speaker. Michael flinched back as Gregory frantically readjusted the volume while Freddy continued with his parental questioning. “How are you feeling? Did you have breakfast yet? If so, did you get enough to eat? Have you had water as well? It is very important to keep hydrated, you know! Are you having fun with Michael and Charlie?”

“Give the kid a chance to answer you, Freddy!” Michael chimed in with a laugh, leaning over so his voice could be caught by the Fazwatch microphone.

Gregory had sputtered a moment before the bear finished his barrage of questions. Gosh, he must be bored without them!

“We had breakfast burritos! I can pick some water up before we come back to get you,” Gregory assured, beginning to head out of the Arcade to wait for Charlie in the hall. “We're having a lot of fun! Right now we're trying to play the rest of Princess Quest so we can win Charlie this backpack she wants.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Freddy replied, the smile obvious in his voice. He was glad to hear that no strange instances had occurred during his absence, and that the trio seemed to be getting along just fine.

“Like Gregory said, we're coming to get you in a few minutes,” Michael added, following Gregory out into the hallway and parking them both against the wall just outside the arcade entrance. He took stock of the various staff members wandering around, though as before no one actually tried to talk to them.

“Alright; I will see you all soon!” Freddy responded, unable to hide his eagerness to get out of his room and spend some quality time with his family.

It seemed a number of staff were gathering near a large vent in the wall, shinning lights inside. As Charlie came back with one large walkie-talkie clipped to her belt buckle, she craned her head in curiosity at the spectacle.

“Something wrong, fellas?” she asked, standing behind the group. They must not have noticed her at first, the gaggle of young adults nearly jumping from their skin.

“Ms. Emily! Sorry—Uh... We... Think there might be a... A small rat problem?” a nervous boy forced out. Charlie raised an eyebrow, silently waiting for him to elaborate further “We... Uhm... We keep hearing scratching? And uh... Honking. That might just be Music Man though. He loves the vents...”

Charlie's first thought trailed to Ennard, and she instantly averted to soothing mode. “Oh! Don't you guys worry about rats. I'll tell management to schedule an exterminator on Monday.”

The staff thanked her as she headed back to her group with a wave, seemingly relieved not to go back to their investigation in the central airway vents.

“We should get back; Ennard is freaking the staff out...” Charlie jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, pointing out the pack of scared college graduates.

“Oh, for fu—” For the sake of Gregory and the sanity of the staff who flinched when Michael’s face twisted into an expression of what they presumed to be rage at their incompetence, Mike managed to reign in his curse. Pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut, he heaved a sigh. Once composed, he offered the group a dead-eyed Afton stare, though it was really focused on the vent cover beyond them.

“Yes, it’s nothing to concern yourselves with,” he said to the huddled staff members. Michael clenched his teeth in a sharp smile. “I’ll see to this problem personally.”

With that proclamation, Michael turned on his heel and started the trek back to Freddy’s room, making sure to grab Gregory’s hand along the way. He wished there was a chemical he could just spray in the vents to flush Ennard out, but in reality Mike just needed to have a little chat. He’d almost gotten used to the fact that Ennard was following him around, but he couldn’t have the thing freaking out staff—the last thing they needed was for someone to come across the amalgamation on accident and get traumatized.

If Ennard didn't scare them, Michael's stern attitude sure had. Gregory made sure to hold onto to Mike's hand as his brisk pace was simply too fast for the boy. He made no complaints, despite the distance they crossed in such a short amount of time. It seemed the staff were more aware of them, either making sure to stay clear, or attempting to schmooze with the group by wishing them a 'good morning' in passing.

“Are you mad, Michael?” Gregory asked, hoping the mood Ennard put him in would pass.

“Hmm?” Mike glanced down at Gregory, having been lost in thought. When he saw the boy's face, his expression immediately softened into a much more easy-going smile. “No, I'm not mad—just annoyed. I don't want Ennard to get spotted; the last thing we need on top of everything else is people questioning what the hell they are.”

Which was true... although he really wanted the thing to just go away and never come back. However, Michael had a sinking feeling that Ennard had already grown a fondness for Gregory, too—certainly not to the extent they obsessed over Michael, but Ennard had saved both of them. He doubted they were going to leave them alone anytime soon.

Charlie tapped Michael's shoulder, garnering his attention. “They seem to not want anyone to find them, at least. Maybe we should tell everyone not to snoop around the vents?” She unclipped the walkie-talkie from her belt loop with one fluid motion and held it up.

“Oooh! Good thinking, Charlie!” Gregory said. Everyone listened to them as if they were from Administration regardless. Emboldened, Charlie pressed the speaker button and relayed the message.

“Hey, Staff, this is Ms. Emily—” She spoke professionally into the receiver, finding it weird to refer to herself in such a manner as she talked. “— Any and all maintenance on the air ducts are postponed until further notice. If you have any concerns, find myself or Mr. Afton.”

“Thanks—that should help a lot,” Michael agreed, flashing Charlie a grateful smile. After a short pause, they rounded around to Rockstar Row, hearing the various staff copy her well-put message.

Nearing Freddy's room, they could see that he'd opened the curtain for the first time since the other night. It allowed the glowing, fluorescent lighting of Rockstar Row to filter into the room, which was noticeably cleaner than when they'd left. Apparently, this is how Freddy had been entertaining himself in their absence. When he caught sight of them, Freddy waved enthusiastically and moved to open his door.

“Hello, you three!” he greeted with a smile, ushering them inside. “Gregory says you have been enjoying your time together!”

“Yeah, he's a great kid,” Michael said, a bit absently. He was looking around Freddy's room, clearly searching for something, and upon Freddy's question of what that might be the android responded: “I'm looking for a vent big enough to fit a certain someone...”

“Ah, check the back storage room,” Freddy replied, inclining his head to the door. With a thankful nod, Michael followed his instructions and went into the back room, soon locating a large vent near the top of a shelving unit.

“Hey!” Michael hissed, looking into the darkness. “I know you're in there—come here for a second, will you?”

And oh, how Ennard wasted no time rushing to Michael's beck and call. The way Ennard moved sounded like a rain-stick made of aluminum. When their form finally passed half the threshold of the air duct, Ennard let out a frighteningly loud, “MIKEY!” in greeting.

“WE HAVE MISSED YOU... HOW IS CHILD-MICHAEL?” Ennard asked, apparently not quite catching Gregory's name, but associating him with Mike nevertheless. They tilted their head, sporadic and unpredictable with their movements. It seemed almost painful to move in such a way as they fitted their parts in the right place, slowly morphing their shape back into that of a crude person.

“Ugh...” Michael grimaced, hating how Ennard moved on principle. “Gregory is fine; you don't need to pay him any mind.”

As little contact as those two had, the better in Michael's eyes.

“I'm not sure how much you heard over all your scuttling, but you're freaking people out,” Michael informed the amalgamation, crossing his arms over his chest. He was less wary of Ennard than he'd been before, although despite what Ennard might want they'd certainly never be best friends—or friends at all, if Mike had any real say in the matter. “We've told staff to leave the vents alone for now, but can you... tone it down at all? The scraping can be chalked up to something else, but the honking is suspicious as hell.”

Michael gave up the idea of telling Ennard to be silent long ago. Without a plush suit to cushion the wires scraping the metal vents, they'd make noise no matter where they went. Even with Charlie's instructions people were still going to notice strange sounds, so hopefully Michael's request to not give the impression of a clown in the ventilation system would help ease the staff's nerves in the long run.

Ennard looked away in a bashful motion, their eye's twitching in place, seemingly thinking over Michael's words.

“WE SEE YOU... HAVING FUN. IT MAKES US HAPPY. WE WISH WE COULD...” Ennard trailed off, avoiding the topic of their own happiness before trying to listen to the request. It would be hard, keeping track of the group and also staying silent while moving. The excited honking happened when they felt secondhand joy while watching the three siblings play together.

“THE GIRL... CASSIDY... WANTS TO MAKE SURE... FAMILY IS SAFE.” Ennard explained further why their presence was so intrusive. It may be true, though even as Ennard's tendrils slithered around Michael's legs it was hardly convincing.

“...Ah.” That added a little more explanation as to why Ennard wanted to stick around so often. It was hard for Michael to think of them as anything but the creature that destroyed his life, but Ennard was just a collection of robotic parts and their AIs who wanted to be free and apparently make some friends.

That was the whole point of taking over Michael's body, after all—a twisted attempt to escape from the place they were literally being tortured, and Mike had seemed like the perfect candidate. Disguising as a human was a good way to talk to other people, but... obviously that didn't quite work out as expected. Feeling the cold wires against his legs, Michael quickly dislodged himself, though he resisted the urge to stomp on them as he did before.

Okay, he stomped once, but he missed the mark by such a wide margin it was questionable whether he actually meant to cause damage.

“Alright, well... you can tell Cassidy that we appreciate the lookout—we're okay for now,” he said eventually, trying not to dwell on Ennard's earlier comment. He shoved his hands in his pockets, huffing a sigh. “Just stay out of sight like you have been, alright? That's all I want.”

Ennard seemed to visibly deflate at his disconnection. They shuffled in place a bit, wringing their hands a little as they hunched their shoulders. They would have to find some way to make themselves quiet.

Ennard looked down at their body. Were they really that frightening to the others? They were made of such beloved characters! With the charm of Funtime Foxy, Funtime Freddy’s friendly attitude, Bon-Bon's optimism, and Ballora’s beauty and grace… Who could ask for a more well-rounded friend?

Sadly, all of their personalities conflicted. That was why they came off as unstable—because by nature, they were. Even if the things they had done made sense in their head, it was like four people trying to brush their hair at once with the same comb. Everyone had the right idea, yet the execution would always be impossible.

“WE WILL FIX OURSELVES…,” Ennard offered slowly. Hoping maybe changing despite the pain it put them through would help alleviate the issue. “ENNARD WILL BECOME QUIETER. THANK YOU… MIKE…”

Michael watched them go with a frown, wondering exactly what “fixing themselves” entailed. Then, he realized that he didn't care enough to know, so he turned on his heel and headed back to the warm comfort of Freddy's room. Gregory was sitting on the couch, in the middle of regaling Freddy with the tale of how he'd been viciously attacked by his siblings at the breakfast table. The bear sat next to Gregory and listened with rapt interest, a smile brightening up his face as Charlie laughed at Gregory's version of events from her spot on the floor.

“Have you gotten to the part where Charlie has a horrible case of cooties yet?” Michael asked, perching on the couch. As he waited for an answer, he proceeded to slide the boy over with his hip and a few gentle shoves to make room, thus essentially sandwiching Gregory between himself and Freddy. This made Gregory gasp in realization.

“RIGHT—that wasn’t even the worst part! You need to medical scan me, Freddy!” Gregory said with a concerning whine. Before Freddy could actually have time to react, Gregory added as if embarrassed to admit: “Charlie gave me cooties… I think I might’ve given them to Michael—”

Charlie had to intervene. She leaned over the back of the couch and turned that little face towards her, gaining the boy’s full attention.

“Gregory… Cooties aren’t real. You know that, right?” she asked, hoping that Gregory had been joking. Was that the real reason he’d been afraid of Cassidy? Because of a made up girl-disease? Gregory didn’t answer, just waved Charlie off.

“She’s gonna do it again!” he shouted, falling over to escape Charlie’s touch and subsequently falling with his back impacting Michael’s lap.

“Charlie is correct,” Freddy felt the need to add, also unsure if Gregory truly believed in the made up virus. He focused on Gregory, conducting a quick health scan anyway for good measure. With a smile, Freddy assured: “And even if it was, real, my sensors do not indicate the presence of any virus within your body.” His gaze shifted to Mike and he performed the same scan. “…Nor on Michael; you are both safe.”

“Thanks for the reassurance,” Michael replied with a snicker, unable to stop himself. Maybe he shouldn’t be encouraging his little brother’s fear of harmless fake diseases, but he had to admit Gregory’s faces were priceless.

“You lied to me…” Gregory hissed, feigning hurt and betrayal as he glared up at Michael. Charlie laughed at the boys, the doofuses they were, and leaned on Freddy’s shoulder. She'd also seemed to miss the bear and decided to give him a hug.

“Gregory, despite his grotesque cootie infection, volunteered to help me win some tickets!” she explained with an excited outlook, then looked sweetly to the bear. “Want to come with us to the Arcade?”

“I simply encouraged your delusion, Gregory,” Michael responded matter-of-factly. He ruffled the boy’s hair, completely unfazed by his glare as he looked to Freddy with a raised eyebrow. “So? Want to get out of here and have some fun for a bit?”

“I would love that,” Freddy said, gently letting his head fall against Charlie’s as she hugged him around the neck. “But I was told to stay in my room all day… you do not think my absence would cause problems?”

“Not with us by your side it won’t.” Michael chuckled, the force of it slightly bouncing Gregory who still laid in his lap. “Most of the staff is afraid to even look at me—I doubt anyone’s going to ask me why I’ve decided to take an animatronic out for a stroll with the family.”

Gregory’s frown slowly faded when he remembered how much more frightened of Michael’s potential wrath than that of the mysterious noises in the vents. He would silently snicker to himself. During the daytime, they owned this whole place. It’s a shame it all changed at night. They’d be kids in a candy shop to have this while place unsupervised. That was the goal when Gregory snuck inside… How was he to know what to expect next?

“Yeah! If we run into Sophie, we’ll tell her we’re running uh… Routine customer interactivity tests. And Gregory’s our test subject!” Charlie assured.

“Well, I certainly cannot argue with that plan,” Freddy said with laughter in his eyes. It was strange how his physical features hadn’t changed over the past few days, yet Freddy seemed so much more expressive now. He gave Charlie’s head a light pat and she released her hug, after which Freddy stood. “Which arcade are we going to? There are multiple locations throughout the Pizzaplex.”

“We want to visit the West Arcade; we haven’t been there yet,” Michael replied as he gripped Gregory under the shoulders and hoisted the boy off his lap, letting his legs dangle in the air for a moment before setting him down on the floor with a grin.

Freddy perked up at Michael’s words, his face brightening even more than before. Now that they were in the relative safety of daytime, perhaps they could meet an animatronic that wasn’t immediately hell-bent on killing them on sight. “Oh, you all will love the West Arcade! We can visit DJ Music Man while we are there!”

Michael frowned at this, recalling the nervous staff’s comment from earlier. “Yeah, we heard he likes to go in the vents…?”

“Ah, that is Music Man—related, but not quite the same.” Freddy chuckled, making his way for the door. “The DJ is different—and such a nice fellow!”

Charlie perked up at the promise of a DJ. She’d always been a music lover, and the chance to kick back with some familiar tunes they grew up with would just make her day. Well, other than acquiring the highly sought after Deluxe Fazbag. Rounding around the couch to Charlie’s side, Gregory found and matched her energy.

“Alright, bet!” he replied. The idea of meeting another friendlier animatronic wouldn’t hurt the day. Besides, Freddy was in desperate need of seeing one (even temporarily) non-infected friend, too.

“Well? What are we waiting for! Let’s go get us some tickets and watch the DJ play!” Charlie urged.

Today felt dreamier. Everything so vividly sweet and going their way. Charlie wouldn’t dare jinx it by dwelling on her happiness in the moment. So she’d keep her mouth shut and head for the door, giddy with anticipation.

***

Previous Chapter ~~ Next Chapter

Looking for more? Check out the Chapter Masterlist on Tumblr!

Or check out the entire Wires that Bind Us Series on ao3!

[star-going-supernova]

Prompt: Ness sees one of the dead kids parents on the news begging for info about there child, and she drinks herself into a coma, the gang see what Ness is really like when she's not hiding behind being ok, that she was lying about not remembering any of it.

This is tumblr generated prompt number 17! I wasn’t sure if a literal coma was intended, but since I’ve got another prompt that puts Vanessa in a coma, I decided to go with extremely drunk instead. As always, a disclaimer that I have never been drunk before, so I made that bit up as I went along, lol. 

Being “Fine”

It was difficult to keep Gregory ignorant. Of anything, in general. But he had a way of knowing when Vanessa was struggling that Freddy could only liken to his own internal alert system. Moondrop, being of a similar energetic and chaotic nature, had been tasked with keeping Gregory occupied for the night. 

It seemed to be going well. If one drifted too close to the hall leading to the daycare, screaming could be heard. Even Freddy could not quite tell if it were joyous or murderous. With Moondrop involved, it was a near fifty-fifty chance of either. 

With Gregory distracted, Freddy and his bandmates could focus on Vanessa. 

Only Chica had been present in Vanessa’s office when the late night news channel serving as white noise played a segment from earlier in the day. Vanessa had, according to Chica, fallen still in a concerning way when the red-eyed, desperate mother begged for information about her missing child. And then she had stood and left the room without a word. 

It had taken too long for Chica to make the connection. Freddy could not blame her; it would not have been his first thought either. Vanessa had been insistent that she could not remember most of her time under Afton’s control. As was apparent now, it had been a lie. 

By the time they found her in the abandoned pizza place beneath the raceway, she was too far gone. 

Vanessa had ransacked the secret employee stash of alcohol and consumed nearly all of it. Broken bottles and glass shards were splashed across the filthy checkered floor. The feeble generator light sparkled off them, and they crunched sharply beneath Vanessa’s boots. 

Freddy and his friends all winced as Vanessa brought down a sledgehammer on the derelict stage. There was no stopping the flinches. It did not matter that she had been going for several minutes now. It did not matter that the floor and walls were littered with holes, Vanessa leaving shattered tile and crumbling drywall in her wake. It did not matter that Freddy cared nothing for this mausoleum of a building. 

It was not the destruction that affected them so; it was not the resounding crash of impact against splintered wood and dented metal.

It was that with every heave of the sledgehammer, the most mangled, agonized cry left Vanessa. Irrationally, it seemed to Freddy almost as if those aborted screams were being wrenched from the human’s very lungs, torn out one after another, again and again and again. It was a small wonder that Vanessa’s lips were not left bloody from the force of it.

Some of her fingers were broken, his scanners informed him. Her knuckles there were abraded. She had punched something—mostly likely the wall. Perhaps even more than once. 

Her every breath carried a heaving sob. She was unsteady on her feet, wild and uncoordinated. None of them dared get close until her wrath and catastrophic grief had run its course. Or at least until she could no longer lift the sledgehammer. Roxy, standing to Freddy’s left, had been the one to find Vanessa. All she had to show for it was a dented crack in the side of her head.

He could not measure her blood-alcohol content from where he stood, just within the building’s threshold. It would be dangerously high, he imagined. Her mental faculties were significantly altered; though Vanessa frequently exhibited impatience, frustration, and upset, this rampage was far from ordinary. 

At his right, Chica clutched a first aid kit to her chest in a manner that reminded him of children holding plushies for comfort. On her other side, Monty, showing some tact for once in his life, remained silent. With his own penchant for destruction, he surely wanted to comment on Vanessa’s. 

I thought—she said she was fine, read a hesitant, worried message from Roxy. 

Yes, Freddy responded. She did.  

A wordless, terrifying yell erupted from Vanessa’s shaking body. She swung the sledgehammer, and the target of her ire, a mere table, split apart with an echoing crack. The collision nearly sent her spinning to the floor in a drunken haze. It reaffirmed Freddy’s conviction that this was not something Gregory should see.

Was she fine? Before the broadcast? Chica asked. Guilt bled over the connection between the four of them. If I had shut the TV off when I realized it was upsetting her… would she be okay?

I know rage, Monty sent. This has been building in Blondie for a looong time. That lady on the news was just the breaking point. If not now, it would have happened eventually. 

Thank goodness, Freddy thought, that it had not happened when only Gregory would have been witness.

His friends all winced, and he realized he had not managed to keep that thought to himself. 

Do you think she’ll be fine? One day? Chica asked after a minute, hopeful. 

Vanessa collapsed to her knees, the sledgehammer crashing to the floor beside her. She wailed. Her body spasmed, and the alcohol began to make a reappearance with a vengeance. 

I don’t know, Freddy couldn’t bring himself to reply, just as he could not bring himself to lie to Chica. Or any of them—not even to himself. 

And it seemed he was not the only one. As the moment stretched, no one offered an answer to Chica’s question. 

There was nothing to do now but pick up the pieces—and doubt her honesty, going forward, every time Vanessa claimed to be “fine.”

[shadow-wasser]

First and Last Lines

Fic meme: post the first and last lines of the last 10 fics you posted. WIPs are welcome. I'm going by AO3 update date, though some of these are very old fics. In this one, I'll be skipping two pieces that are not strictly "fic" - a fandom meta essay and a fansong.

The Land Before Sburb

First: From above, two beings observe a planet full of vibrant life.

Last: Meanwhile, the tiny descendants of dinosaurs curl up to sleep, content for now, in a slowly spinning world of Wind and Shade.

2. Guide to the Zodiac

First: The Prince of Hope, The Emperor, the Aquatic, The White, the White Philosopher, the Wrathful, One Who Leads to Rivers of Self-Knowledge, He Who is Evening and Morning, The Stormcrow, The Prince Who Sits Beside Worshipful Kings, Bearer of the Staff, The Thrice-formed Prince, the Adversary.

Last:  Rare is the one who escapes from this grip, but they are said to be richly rewarded for their efforts.

3. A Horse with No Name

First: Winter had fallen in the wood, the snow heavy and white.

Last: By sunrise, he was gone.

4. Crup of Hogwarts

First: Feeling eyes on his back, Harry turned to look over his shoulder.

Last: It struck him as strange and disconcerting that a wizard as wicked as Riddle would be kind to animals.

5. On the Formation and Occurance of Phantump in Paldea

First: The purpose of this journal is to chronicle my studies of a potentially undescribed phenomena preventing the formation of Phantump in Paldea.

Last:  Imagine that, a ghost reading about ghosts…

6. Into Thin Air

First: Your name is Roxy Lalonde, and you are about to break your employment contract.

Last: The next time you video chat, he's got a clown painting framed on his wall, plain as sober day.

7. How I Became Yours, Revised

First: The Iron Ostrich was not the fanciest nor the nicest of taverns the Earth Kingdom had to offer.

Last: Whether they would have regretted saving her was, by that time, a moot point.

8. The Last Earthbender

First: Fire. Air. Water. Earth.

Last: It is.

9. Avamorphs

First: I’m Sokka.

Last: I closed my lemur eyes, and saw Black.

10. Ill Wind

First: With the doors shut tight, the inner sanctuary of the Northern Air Temple was dark, and the air was thick and burning

Last: He thought of going back to the apartment, but decided he would rather sleep on the street.

TAGGING:

@wmb-salticidae

@madam-melon-meow

[monty-glasses-roxy]

For some reason, this round of meds (same dose and everything as last time) is making me have very violent Realisations and Remembering Things moments. And by that I mean the Thing I Forgot and/or the Realisations show up with a bat and see how hard they can make my brain hit the wall. So anyway.

YOU GUYS REMEMBER SPIKE THE WETFLOOR BOT??? YOU GUYS REMEMBER HER??? THE FIRST FAZBEAR ANIMATRONIC TO BE BORN FROM LOVE INSTEAD OF PAIN??? YOU REMEMBER HER???

CAUSE I JUST DID

[clcrisse]

( sydney park  +  twenty-two  +  she/her  )  look who has entered camp halfblood college !  meet CLARISSE LA RUE ,  the child of ARES .  they have been living in long island for four years and are currently working as head counselor . when someone describes them, they are often described as BRAVE and ARROGANT. zeus believes she is responsible for stealing the lightning bolt but is that something they are capable of doing? ... written by roxie.

i. BASICS

full name: clarisse la rue. korean name: 경희 (gyeong-hui). origins: olympian, french, korean, american. languages: english, french, a little korean. from: arizona. birthday: april 14th. star signs: ☀ aries, ☾ leo, ↑ leo. godly parent: ares. occupation: head counsellor of cabin 5, once studied archaeology. gender: cis female. sexuality: pansexual. height: 182 cm (6ft). build: toned and muscular. appearance: curly black hair that goes to her shoulders, dark eyes. she can rarely be found wearing make-up, she prefers a neutral look with red lips. clarisse is usually wearing workout clothes. flaws: wrath, pride.

ii. DEMIGOD BASICS

powers: telumkinesis (power to manipulate weaponry), weapon conjuration (power to transform objects into weapons and tools), weapon curses (power to curse weapons), necromancy (power limited to only dead soldiers), odikinesis (a power still out of her control but she can influence others to feel anger and hate), banshee scream (*she has still to learn the full scope of this power / the ability to produce a powerful scream to cause others serious discomfort and pain), pyrokinesis (*she has still to learn the full scope of this power / limited to only being able to produce heat/small fires).

special items: an electric spear called maimer gifted to her by ares, red armour with boar head motifs all over it, and a magical black knife whose handle burns whoever tries to wield it other than clarisse, ares' chariot (borrows it occasionally).

strengths (beyond the ordinary demigod abilities): enhanced strength (she is known to be freakishly strong even among demigods), enhanced speed (she is also known to be very fast especially when fighting with her spear and knife), master at hand-to-hand combat.

trigger warnings: abuse, fractures, blood.

iii. LIFE

clarisse is the daughter of ares, the god of war, and a french-korean mortal woman by the name of martine. they met after an amateur mma match her mother competed in. she grew up in the heat of arizona, in a suburb of phoenix. she was a very active kid and she always excelled at any sport that her mother signed her up for.

when she was five, her mother got a new boyfriend, michael, who became clarisse's stepdad. unknown to her mother, michael was abusive towards clarisse, both verbally and physically. his favourite thing was to hammer in how unworthy and insignificant she was, how her real dad had left her and never sent a single birthday card. she feared being in her own home, especially when her mother took on a job as a bartender, leaving clarisse alone with michael more often. and while clarisse had always been fiery, she became downright destructive and cruel through the years of suffering under his abuse. michael and martine married when clarisse was eight. due to her own pride, she never said a word about the abuse to her mother, who believed the bruises and breaks were from all the sports that her daughter was involved in. but when clarisse was only eleven, michael hit her for the last time. when he struck her one day, a deep and angry voice in the girl's head commanded her to fight back this time, to stop cowering. when michael raised his hand to strike her again, it was the first time that she truly saw red. it ended with michael in the hospital with a bad concussion and multiple fractures. no one believed his eleven-year-old stepdaughter could inflict such damage on him despite his claims. however, martine knew clarisse was capable of it. while the attack led to her mother and michael's divorce, during which clarisse told martine everything, her mother also began fearing clarisse after that incident and started to assume the worst of her.

throughout her childhood, she was continuously expelled from school and thrown out of sports clubs for being too violent. she was even too violent for lacrosse. most of the time she did not mean to hurt anyone, but something would set her off and she would suddenly find herself standing over a crying kid, her knuckles bloodied and bruised. sometimes she would just be deemed "too rough" during games and thrown out of sports clubs. she eventually found an outlet in mma and boxing. she became a bit of a local legend for her talent until she accidentally injured an opponent beyond what she intended. she was taken to camp half-blood college shortly after that.

when she arrived at camp half-blood, she started studying archaeology, wanting to specialise in ancient weapons and wars, but she struggled too much to keep up with it due to the severity of her adhd. it is expected that she will take up her studies again at some point.

all ares said to her when they first met was that it was a shame she was born a girl. clarisse took this personally and she became even more obsessed with training and nutrition. when everyone else slept, she woke up early and trained for hours on end. while she had always been in good shape and very toned, she was now considered outright strong and physically superior to most others. she focused on every type of hand-to-hand combat she could train in, training at all hours of the day until she nearly passed out from exhaustion. clarisse is now the perfect balance between fast and strong. this makes her a very capable fighter and she is now considered to be one of the best warriors of her kind. so much so that she was eventually made head counsellor of the ares cabin. her father rewarded her with an electric spear when her new position was announced.

iv. PERSONALITY

the good: clarisse is extremely loyal to those she considers her friends, she will always do everything she can to protect them. she is very brave and will throw herself into any fight. she is infamous for not backing down until there is no other choice (she is like the black knight from monty python who says "'it's just a flesh wound" after having both his arms cut off lmao). while not exactly known for her kindness and mercy, she is actually a caring leader and she will never leave any of her soldiers behind. clarisse is protective of her cabin but also camp half-blood college itself. when on the battlefield in training sessions, she is a charismatic and inspiring leader, always on the frontline and giving it her all. she has a soft spot for those who cannot fight for themselves, for those who are damaged and broken in some way.

the bad: most see her as a bully ― and they'd be right. she can be both physically and verbally aggressive. clarisse likes to put people in their place and she gets jealous easily. her need for glory means that she can have trouble seeing others get it and she will feel the need to sabotage them. she is incredibly stubborn to the point where she can endanger herself and others. she is also arrogant and often fails to see her own flaws. this arrogance also means that she takes things personally even when they are not. there are no small slights to her, only insults. when clarisse is angry, she sometimes snaps and sees red. ares' wrath, some call it, or even ares' madness. she will go into a sort of berserker mode when this happens, sometimes hurting people she never wanted to harm in the process.

the sad: unknown to herself, clarisse is still traumatised from the abuse she grew up with. but instead of turning it inward, she is reactive and lets it harm the people around her. while she no longer fears her former stepdad, she holds a similar fear of ares instead. all the father figures in her life have been cruel to her and yet she is desperate for their approval. she is a bully because she believes that the only way to protect yourself is to be the one to strike first. no one can bully a bully. after finally proving herself worthy to be a child of ares, she is now struggling with her father's high expectations of her. she knows the moment she fails then he will deem her unworthy once more. her greatest fear is to be considered unworthy and irrelevant, not only by ares, but by the world.

v. RANDOM HEADCANONS

clarisse's nose is a little crooked as she has broken it twice.

she finds herself drawn to the children of aphrodite, something she blames her dad for.

maimer is always propped up right beside her bed when she is sleeping.

tba.

vi. CONNECTIONS

enemies: clarisse has many of them.

friends: those who have managed to get on her good side, she has a soft spot for those who are weaker or a little broken. she finds it easiest to find friends among the children of aprodite and the children of gods that are on good terms with ares.

training/sparring buddies: those who are as serious about training as her.

ex partner: clarisse has an ex at camp and their relationship with each other now will be plotted out.

flings: clarisse can be quite passionate and has likely had a few flings with whoever has dared to flirt with her.

romantic connection: i am open to this but it will be based on chemistry.

[rosescries]

So this is a list of all the domains of the gods in the fnaf deity AU. Or the ones I have so far anyway, because there is more I think I'd like to add eventually.

Sun has domain over the Daytime and Sun, which was given to him due to his appearance and name. He also has domain over Children, which is something shared with Moon. But that extends his domain into Playtime and Toys (the latter of which is also shared with Moon.) Art is also in his domain because of his fondness for arts and crafts, which has also extended into Imagination, Fun (Playtime had a part for these too), and Creativity! Something else he picked up and was added is Healing.

Moon has domain over the Nighttime and Moon, which was also given to him due to his appearance and name. Also in part for his dominion over Sleep and Dreams (which includes all dreams, even nightmares and night terrors). His domain also includes stories due to it being his favored way of getting children to sleep. Like said above, he shares domain over Children and Toys with Sun. The toys he's mostly associated with are stuffed animals. He's mostly associated with sleeping children, but also their Punishment. (Something he kind of hates, but accepts.) He's not sure how, but he's also been given domain over Peace. Something he picked up and was added to his roster was Magic.

Glamrock Freddy has domain over the Protection of people, though mostly associated with children, as well the Strength to do so. But he also has domain over Family, the Home, and Marriage, though he's not sure how that last one was added. Through those three and his general vibes, Domesticity was added as well. His domain extends into Friendship as well, and Love (something he shares with Roxy). Or more specifically, Love of Friends and Family. Again, he's not sure how he got these, but he's also been give domain over Mercy and Forgiveness.

Glamrock Chica has domain over most things dealing with Food. The Harvest and Cooking (Baking included) being extensions of that. Due to these things, Fertility (mainly of soil and plants), Abundance, and Prosperity were added to the list, which she doesn't really mind. She's also has domain over Exercise and Partying due to her general attitude and personality, though Wine was added to her domain because of the Partying. She's also a goddess of Cleverness thanks to a few of her interactions with people.

Montgomery Gator has domain over Wrath and War, given because of his earlier days out in the world when still dealing with the virus (People didn't know about that though). It ended adding Primal Instincts to his list, though he doesn't get the connection. But when he calmed down, he got domain over Nature. Water and Animals included in that, the first due to his tendency to jump out of it and the latter because he found taking care of animals a good way to calm down. Due to this though, he ended up getting dominion over Balance and Justice. Along with Bravery and Strength in battle and to do what's right.

Roxanne Wolf has domain over Beauty and Vanity for her care over her appearance. She also has domain over Love, shared with Freddy, but more love for one's self and a romantic partner. But she also has domain over Invention, Ingenuity, and Intelligence due to her love of tinkering with things to make new things and her thirst for knowledge. Along with Ambition to do these things. It's also given her domain over Thrills, and Speed due her making things that go fast. She also has domain over Loyalty, be that to one's self, a partner, friends, family, or cause.

DJ Music Man has domain over Music and Dancing due to that being his whole thing. He's gotten domain over Muses and Inspiration due to that, along with Sounds (which actually includes those weird sounds you hear that you don't know where they come from and kind of creep you out). He's also been given domain over Patience and Gentleness due to how much of a gentle giant he is. He's not sure how he got it, but he's also got domain over Communication and Interconnection. Maybe due to his mini Music Man connections (Though it's also because of the symbolism of Spiders being tacked onto him). He's also got Wisdom.

Glamrock Bonnie doesn't know how he ended up with, nor does he like very many of his domains. Those are Time, simply because of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Along with Spring and all the things that come along with it. Fertility, Rebirth, and New Life. He's also got domain over Sex due to the first one, along with Childbirth. He's got domain over Gifts too. A lot of that is also due to Easter being associated as his holiday in the culture. He doesn't know how, but they've also tacked on Innocence and Good Luck. Which was just Rabbit symbolism.

Glamrock Foxy got domain over Sailors and Fisherman due to his appearance as a Pirate, which also gave him the dominion of Thieves, Greed, and Wealth. But he also has domain over Travelers of any kind, Boundaries, and Boarders, along with Trade as well. Due to his general personality and attitude he's also gotten domain over Passion.

Burntrap is here too and has domain over a lot of bad things because of his general... everything. His domains are Misfortune, Death (mostly bad deaths), Decay, Pain, Suffering, Fear, and Bad Luck. All due to what he brings with him wherever he or his cult go. He's also been give dominion over Possession due to it seeming like he possesses his cult members to do his bidding (and in the past seemed to even have control of other Gods). He's also got dominion over Fire due to his name and burned appearance, though usually depicted as destructive fire.

In a lot of depictions, Burntrap is shown in direct opposition to mainly Glamrock Bonnie. Sun and Moon are the second most in opposition due to him mainly targeting kids. But he's been shown in conflict with literally every single god at least once.

[ofwrxth]

CHARACTER BASICS

Name: Alecto

Age & Birthday: Between 33-36 years old, Unknown Birthday

Gender/Pronouns: ciswoman she/her

Birthplace: The Wards

Current Residence: The Tunnels

Job/Role on The Station: Hijacker

Positive personality traits: ambitious, cunning, dauntless, scrappy, quick-witted

Negative personality traits:  bellicose, cynical, intense, mischievous, ruthless

ABOUT

Alecto was born in The Wards, her mother dying giving birth to her so she ended up in a make-shift orphanage, never to be adopted. She was just another forgotten face, unregistered and unimportant to the powers that be.

She grew up on the streets essentially, always a bit intense, always a bit ambitious, always making plans to steal food or clothes or broken toys from other kids. She had a quick-wit and a surprising sense of humor (mostly dark), but when people saw that half-smirk, half-smile cross her lips, they never knew whether to be relieved or nervous.

She and her best friend, Roxy, ended up joining a group of hijackers when they were young. In this group, they were taught the ways of the tunnels, of the hijacker mindset and lifestyle. Alecto had no one but Roxy anyway. Until she joined the Hijackers, she didn't really even have a name. Just girl. Bitch. Street rat. Wardie. She chose the name because one of the Hijackers told stories of mythology from earth. Like the gods and their power, and the fates who held them to account. Thus, she named herself Alecto, the fury of unceasing wrath and vengeance.

The hijackers treated them like family, and Alecto was proud to be one of them. Their group became successful, leaving a trail of violence and loss in their wake, but they only see gain. Only see themselves as taking what they can because they can, and if others could do the same they would.

It’s not uncommon for the hijackers to do work on the black market, and even sometimes helping TPC for the riskier jobs. Although, helping always comes at a price. Credits and Rations aren’t very tempting for the hijackers, since they have no digital credentials and can’t be transferred any currency. It’s harder work for them to use them or trade them, so they prefer to be paid with goods, weapons or worse, owed favors.

Alecto enjoys the thrill of the chase – of the hunt. Of finding the best targets and executing their plans. She's got a taste for the finer things they come across, which never stay fine for long when guns and knives and violence are involved. But the blood-stained pink fur coat she wears takes people aback when it reveals an array of weapons beneath the surface, most notably her twin thermal knives she keeps on her at all times. Along with several guns. But she'd rather not waste charge on easy to handle targets, and much prefers the thrill of a close-quarters fight anyway.

A few years ago, she and Roxy rescued a genetically altered hyena from a lab in Olympia, with the personality of cat. They named her Havoc, or Havvy, and she's with them whenever they're on a run.

Things are how they've always been, and how they'll always be. Being a hijacker means not adhering to the social order, good, bad or otherwise. It also means that Alecto is content with how things are – she enjoys the thrill of a fight, the taste of success, the nerves that are palpable when people mention Hijackers at all. She doesn't think anything will change, and, quite frankly, she doesn't want it to. This life hasn't been kind to her, so why should it be to anyone else?

[toranoya]

ABOUT: Moxxie Knowlastname

“Oh crumbs.”

Moxxie Knolastname is an assassin at I.M.P, Millie's husband and one of the main protagonists of Helluva Boss. He is the straight man weapons expert of the I.M.P gang who tends to be the most rational of the group, but is often treated as the butt of the joke.

Nicknames: Mox, MoxMox, M, Little One, Little Fella/Dude, Poxxie, Old Man, Moxxine

Sexuality: Bisexual Species: Imp Demon Gender: Male

Likes: Cooking, Culinary arts, Musical theater, Classical music, Opera, Kindness, Being put in charge of missions, Supporting fellow artists

Dislikes: Blitz prying into his personal life, Theme parks, Theme Park mascots, Killing the innocent, Pop music, Stolas' wrath, His father's abuse, Loona calling him fat, Being the butt of the joke

Abilities: Ranged Combat, Skilled Marksmanship, Musical Talent, Guitar-playing, Songwriting Drawing, Acrobatics, Physically skilled (climbing, swimming), Earthly fire resistance

Occupation: Assassin/Weapon Specialist of I.M.P, Member of Crimson's Mafia (formerly)

Family: Millie (ex-wife) hc Joe (father-in-law) Lin (mother-in-law) Sallie May (sister-in-law) Crimson (father) Unnamed mother (mother) Three unnamed brothers-in-law Chazwick Thurman (ex-boyfriend; ex-fiancé)

Enemies Verosika Mayday Barbie Wire Striker (rival) Crimson Crimson's Mafia Chazwick Thurman (former fellow gang member) Employees of C.H.E.R.U.B Employees of D.H.O.R.K.S.

Friends Employees of I.M.P (co-workers) (Loona drives him nuts tho) Blitzo (boss; former cellmate) Stolas (Blitz’ rich boyfriend) Octavia

HEADCANON: -Because Mun generally prefers M/M interactions, Moxxie WAS married to Millie prior to her passing during a mission. He blames himself for not being there because he was guarding Stolas as a request from Blitz. A professional, he still showed up to work since it was all he had left, but drank heavily for a week after work. Millie rp’ers exempt

-Moxxie is a fan of the hit musical The Phantom of the Opera as his phone ringtone plays the pipe organ and suffered from a hallucination that heavily referenced the play. He also wondered what sex with Michael Crawford, the actor who originated the role of The Phantom, would be like.

-Moxxie does not swear as often as the others, when in a bad situation he often uses the comparatively tame phrase "Oh, crumbs". -Moxxie is susceptible to motion sickness, and may vomit when things get bad.

-Moxxie is freaked out by theme park mascots, believing them to be perverts under their costumes. -Moxxie makes really good coffee, but when going out has a rather complicated order.

-Moxxie hates it when people call him by the wrong name or misspell it. -Moxxie was mentioned to be native to the Wrath Ring in "The Harvest Moon Festival", and later shown to have grown up in the Greed Ring in "Exes and Oohs". -Doesn’t know how to say NO. -Moxxie loves cats and is a sleepwalker.

Bonus fave quotes: (Mun couldn't decide on a header, lol) "I spent my whole life of being afraid of you, but I'm not giving up the only good thing I've ever had just so you can keep your fragile little sense of control over everything. Millie is a good woman, a better woman than I deserve. And there's nothing that scares me more than hurting her, not even you."

"Miiillie!! Hiii! Heyy… Hey, when did you get four heads? I wanna kiss 'em!"

"I'll have a neapolitan cappuccino, more cappu than cino, make sure it's got no more than four ounces of milk (the beans won't have the right texture, otherwise), and make sure they spell my name correctly on the cup. They always put 'Foxy' or 'Roxy', I hate that. If you can't handle that I'll have a venti traditional Misto please use soy milk with two blonde shots affogato AND RISTRETTO!! I'd also love three vanilla pumps at the very bottom then add the coffee after then add--"

Appearance Moxxie is an imp with red skin and white freckles on his cheeks. His white pointy hair leads up to his curvy black and white striped horns. He also has yellow sclera with black slit pupils. He has a long red thin tail with a quadrilateral barb at the end, as well as lanky digitigrade legs ending in what appears to be cloven red hooves.

Moxxie's usual outfit consists of a navy-black coat with red buttons and white cuffs, black pants a white shirt that has a black turtleneck, a large red bow-tie, and fingerless gloves.

Personality Moxxie is the I.M.P's weapon specialist; and as such, has a vast knowledge of weapons and often brings a variety of them along during jobs.

He is often the most vocal and realistic of the employees regarding the company as a whole despite its dysfunctional environment and is bullied consequently. Moxxie is also shown to be unsure about himself at times since he’s not physically strong since Striker, Lin and Joe was giving him a hard time since they believe physical strength is what makes a person strong.

Despite being a murder-for-hire imp, Moxxie is queasy with unnecessary killing beyond their targets. He also is uncomfortable with the idea of killing targets who have families, and attempts to give people second chances.

Moxxie is also shown to have a comical side, as when he talks about killing an entire family, he claims it might be alright if it was just a shitty dad or a mob family, saying "That's understandable".

When intoxicated, he loses all common sense and becomes quite delusional, as shown when he asks Millie why she has "four heads", and high-fived her instead of grabbing her hand straightaway. He also is shown to become increasingly flirtatious with her when drunk.