Something's Off

After that Fateful Night

Sounds of yelling could be heard around where the animatronics resided. Angry. Terrifying, to anyone who heard it. And along one wall, all four main band members were lined up- having just been repaired enough to be functional again. In fact, a rather unnerved daycare attendant was there too. The only one missing was DJ Music Man because he's just too large. He's getting his own session.

"What is wrong with you?! All of you! Even you!" Vanessa yelled, directing that last one at Sun specifically. They flinched at the shouting, while the other four looked ashamed or mad. Mostly ashamed.

"I told you to go find the kid, not try and kill him! And somehow you all failed to even do that, and got half destroyed instead! Literally, in Montgomery's case! What were you thinking?!" She continued, getting too close for comfort for a couple of the animals. "How did you even pull that off?! It took everything we had to fix you bunch, and we barely even had enough to keep Monty! Just- raaagh!"

She was pacing around in rage. This has been going on for probably half an hour now... calling out their screw ups and aggression. Sun has been half traumatized by the yelling, and some of the things said hit... a little too hard. Those things weren't even meant for him specifically, but they were also glad Moon never heard that. Might remember it anyway, who knows.

But through all that yelling, comes attention. That came in the form of one single map bot that watched from around a corner- ducking into cover whenever Vanessa turned around. This didn't sound right. She sounds angry. Too angry. Is there a reason?

Mimi had heard almost all of it. The threats to scrap the five, the things said about Moon... it didn't sound right. He's met Moon. A couple times. They never acted like that. Not as bad as she's saying. If he could shake from fear he probably would be.

The yelling continued. He knew he couldn't do anything without getting caught up in it. But this didn't sound right. And Sun was crying now. Or his equivalent to it at least. Something isn't right here. He just couldn't figure it out...

It felt like an hour had passed before Vanessa finally left the bunch alone. But still, all five remained glued to that wall in terror and shame. Freddy was the first to move, trying to calm Sun down a bit. None of that even applied to the poor guy.

"Do you think she would react differently if she knew?" Roxy asked, breaking the silence.

"Knew what? Is one of us actually that aggressive? Well, maybe Monty is, but even he's not that bad." Chica answered.

"That we don't know why we're acting this way either. Sun especially doesn't. They don't get to choose who they are." Roxy responded. She sounded more... upset than usual.

"Gregory turning the lights out had been an accident. Moon usually understands that. Which means something went wrong somewhere." Freddy chimed in. He was worried for the guy. They got the brunt of the unnecessary hate from the guard, and it took a toll. At least he'd stopped crying at this point.

"Yeah. The problem is, I don't know where to begin in figuring this out. And I'd rather it get fixed fast." Roxy replied. But she had looked up- seeing movement behind one of the walls. "Hey, hold on. Who's that?"

Mimi saw the large wolf begin to approach, rolling back a bit into the corner. Even with the limited facial expressions, he was pretty scared. But instead he just got a confused look from Roxy.

"It's a map bot." She called over to the others, snapping them out of the mood Vanessa put them in. "What are you doing over here? Shouldn't you be in a staff pile for heat conservation or whatever it was?"

Mimi was silent for a while, knowing he's only actually met a couple of the animatronics. And Roxy wasn't one of them. But he picked up the tone of confusion rather than anger- straightening his stance a bit.

"Heard harsh yelling." He did not look enthused about his voice. He was given a feminine one upon being assembled and activated.

"Oh. Sorry girly, that was... I don't know what her issue was. Just had beef for no reason." Roxy looked a bit resentful for the woman before seeing the position of discomfort Mimi was in. "Oh, uh, you good?"

"Not girl. Wrong voice." Mimi answered, loosening his stance a bit. Especially at the look of  'oh crap' Roxy had now.

"Oh f- I'm sorry! Sorry buddy, I didn't realize. Probably should have asked." She immediately apologized, the whole thing not even clicking for her.

"Who is- oh, it's this fella. Didn't expect him to show up over here. Guess he got confused about me not being in the usual recharge station." Freddy had apparently come over, being oddly stealthy for a large metal bear. He gave a smile and offered to fist bump Mimi, getting a seemingly unsure one back.

"Wait, what? I'm confused." Roxy needed a bit of clarification, since she is... sometimes as sharp as a water ballon.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, he's sentient apparently. Not sure why, but lucky him!" Freddy answered, helping clear that bit up. There was a lot to take in about this one odd map bot after all.

"Oh, that makes sense. Also, you know him?" More questions from the wolf. Not a problem though, nothing wrong with confusion after a night of getting obliterated by a twelve year old.

"Oh, he tends to prefer my recharge station to the giant staff bot pile for heat. Not sure why, but I've gotten used to it." Freddy kept up his smile, not even noticing how Mimi averted his gaze to the ground a bit. "Though for now, we should probably make sure Vanessa doesn't have any more fodder to yell like that again. That was way too much for Sun to handle at once. And probably for all of us as well, but Sun doesn't know a whole lot outside the daycare area. It's only Moon that actually leaves."

"Right. We should get on that. And nice to meet ya, bud." Roxy responded, giving Mimi an oddly strong pat on the shoulder. Well, a mix of that and a small shake. The two animatronics headed back over to the group after, leaving the unique staff member to himself for now.

Mimi started to follow, though felt he may be best helping on his own time. Can't risk being found out like this... the possible repercussions scare him. But he does have an idea as to where to start, judging by Vanessa's yelling compared to what he's experienced. And that she's been the first to really get on everyone's case.