ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ʟᴀᴍʙ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʟᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ | ᴀ ꜰɴᴀꜰ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄ 🐇

2

"Against the wall, all of you." Mr. Afton ordered.

Ellise and her new co-workers lined up against the wall, ready to receive their duties for the day. It was the first day of work, and the grand opening of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria.

Ellise had got to meet some of the new staff members at an icebreaker meet-up, established by Mr. Emily. An event where all the employees could get to know each other, and get a little more comfortable with each other. After all, they are going to be working with each other. Bad blood wouldn't be ideal.

There was Aaron, Denise, Harper... Tiffany, Oliver... at least, those were the names Ellise could remember. She got along with Aaron and Denise the most though. As soon as the three met, they all clicked pretty quick. Denise and Aaron went to the same college, though, so they knew eachother already.

"If you don't know me already - let me introduce myself. I'm William Afton, but you may call me Mr. Afton. I am the in-person manager here at the pizzeria. Should any of you run into problems," He paused, hands behind him. He stood tall, with his back straight, almost looming over the new employees. "You may talk to me."

"Now, we are opening for the first time today. I will be assigning tasks to each of you. I expect them to get completed. I expect them to be completed properly. And I expect that you stick to your schedule and duties."

The group nodded in response.

"Aaron, you will be in the kitchen. Denise, you will be on janitorial duty. Tiffany, I want you by the door, greeting customers..." Mr. Afton listed off various assignments and jobs. Most everyone was a server, some hosts and hostesses, and a handful were either supposed to be engaging with the kids or working elsewhere, like in the security office.

Finally, Afton got to Ellise. He looked her up and down. "...You, Ellise, you'll be a party time attendee as well. Is that clear?"

Ellise gulped. His eyes burrowed into hers. There was something so unnerving about the way he stared at them all, so serious and stern. Party time attendees were meant to supervise & talk to partygoers, as well as supervise the animatronics.

Shouldn't be too bad.

"Yes, sir." The woman nodded.

"Does everyone else understand? I would hate to repeat myself?" Afton's voice rang. Everyone agreed.

"Wonderful. Let the festivities begin. I shall be in my office, if anyone needs me." The man walked off, without saying another word. He moved so precisely, as if every step was planned.

"Daaaamn." Denise whistled, as soon as Mr. Afton was out of view. "Now that is one sexy British accent, if I've ever heard one."

"Oh my god, you're kidding." Aaron shivered. "Look, accents are cool n' shit, but there's just something about that guy, Dee. His voice gives me the chills. I can't believe you find that hot."

"Whoa, hot is a strong word. I think his voice is neat, that's all. British people are sexy. Just my opinion." Denise shrugged.

"Wh-??? Sexy is literally a stronger word than Hot??" Aaron cried in response, his face contorted into one of both confusion and slight disgust.

The rest of the employees shuffled out to do what they needed to do, and only Ellise, Aaron, and Denise were left standing.

"I like his voice," Ellise said. "I don't think I've ever met someone with an accent that's not southern or something, so that's saying something."

"I will never understand women." Aaron stuck his tongue out.

"Hey!" Denise smacked Aaron on the shoulder. "At least he didn't give you cleaning duty. Good god, there better not be some kid blowing up the bathrooms."

"Haaah! I get to cook up pizzas all day. Loser."

"That's gonna get boring real fast, just you wait."

"Ooh, maybe we should start calling you Shitnise. Get it? 'Cause you'll be cleanin' up shit all day." Aaron pondered, then stuck his tongue out.

Denise flipped him off.

"Oh, boy, you two are gonna be a real treat to work with, aren't you?" Ellise teased.
"Anyway, we should probably get going. Mr. Afton might come out and see us chatting, and assuming how strict the guy is, he'll probably fire us on the spot."

"Good thinking, Ellie. Go on, then, Shitnise, the mop's in the closet." Aaron snickered.

"I hope you fall into an oven and burn your face off, asshat." Denise spat, walking away, but not before shooting Aaron a dirty look.

Ellise and Aaron giggled together, and then went their separate ways.

"Good luck, Ellie. Don't get bit by kids! I'd hate for you to get rabies on your first day." Aaron called out before turning the corner to the kitchen.

Ellise was only a couple years older than them - She was 25 and they were both 22. Yet, it made her happy to get along with them so well. She was hopeful for the future.

—

They.
Were.
Everywhere.

Kids were jumping, screaming, and singing. Some kids were running around the arcade, trying to score as many tickets as possible.
Parents wrestled with their kids to behave, until they couldn't anymore, and slunk down into their chairs in exhaustion.

It was a little overwhelming, to say the least, for Ellise to handle. By the time the doors opened there were at least a hundred kids lined up outside.
Mr. Afton got on stage and gave some speech (Ellise wasn't listening, and neither were the kids). Then...

Ellise wasn't exactly sure how it happened. The man must have had a remote, or maybe there was some off-stage switch, because as soon as he got off the stage.. The creatures behind him came to life.

It was absolutely astounding. They were so lifelike. They even blinked, and moved along with the music. Freddy, of course, was the lead, with Bonnie and Chica backing him up. It wasn't anything like Ellise had ever seen before.

The kids cheered and sang along. It was like that for the rest of the day. Kids eating pizza, singing to the music, and playing arcade games.

Ellise was doing her job, as she was told. But every once in a while, she'd stop, and watch the show.
How smart does one have to be, to create something like this? To build robots from scratch, to program them, and all to make children happy. What a wonderful way to utilize knowledge.

She watched them in awe. The mouths, they'd move right on cue with the music. The eyes, they'd dart side-to-side, as if they were surveying the audience. Even the fox, which was in its own corner, had its own wonderful way of moving.

"Intrigued?"

"AGH!"

Ellise jumped, and spun around. Standing beside her was no other than Mr. Afton.
He was quite tall, taller than her for sure, he had to be at least close to 7ft. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a lavender button-up shirt. There was a spark of delight in his eyes.

"Sorry, sir, I- was just- I'll get back to work." Ellise stuttered. She hoped he didn't think she was slacking off or anything.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's okay to be a tad.. interested. As long as you're not spending too much time staring at the animatronics." He smiled, ever so slightly, his eyes never moving from the robots. He seemed to be beaming.

"You... did all of this?" Ellise asked, quiet. Her curiosity was piqued, she was talking to the man himself. The one who.. started all of this.

"With my own hands. It takes a long time, you know. Quite a bit of elbow grease, but it was all worth it."
His eyes suddenly moved down to look at Ellise, for only a moment.
"You'll learn how to reap the benefits of hard work one day. We all do, at some point. You do well with the children. I'm sure you'll do well during your time here."

Then, he turned around, and walked away, his aura shining with pride, instead of the usual sternness. He should be proud. This is his work, after all.

"Hey! How do you get more coins for the machines?" A child screeched, tugging on her shirt.

"Huh? Oh, hang on." Ellise murmured.

Maybe Mr. Afton wasn't that strict after all.