I have not yet determined a name for this

~Chapter One~

My first shift passed without any serious hiccups, and by the time the daycare was closing, I was utterly exhausted. Picking up after children all day long wasn't exactly easy work, so it was no real surprise that an AI had been employed to take care of most of it. The guy never seemed to lose energy, as he was still happily parading around even as the last couple of children trickled out. He cheerily waved off the kids and their parents, some of which seeming to recoil from his presence—they looked a little wary. I couldn't exactly blame them. I wasn't sure I'd trust my offspring with this guy either, especially if I couldn't see what was going on throughout the day. Clearly, it didn't prevent them from dropping their kids off at the daycare to begin with.

Most of the parents preferred saying their goodbyes to whoever was inhabiting the security desk at the time of their departure, though I noticed, strangely enough, that the desk was unoccupied more often than not. I wondered if we were just low on staff, or the security personnel didn't really feel the need to be there. In the end, there were security robots to take care of that sort of thing, I supposed.

Once or twice, I happened to be within view of the departing children, and their parents directed their goodbyes to me instead; Sundrop didn't seem too fond of that, either. I would be offering up a polite wave when he'd suddenly barge in, outdoing my energy by about a thousand and often startling both me and the parent in the process. At one point, he nearly knocked me over.

I won't deny it became a little obnoxious; he was almost certainly doing it on purpose, but I couldn't determine if it was something I could truly hold him accountable for, given his programming. He'd clearly never had a helper before, and it must've been some sort of shock to his coding. Thankfully, the complete absence of children in the daycare allowed me the opportunity to learn more, not that I was too excited to spend time with him one-on-one.

I was expected to stay behind for at least half an hour to continue cleaning up the daycare and prepping it for the following morning. There were distant sounds beyond the daycare doors all throughout this; scraping metal, unintelligible voices, robotic noises most likely indicating cleanup. It was sufficient background noise as I swept the floor and picked up debris.

Sundrop approached me before I even had the chance to consider engaging with him. "You did good today!!" he praised, hovering over me with his usual eerie, unchanging grin.

I was a little surprised by the positive statement, but relieved nonetheless. "Thanks," I quietly replied, offering him a somewhat nervous smile as my hands tightened around the broom I was holding.

"You did get in the way a little, but it's okay because you're new!" he continued, unfortunately. "You still have to learn all the rules! Oh, including the most important one: the lights stay on no matter what, okaaaay?"

I cocked a brow in genuine confusion. "What? Why?" It wasn't as though I planned to turn the lights off anytime soon, but considering the daycare was closing, I assumed they'd be going out at some point.

"It's just the rule!" he insisted, tilting his stupid, spherical head at me. "The lights must ALWAYS stay ON. No! Matter! What!"

I undoubtedly looked concerned, but it wasn't like the rule interfered with my job in any way. "Uh, okay," I replied uneasily, gripping my broom as though it were my safety net. "I'm not gonna turn the lights off or anything. I don't even know how to do that."

Sundrop seemed content with this. "GREAT!!!" he shouted, clapping his large hands together in satisfaction. "Now then, are you staying the night?! After we finish cleaning, we can have a SLEEPOVER!!!" What.

I was actually so stunned that I couldn't speak for a moment, my eyes wide. Yeah, no, he'd definitely never had a helper before, I was sure of that now. My smile grew somewhat wobbly; it was kind of a cute gesture, but I couldn't exactly accept. "That sounds fun, but I actually have to go home after this," I gently explained. "Would they even...allow that here?"

Sundrop took a moment to glance curiously around the daycare, one metal index finger tapping lightly against his lips. "I don't see why not!" he concluded, visibly brightening despite his complete inability to emote. "You work here now!! You could stay all night and leave in the morning! Or stay all night and continue working and—why, then you'd just stay here forever!" Oh, no thanks.

"I think I'll have to pass on that," I playfully replied, chuckling. "But, uh, I'll be back tomorrow, so...y'know. Maybe I can stay over sometime, I don't know." What was I doing, promising this guy a sleepover? What did a sleepover with him even entail? As far as I could see, there weren't any beds in the daycare, not that there should've been. I'd end up sleeping in a slide or something.

"Awww, okay!!" Sundrop said, his tone shifting to one of mild disappointment. Did he actually want me to stick around? He hadn't seemed too fond of me throughout my shift. "Maybe next time, then!! We'll have tons of fun—I've never gotten to play with another grownup before, but it shouldn't be too different!!"

Was I supposed to be endeared or creeped out? I couldn't really decide, honestly. Regardless, I nodded along with his ridiculous statements, assuming there was nothing malicious here and the poor guy was just programmed to behave this way. Or maybe his programming and consistent role as a daycare attendant meant he was a little uneducated and socially inept when it came to engaging with adults. Regardless, it probably wasn't his fault, so I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

We parted ways on a friendly note, at least, and on the whole, I was pretty certain I could handle this job easily enough alongside my studies and general adult responsibilities. I'm pretty easily overwhelmed, so I wanted something that wouldn't require too much of me in terms of effort and time. Helping out at the daycare definitely did require effort and time, but it felt nice to be productive, and getting to work alongside flashy technology and elaborate play structures had pushed me to overlook the extra work. It was the kind of place I enjoyed being off the job, so if I was going to have to work, I might as well do it there.

I just didn't really expect things to go south so fast.