Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Many years have passed since the tragic events at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Plex, the exact details of which have long since blurred. Some say the plex burned down, others say all or certain animatronics were completely shattered and required months to repair or replace. Some even say that several floors within the plex collapsed. Wilder theories of missing kids, ghosts, viruses and even tales of a mysterious costumed murderer still float around here and there.

With the passage of time, Faz Corp has recovered from the events and rebuilt the plex. Refurbishing attractions along with expanding on its cast of characters in hopes of drawing back in fresh customers. One by one, new and interesting animatronics were designed, built, and introduced to the public. Advancements in AI programming and animatronic mechanics allowed for an increasingly sophisticated and diverse cast. With each new character, new techniques and tech were invented and implemented; paving the way for ever more complex animatronics. Even the original cast have been updated with newer models!

5am    Monday

Throughout the expansive pizza plex, employees and robots are preparing for the approaching opening hour. The plex had been closed for several days over the weekend to allow for routine maintenance of the animatronics, particularly for the Glamrocks. Chica had been getting into the garbage again and required extensive cleaning. Roxy’s eyes had malfunctioned, causing the wolf to crash into a wall and damage her muzzle. Monty’s temper had gotten away with him again, leading to the partial destruction of his green room and a few staff bots that had gotten in his way.

That one elevator was on the fritz, again . Several of the lights in Fazer Blast had been flickering and causing any S.T.A.F.F. bots that pass by to malfunction. The go-karts, play structures, arcade machines, bowling balls, fazerblasters and putters had to be thoroughly sanitized, including the multiple ball pits throughout the plex and the mystery construction going on in the Daycare.

Sun pauses in his cleaning to tilt his head at the doors to the new room attached to the daycare, yet outside of the large double doors to the play area. The brand new doors had been such a mess for the construction workers to install. They’d kicked the attendants out every day and hadn’t let them back in until they were done. Such a mess left behind every day for the animatronics to clean up! So much secrecy about this mysterious new addition to the Daycare, not even Moon knew anything substantial.

A shout snapped the sunny animatronic out of his thoughts, turning towards the puffy, pale animatronic leveling him an unimpressed look.

The pastel blue animatronic with a head shaped like a cloud raises one eyebrow in question, hand resting on the hip of his pillowed pants. Big, half lidded cutesy blue eyes judge Sun silently.

Cloud gestures around them at the mess that had yet to be cleaned, Moon beyond him helping the human daycare assistant sweep up the last of the debris. There is still so much sweeping and cleaning up to do! Oh then they have to mop the entire floor in time for opening!

5:48am

Much of the Daycare had been cleaned and mopped to the satisfaction of the daycare attendants, the bots having split up to work on their respective spaces that had been neglected in favour of the main area. Cloud was busy cleaning up stray chalk art that had become hidden behind a small pile of cushions when he heard the distant sound of voices over the endless drone of the daycare music. He couldn’t hear clearly what was being said, but something in the tone of the voices suggested something was up. Poking his head out of his adjoined room, Cloud blinks at the random new animatronic standing beside some mechanic staff member who was talking to the daycare assistant and seemingly ignoring Moon.

They were fidgety, plucking at the cuffs of their long poofy sleeved top. Mismatched optics constantly flicked between the two staff members, an unimpressed Moon and the rest of the Daycare. They jump a little when they spot him, staring for a moment before slowly raising a hand in what might have been a wave, if the mechanic hadn't whirled around to face the new animatronic and yelled at them to get going before he had them scrapped. Staring at the mechanic, Cloud makes a mental note about the apparent new addition to the Daycare, and to maybe ask Moon about them later. Disappearing back into his room, Cloud resumes his cleaning for a minute before he pauses again, the mechanic’s words sinking in. What is this… cubby he was talking about?

Over the rest of the work day, Cloud saw the new animatronic outside of the new room maybe two or three times, always too busy to approach or even talk to Moon. He’d heard a few more Karen’s than usual… or were they just louder than normal? One was particularly shrill, her shrieking audible even at a distance over the sounds of children playing. By the time he was able to remove the child chewing on his head and stick his head out of his room to see what the fuss was about, Sun had distracted the Karen from her target, who had fled back to the new room in a blur of colour.

When Cloud next glances out into the main play area, a familiar splash of vibrant colours is being mobbed by a tide of little fans and curious tykes. Towering over the kids is one of the most colourful animatronics Cloud has ever met. Leafie Caterpillar.

Several kids were vying for his attention, no doubt telling him about the new animatronic from the way his gaze keeps flicking to the new doors, and the little hands pointing it out. The two animatronics look at each other from across the room, the caterpillar gesturing inquiringly towards the new door. Just as clueless as his friend, Cloud can only shrug and make a crescent shape with one hand. The unspoken signal to ask Moon. Leafie shakes his head sadly as his antenna vibrates, making the children around him giggle in delight. West arcade staff pinging him or customer orders coming in.

The caterpillar sighs, giving his friend a goodbye wave as he says farewell to the kids and makes for the Daycare doors. He can only glance at the doors curiously as he makes his exit to return to his station.

7pm

Sun smiles as he waves off the latest kid to be picked up by their approved pickup guardian. Internally checking the time as he glances at the daycare assistant, the solar animatronic gives them a nod. He moves to return to keeping an eye on the last few kids while they pick up the phone to call their parents. The daycare is officially closed for the day, but the final chores can’t be started until all guests are gone.

Eventually, the last kid is picked up and the attendants are finally able to begin cleaning up the daycare. The final parent had been practically an entire half hour late, the two celestial themed animatronics leaping into action like coiled springs the moment the kid was out of the daycare. Both Sun and Moon chanting their ‘Clean up! Clean up!’ mantra with a desperate fervour. Cloud observes the two flitting anxiously from mess to mess as he wanders back to his room to start his cleaning. The cleaning obsessed bots can get a headstart on the main playroom without him.

Cloud’s leisurely clean up had him finish up and walk back out right as Moon scuttled like a giant freaky insect, down on all fours and armed with cleaning supplies and crawling into the play structures. Sun similarly wielded a cleaning cloth and a cleaner spray bottle as he ran and vigorously scrubbed the underside of a nearby slide.

Cloud was busy emptying the plastic balls from the ball pit to be sanitized when Moon’s raspy growl about bad language in the daycare comes from a nearby plastic tunnel above Cloud. The pale blue animatronic ignores him until Sun’s shrill shriek makes him jump, nearly dropping the large net he was holding. Whirling to send the offending bot an agitated glare, he huffs when his target is nowhere in his immediate line of sight. He can still hear him protesting about inappropriate scribbles when he dumps the next full scoop of balls into a large bag.

The ballpit was supposed to be changed out over the weekend, but the construction threw a massive spanner in the works. Now their routine is all out of whack, they’re on a time crunch to get everything back on track and top that off with a new variable in the daycare. It was just one complication after another. It was enough to set him more on edge than usual.

10pm

Maybe Cloud tried to scoop up the last few balls a little too roughly, the majority skittering and bouncing away from him for the umpteenth time. Maybe he got a little too frustrated, his jerky handling of the net caused several balls he had already caught to bounce out and back into the almost empty ball pit. Maybe he lost his temper a little when he started cursing, gripping the net tightly like a chokehold as he huffily stomped after the escaped balls, venting his pent up frustrations. Maybe he got a little too carried away ranting and cursing…

He almost didn’t hear a door slam.

Cloud lifts his head from scowling at the defiant plastic balls, finding himself beside the entry slide. Stepping sideways, he could see the brand new double door that so closely resembled the round double door of the entrance to the daycare playroom through the glass. He hasn’t seen the new bot leave that room in the several hours since the daycare closed… or for a good while before then. Frowning at the distant door, the bot neglected to watch his feet, stumbling over a plastic ball that rolled under his foot. A startled curse escapes him, flailing his arms for balance as something heavy thumps and slides down the tube to his left.

The door and the new bot are temporarily forgotten as a familiar caterpillar emerges from the slide into the empty ball pit beside him.

“Hey. Learn anything new about this new animatronic?” Leafie asks curiously as he approaches his friend.

Cloud’s frustrated huff bled into a tired sigh, rubbing at his cheek with a little shake of his head. He doesn’t miss how Leafie scoops up a few rouge balls and offers them to him. Together, they gather up the remaining balls while Cloud talks.

“No, I haven’t. I haven’t even had a chance to approach them. I don’t know what… whoever is in charge is even thinking! We were already delayed by the initial construction of the new room, but then they delayed it further and now we have HOURS to do things that usually take two days! I have no idea what is going on, especially with this new animatronic. They literally showed up this morning looking just as lost and confused. I’ve barely seen them out of that room… maybe two or three times? One time they were being shrieked at a particularly stuck up Karen. Sun had to rescue them and I only caught a glimpse of them running back into their room” Cloud sighs as he explains, grabbing at four more rogue balls. One spun out of his grasp to be scooped up by Leafie.

“Ugh! It feels like more and more Karens are coming to the Pizza Plex every day! Hrmph…” the caterpillar groans and huffs in annoyance, pulling a face at the thought of this Karen. With his irritation vented, Leafie appears calmer, plucking a ball that tried to roll underneath him to freedom with a thoughtful look on his round face.

“Have they been seen outside of their room since then? Because that’s rough on your first day”

Cloud stops to think, dumping his armful of balls into the bag.

“I-… no I haven’t, and I didn’t hear more Karen’s than usual after that. That was…” A pause. “Shit, that was like 5 hours ago now”

Leafie squints with an unreadable expression.

“I smell sadness” he states simply and starts to walk away, beelining for the new room outside of the main play area.

“... They may have also overheard me venting about everything… including them” Cloud admits softly, looking down on the floor at the last few remaining balls. Leafie’s footfalls pause for a moment before doubling in speed, hurrying on his multitude of little legs.

Shouldering aside the huge entry doors, Leafie looks over at the new doors. Above them are the words ‘Cillia’s Cubby’ on a bright colourful sign, if simple in design. Almost like it had been designed in a rush. Approaching the door, Leafie pauses to lean close and listen for any sounds coming from within. Muffled but definitely there, was the sound of sniffling and crying.

Rushing in, Leafie hardly takes a moment to locate the crying animatronic on the floor in the far right pillow corner, almost completely concealed by a tinted glass partial wall. A large pink sun hat patterned like an Amanita mushroom is pulled down, hiding everything but matching pants from view properly, completely obscuring the rapidly approaching caterpillar.

They twitch, starting to look up as he tackle hugs them, holding the crying animatronic close and encircling them with his tail. The hat lies on the ground where it fell, a pair of large mismatched eyes brimming with tears staring back up at him from where they are held against his chest. Tears start falling again as they burst into sobs and bury their face into his shoulder, clinging to his jacket like their existence depended on it. Legs wrap around his hips in a koala grip, his tail arching to support their back as they cling to each other in a tight embrace.

The caterpillar gently soothes the upset animatronic as she sobs, occasionally attempting to speak with emotion-choked words before dissolving back into crying. Leafie is able to learn from her attempts to speak and a few careful questions that her name is indeed Cillia. She knows potentially even less about what is going on than Cloud and is under the impression that the other attendants already hate her.

Time seemed to slip by without Leafie or Cillia noticing. Her desperate koala clinging slowly relaxes until she’s comfortably sitting and leaning into him, arms loosely wrapped around each other. The older bot felt more than saw her adjust slightly to rest a squishy cheek against his chest.

Neither animatronic noticed Cloud peeking in through the ajar doors, his knock on the door to announce his presence making Cillia jump. Leafie gives her a comforting squeeze as he turns his head to look at his friend, feeling her press closer into him as Cloud moves into the room and over to them.

“Uh…'' Cloud pauses as he takes in the sight of the emotional crying bot in Leafie’s arms. Real tears were leaving wet streaks down her cheeks and the front of Leafie’s jacket is damp. Since when was that a feature in animatronics? Cloud could have sworn those big watery eyes subtly changed colour, the right some kind of blue green and the left an off pale orange. He gives a tiny jump as he realizes he was staring, averting his gaze with a little cough, as if clearing his throat.

“… You’ve been in here quite a while so I thought I’d check up on you. Er… how are you doing…” Cloud trails off. He had heard something that sounded like a name, but he hesitates to reveal that he had been eavesdropping from the door. 

“... Cillia. I’m… a bit better now” the smaller bot hesitantly spoke up.

A pause drags on between them, quickly becoming awkward. Not sure what else to say, Cloud tries for a lighthearted joke.

“You’re lucky you arrived after the construction workers finished. They were worse than toddlers with not cleaning up after themselves. We would be let back in after they’d finished for the day and hoo boy… it was an absolute mess in here. They had these big barrels for smaller things to go in the garbage, there’d be some actually in the barrel, but the rest would be scattered in a messy ring around it, like they had the world's worst game of toss. Dust and grime everywhere” he tries to be lighthearted, succeeding in lightening the mood a tad, but doesn’t miss the little wince as Cillia connects the dots between the construction crew to the new Cubby, and by extension. Her. He has to salvage the mood, quick.

“I don’t know which must be worse. Dealing with the construction crew, or being shoved from place to place without warning or explanation. They were a pain, sure. But being moved from one end of the plex to the other suddenly is so jarring. I can’t imagine how it feels to be… forced into the public eye without warning. Thrown to the wolves so to speak"

The following awkward silence felt like an eternity, but could have only been a few short seconds before a small smile slowly spreads across Cillia’s face.

“I don’t know which is worse. Being thrown to the wolves or to the parents” she giggles, earning a bit of a chuckle from the two older bots. 

“I’ve never met a wolf, besides Roxy. But I’d prefer a hundred Roxanne's over five Karen’s”

Cillia looks up at Leafie, confused by the reference not in her database.

“Who is Karen?”

“Karen is a slang term used to refer to those really angry ladies that get all nasty and loud” Leafie chuckles and gives her a little squeeze.

“Oohhhh… Karen’s are so mean” Cillia sighs, leaning her shoulder against Leafie. She feels the caterpillar nod, a weary sigh escaping him. She hears Cloud mumble something about being late for something, Leafie making some acknowledging gesture she couldn’t see and the pastel animatronic quickly makes his exit. He must be really late for something important.

12pm

The two sit in silence for a long moment, Cillia slowly raising a hand to paw at her chest and fluffy collar. A faint bluish discolouration around her neck, barely peeking out from beneath her collar slowly recedes back out of view. The coiling tension... that strange feeling that has been sparking through her wring and only growing worse all day, finally fades away. Cuddled safely in Leafie's arms, she no longer feels so... wrong. So alone.

Cillia loses track of the minutes that tick by, tracking time solely by the ebb and flow of her inner workings.

Eventually, the sounds of movement beyond the ajar door drew her attention. There are still two other bots in the daycare beyond that she hasn't met yet. 

“Feeling better now?” the caterpillar asks upon seeing her perk up.

She nods and even manages a grateful smile up at him. Carefully, she untangles herself from him and rises to her feet, offering the much larger animatronic her hand. He could easily rise without her help, but accepts the offer anyway.

Side by side, the two leave the Cubby and emerge to find that the daycare anthem that plays all day has since been turned off, and the two celestial themed bots seemed to be waiting for them, the brighter of the two fidgeting with ribbons and bells tied around his wrists. 

With Leafie close by her side, Cillia nervously approaches the two. The darker, wearing a nightcap and the one whom Cillia remembers briefly meeting that morning notices them first. Moon, if her memory is correct. 

“There you two are. We were starting to wonder where you'd vanished off to. How are you feeling?” Moon's voice was raspy and low, but not unkind. He genuinely seemed to care.

“Much better... thanks to Leafie” she gives the bot in question a grateful glance, getting a soft smile in return.

“Oh I'm so glad you're feeling better. Today was... a rough first day for sure. I'm Sun, glad to finally meet you properly Cillia” the brighter pipes up, smiling even wider when she shakes his offered hand. The seemingly permanent matching grins on their faces was not quite as static as she first thought. Limited facial emoting? Neither celestial animatronic’s mouth has opened once.

“Thank you. Er... are you already done cleaning up?” she shifts her weight and subtly shuffles her feet nervously as she glances through the glass at the playroom beyond.

“Oh, no we haven't. We noticed you were both gone for a long time and Cloud had already left for the night a while ago. We both felt concerned so decided to wait a bit and see if you are OK” Moon explains, Sun nodding in agreement.

“Would you like a hand cleaning up?” Cillia offers, the unspoken admission of overhearing Cloud's venting of frustrations hangs in the air.

“Of course! We would love to have an extra hand helping out!” Sun exclaims enthusiastically, throwing his arms up in the air and giving his rays a spin. He gives his rays a little waggle at her muffled giggle and small smile. 

Together, the four bots resume cleaning up the daycare. Leafie shows Cillia how to properly disinfect the variety of foam cushions and little tables and chairs. Moon vanishes into his separate naptime room to remove all the laundry and check for any messes he missed. Sun resumes scrubbing the play structures, eventually joined by Leafie and Cillia once their task is done.

Moon soon reappeared with a large bag of laundry, grabbing as many large bags of plastic balls as he could carry and leaving the playroom. Cillia glances up from disinfecting the top of a spiraling blue slide, peering between the bars as the moon themed animatronic disappeared around a corner of the balcony. The big red sign blocking her view said FAZBEAR, with golden stars on the top and bottom and bright lights running down the sides. She doesn't get a chance to wonder where he went, before her name is being called.

Between the three remaining bots, the attendant having left for the night somewhere around 8 or 9pm, they get the majority of the cleaning done before Moon returns almost two hours later with the clean laundry and plastic balls.

Honestly, Cillia never saw him return to grab the remaining bags.

Cillia had become far more comfortable around Sun by this point, having been roped into helping him clean up his crafts room. Glitter Glue, rogue bits of unused craft materials, crayons, paper... and who knows what was everywhere. Between the two of them, they managed to salvage what could still be used tomorrow and sweep up what couldn't. 

Leafie eventually rejoins them to assist in cleaning up partially dried glitter glue off of most surfaces. They all have a good laugh when some missed paper and pipe cleaners get stuck to Leafie's many feet, Cillia and Sun laughing at the antics of Leafie's exaggerated attempts to remove the sticky offenders. 

She almost doesn't flinch when Moon suddenly joins them, playfully growling at Leafie to stop squirming, he’s getting crafts stuck all over his tail and let him help.

Whether he did it on purpose or by accident, Moon trips over something unseen and falls on top of the caterpillar on the floor. The watching animatronics howl with laughter, clutching their sides. Sun attempts to move to help Moon up, but can't seem to hold still long enough for the lunar animatronic to grab his hand.

2:25am

By the time the daycare is clean enough by both Sun and Moon's standards, it is well past 2am. With a goodbye wave and well wishes, Leafie is gone, with Moon close behind. Sun returns to his crafts room to plan for the next day before he has to charge.

Left alone in the playroom, Cillia rubs at her arm for a long moment. She tries not to look around too much. She already feels so small in such a large room. A quick internal check of her battery levels.

50%...

A soft hum, and she returns to the new room, Cillia's Cubby. Her Cubby. In the back behind a staff door and down a narrow little hallway, she finds her personal room. It's... small, sparse and at first glance has no means for her to charge. Only an oversized bean bag that looks mighty tempting to sink into.

Upon making contact with the material with her silicone, she discovers why. Crawling onto the blessed bean bag and curling up into a ball, she marvels at her brand new wireless charging beanbag. 

“What a comfy way to charge...”

Chapter Text

Whhrrrrr…  

…

Wake up protocol activated… 

Time: 06:01…

Processing…

Booting Attendant Cillia…

Syncing…

Sync failed…

Sync failed…

Sync failed…

Sync request timed out…

Sync aborted…

Loading…

Loading…

Draped over her beanbag, Cillia’s back vents open and close with a hiss as her systems whir to life. The hum of her internals in her auditory processors is all she hears for a moment as they come online fully. Optics blink to life as she takes in the muffled bouncy sound of music just barely registering over the sound of fabric rustling. The hum dies down to a subtle whir as she takes in her surroundings. 

Peering over the yellow of her padded sleeve, she takes in the pink of the fabric she lay on and the clean white wall beyond it. 

This is not the testing room she usually wakes up in. She is not seated against the wall, but laying on her front, sprawled out in a way that her system pings as… ‘comfortable’. The fabric beneath her gives as she moves, firm yet squishy but not in the same way padded floors are. Tentatively, the animatronic lifts her head and props herself up on her elbows. With a better view of the object beneath her, the animatronic is able to identify it as a beanbag. Though the way the surface beneath her shifted was so foreign.

With effort, she eventually manages to scramble off the oversized beanbag without falling to the floor. 

Upon standing up and breaking silicon contact with the bean bag, her power system chirps to let her know that she is at 84% charge. Finally able to take in her surroundings, Cillia notes the lack of staff personnel in the room. A table, perhaps a desk, stands in the corner in front of her. Barren, and oddly shoved in the corner as if hastily placed. A glance about revealed nothing more. Just a small, oddly shaped room with white walls.

Where was she?

Scanning the room, she turns her attention to the metal sliding door behind her as the events of the previous day return to her. Oh… 

Cillia resists the temptation to burrow back into the comfort of the beanbag. She has been released from testing into the Pizza Plex. She never thought it would be quite this disorientating, waking up somewhere completely new. Nor so difficult to interact with guests and other animatronics. She’s not sure how long she has been standing there, but now is not the time to dwell on such thoughts. Raising her arms above her head, Cillia does a little stretch and adjusts her clothes to sit neater. The fabric is… soft, the plush padding beneath springing back into place. Squishy. Pleasant under her fingers. Giggling softly to herself, she turns her attention back to the door.

Maybe today will be better?

6:32am Tuesday

Moon grumbles under his breath, fluffing and arranging pillows just right within the comforting dark of his Dreaming Room. As much as the extra hands that night had helped, there was still so much for all three daycare animatronics to do before the daycare opened. Moon had rushed through laundry, only just now finishing up changing out almost all the blankets and pillows for fresh clean ones. He almost put on one last batch before opening, but he ran out of time. The bag of laundry is still sitting beside the washing machine beneath the theater. He’ll have to finish that up tonight instead.

A twitch in his hand as the sounds of the first children of the day filter through the curtain draped over the doorway. A happy squeal and the sound of plastic balls announcing the new arrival. As much as leaving the task incomplete grated on his nerves, Moon rises to his feet. From the sound of how many children are already taking the slide, it’s going to be another busy day.

When Moon brushes aside the curtain and steps into the bright light of the play area, he can already hear Sun energetically greeting the children as they arrive. From the few ambling his way with sleepy eyes, a few were not yet fully awake and ready to play just yet. Ushered into the soothing dark of his Dreaming Room, the children pick a spot to lay their heads, still warm from the drier, and curl up for a nap.

Lowering the second thicker curtain to help muffle the sound of play beyond, Moon settles down to watch over them.

Cillia stands before the door of the Cubby, still and confused. She had approached the door, intending to offer her assistance to the others but found herself stopping before she came within reach of the handle, hand partially raised. A popup had appeared in her headspace, her body refusing to attempt to draw closer to the door.

Attendant Cillia does not have permission to leave Cillia's Cubby without summons.

The popup reappeared every time she attempted to dismiss it. Pressing back against it yielded nothing.

Until electricity sparks somewhere within her chassis, seizing up her limbs with a shudder for a brief moment. The warning electrical shock was short, completely harmless but no less surprising. Staggering back a step so that the popup goes away, Cillia eyes the doors warily. 

This didn’t happen at all yesterday. Why is it happening now? None of the staff had ever mentioned anything like this before. Could it be a bug? A few moments of consideration pass before Cillia decides that it is not a bug. There is no error code and the pop up appears too official to be a bug. Perhaps the mechanic that brought her here forgot to tell her in the rush? Surely he told the other animatronics though. They summoned her once yesterday. A quick check of her internal clock tells her the time is now 6:36am. A hand raises to grasp at the edge of her hat.

It’s going to be a long day…

8am

Sun looks up from the child he is handing a snack, his optics flicking to his counterpart. Attempting to stare purposefully at Moon while he is distracted helping to hand out snacks to the hungry children was far less effective at getting the other’s attention than Sun had hoped. Either Moon was in a mood and ignoring him, or his optics hadn’t picked Sun up in his peripheral vision. 

Screaming erupts from another table, a troublemaker trying to swipe another kid’s snack. Stepping in to break up the brewing screaming match, Sun returns his attention to the job at hand.

Cillia was tentatively attempting to balance a cushion on its end when the sudden screaming made her jump a little. The twitch in her arm was all that was needed to send all her hard work tumbling back to the floor like dominos. She fidgets with the edge of her hat, rubbing the material between her fingers.

11am

Cloud sits idly on the floor of his room, his head resting in the palm of his hand while his optics watch a few kids play with various stim toys… and somewhat ignores the child currently chewing on his squishy cloud head. As a stim toy styled animatronic, Cloud is used to such behaviours… to a degree. Detaching a child with an oral chewing stim proves a fair challenge every time. 

Sun can be distantly heard playing…? corralling…? begging…? children scampering amongst the play structures. His voice hitches unmistakably in distress, growing more distant. More children's screams pierce the air within moments. Cloud can’t be sure if from joy, pain or a tantrum, but he hasn’t been called upon. Sun must have it all in hand.

Startled by the screaming so close by, Cillia’s endo spine jolts upright from her position sitting hunched over on the floor, frantically turning her head to stare wide eyed at the doors. There’s a lot of noise, making it hard to tell apart words. But she can hear one of the other animatronics nearby. Sun, she thinks? Maybe he needs a hand… though she can’t exactly help unless she is summoned. She turns back to the haphazard pile of books spilled over her lap and the floor, pulling at the edge of her hat. Knocked off the shelves when she jumped.

3pm

The daycare is quieter now. A lull between parents picking up their kids after work and the after school rush. Many of the younger kids have since gone home, those left content to play or join the animatronic’s activities. Sun is keeping the more creative kids entertained with crafts. The quieter kids with Cloud and his room full of various stims. Moon however, watches over the kids playing amongst the jungle gym. A few bolder kids get him in on a game of tag, squealing with delight as he chases them, or gets chased.

A pile of cushions and blankets shifts slightly. Cillia’s latest attempt at a pillow fort, collapsed on top of her. Her entire upper body is buried beneath, only her legs sticking out. She makes no move to emerge from her pillow burial, dulled optics softly illuminating the fabric in her face. Her chest compartment feels… empty. Hollowed out and cold. Sensations she can’t name course through her components, sparking… something. Her hat is not on her head, knocked off during the collapse.

7pm

The last child is being checked out, Sun and Moon tensely waiting until they hear the voices fade away…

“CLEAN UP! CLEAN UP!” Both celestial jesters shout as they scramble to begin their tasks. Moon bolting to the theater to resume the last of the washing that has been nagging at the back of his mental space all day. Sun vanishes, shrieking, back into his crafts room. Cloud tries to tune out Sun’s frantic attempts at coping with the mess. He has his own to clean up. The scent related stims need to be reorganised, and the various hard fidget toys need to be sanitised. Not to mention his head could do with a more thorough clean than a wipe down after today. A glance around his room revealed the disarray that everything had become over the course of the day. 

It isn’t long before Moon returns to gather any new laundry, ready for the next load and begin his nightly scouring of the play structures for any graffiti or messes. From the various noises the moon animatronic was making, he found more graffiti and at least one… body function related mess. Cloud doesn’t envy poor Moon, who has to clean it up and sanitise the area. Shifting a beanbag shoved into the corner too far back into position, Cloud finds stray chalk art on the wall. It had been smudged by the beanbag rubbing against the wall, probably when the culprit shoved it back there.

8pm

Cloud is in the middle of helping Sun wipe down all the foam blocks when his head perks up. Something is niggling at him. Something he’s forgetting. His hands still as his optics scan the daycare. Sun glances at him but knows better than to interrupt Cloud’s thoughts when he’s got that face. Big blue optics lock onto the new double doors on the other side of the play area glass.

“Hey Sun?” Cloud questions, brows furrowing in concentration.

“Hm?” the other animatronic hums in acknowledgement.

“Isn’t there another animatronic in there?” Sun follows Cloud’s gaze to the doors, and the sign hanging above them. Cillia’s Cubby, plain yet colourful. The wipe in Sun’s hand slips from his grasp, the foam block forgotten as it rocks back onto its side. He completely forgot about the surprise arrival yesterday morning. 

“Yeah, her name is Cillia. Do you think she knows the daycare is closed?” he asks Cloud, turning his gaze back to the other animatronic to see him shrug. As much as Sun wants to get to his feet and check on her, the unfinished cleaning job before him was driving his cleaning programming nuts. Swapping out the soiled wipe for a clean one, Sun resumes wiping down the foam block he was in the middle of. 

“She should be fine to wait a while longer.”

9pm

Sun stands anxiously before the doors to Cillia’s Cubby, alternating wringing his hands and tugging on the ribbons around his wrists. The attached bells jingling with the motions, the usually comforting sound causing Sun to flinch. 

The music had been turned off entirely for the night and the daycare was quiet. If she didn’t hear him approach the door, surely she heard his bells ring. He couldn’t hear any movement on the other side. He knocks, once, twice, before cracking open the door and taking his first peek inside. At first glance the room is completely empty. Inching further into the room, Sun takes in the strange L shape of Cillia’s Cubby. In front of him, he can see where the room is divided between a games and dress up section in the far corners. A table and a few cubbyholes closer to him against the left wall marks out a tiny crafts corner. No sign of Cillia.

He idly notes the staff door across from him, on the left of the inner corner as his gaze moves to a little reading corner to his immediate right. Little cubby holes and a short bookshelf stand against the walls. One of which was partially tinted glass and at an acute angle to the wall. He almost completely overlooked the gap between the glass wall and the corner. There was no light source on the other side. A nap corner?

Stepping around the partition, Sun takes in the pile of pillows and blankets… and two legs sticking out from beneath them in the dim light. Unable to analyse Cillia’s state with so much of her concealed, Sun hesitantly approaches the mound.

“Cillia? Are you alright?” calling out to her, he spots her feet twitch at the sound of his voice. She must have entered standby mode after the pillows fell on her. A few seconds pass before the mound starts to move. With a little help from Sun, Cillia emerges from the pile and slowly sits up. He thought he saw a bluish discolouration under her jaw for a split second, quickly dismissing the thought. The hiss and click of her back vents opening and closing to cycle cool air through her chassis is the only sound for a long awkward moment. Head tilted down, she rubs at the sleeve of her top with her left hand.

“You alright?” he tries again, watching her shift so that she’s sitting with her legs folded and hands resting in her lap. He relaxes a bit when she nods slightly and glances up at him. Were her optics always that shade of light blue and orange? Must have been. 

“Ah good. Wondered why I hadn’t seen you yet” her optics hadn’t left his face while he spoke. Her stare was becoming a little unnerving.

“The daycare is closed now, and we could use the extra hands catching up with cleaning up…” he falters, his seemingly permanent smile falling at the awkward silence. White optics scan over her unusually still form. A tense minute passes before she finally blinks and tilts her head. Her optics flick up, hands raising to pat at her head.

“Where’s my hat?!” Cillia exclaims, twisting around to begin frantically searching amongst the scattered pillows. Pillows and blankets fly this way and that as she searches, Sun moving to help, and getting a pillow to the face in the chaos.

Hat recovered, Sun leads her out into the daycare to finish cleaning and to have a proper formal introduction with Cloud and Moon, yesterday’s attempt cut short due to the state the daycare was in. Cloud is fidgety, clearly anxious about the time. He must be needed somewhere again, Cillia thinks to herself. She herself isn’t exactly still either, fidgeting with either her sleeve or the rim of her hat. Cloud is polite and genuinely tries, but soon he’s too antsy to stand still and excuses himself to rush off somewhere Cillia loses track of. Left with the celestial duo, it isn’t long before Moon and then Sun excuse themselves to see to their chores. Leaving Cillia alone in the daycare once more.

12am

Alone in front of the giant double doors, Cillia looks around the huge room properly for the first time. She almost regrets it. The room is huge, much larger than she had allowed herself to register the previous day. The ceiling so high, it vanishes behind the cloud shaped lights high above her. Processing just how high rapidly becomes overwhelming, the animatronic diverting her gaze away and to something much closer, gripping her hat on both sides and pulling the rim down to block it from sight. Turning back to the doorway she remembers entering the daycare from, she blinks at the three doors across from her and the play area. A red door on the left, a blue on the right and a staff door in the middle. The grip on her hat relaxes.

The signs beside the coloured doors are what draw her eye. The left has a… the head of a white chicken with a bow? Her system helpfully tells her that it is another animatronic, Glamrock Chica. The right has the head of an orange bear with bright blue markings and a tophat. Glamrock Freddy, her system tells her. Pressing for more info yields nothing but static until she gives up and diverts her gaze elsewhere. 

Lucky Stars gift shop is set into the far right wall, opposite her Cubby on the far left. Wandering closer brought the interior of the shop into focus. Plushies, clothes, cups and more line the many shelves. Plushie Glamrock Chica’s and Freddy’s sit huddled on shelves that can barely hold them, amongst a variety of other plushies of what she assumes are other animatronics. Green ones with a longer face and some with red on their heads. Grey ones with white hair and a green streak. Ones of Sun and Moon and so many more that they start to blur together in a kaleidoscope of colour.

Shifting her focus elsewhere to avoid overload, she stares at the blue wall to the right of the gift shop, taking in the short hallway that ends where a side room within the daycare play area begins. Her one handed grip on the rim of her hat twitches and spasms before gradually relaxing. Sun’s crafts room if her memory is correct. She’s not quite ready to process the vast open space that is the daycare play area, so she turns back around and diverts her gaze down and to the right as she walks back towards her Cubby. She’s seen an open doorway around the corner. Currently the roller shutter door is down, allowing her to take in the blues, soft yellows and white streaks that decorates its surface. Her programming offers the word beach after a minute of staring.

Stepping closer until the door lifts, she takes a quick peek. A long hallway with more beach colours ends in another, partially open roller shutter door. What she can see of the space beyond has her quickly retreating. Another overwhelmingly large space lies on the other side of that door. Nope, NOPE. Her free hand flies up to grasp at the rim of her hat, both hands yanking the rim down to block out the sight as she spins around and darts away.

2am

Retreating back into the confines of her Cubby, she debates on returning to the pile of pillows, or her beanbag. Checking her battery, she makes up her mind. Beanbag it is. Her battery had dropped down to 40%. As curious as she was, her programming could only handle so much. Settling back into the plush yet not embrace of her charging beanbag, she curls up into a ball, cradling her face between the soft sleeves of her top.

There’s always tomorrow.

Wednesday

Wednesday ends up being exactly like Tuesday, Cillia remaining within her Cubby the entire work day. When she eventually emerges after 8pm, she helps the other animatronics clean up before eventually being left alone yet again. Standing behind the doors, she can’t bring herself to turn around and look at the sheer size of the room behind her without a distraction. Something tall and red catches her eye under the raised lip of her hat.

Finding her way up the stairs without looking back towards the play area, Cillia investigates the big red thing. Her attention has already moved on to the six doors to three party rooms by the time her system tells her the name of the thing. A buoy, whatever a bu-oy is. She takes a peek into the Fazbear theater, but quickly changes her mind when she gets the sense that it was another room too large for her to process right now. Pulling down both sides of the rim of her hat, she retreats.

She spends an hour or two checking out the 3 double party rooms by the buoy, peeking into a room in the corner on her way to 5 more party room doors, and once again noping out when she realises it just leads out into more too big rooms. Two more double party rooms and a single party room. She’s not sure where the staff door between the small party room and the check in area leads, and she doesn’t feel up to looking. The check in area looks to be a decent size from where she stood near the door to the small party room, railing separating it from the rest of the daycare. 

By now, she’s had enough and retreats back into her Cubby.

Thursday

Thursday is also the exact same work day, Cillia left alone all day. This time, she doesn’t emerge until Moon pokes his head in and encourages her out of her Cubby after 9pm. The celestial animatronics are busy again tonight, and once again leave to complete their own tasks. Cloud having vanished a few hours prior. But not before both get her to change her clothes into something fresh after the day's cleaning had been done. 4 days worth of dust and grime had collected and become noticeable to the celestial animatronics. 

When she returned from her room, dirty clothes in hand, she wore sky blue pants, light at the waist with gradient blues darkening down to the ends of the legs. A cloud on the right leg below the knee. Her top was a dark dull green at the shoulder, fading to a light green blue on the sleeves. The puffs around her neck and waist are a pale green. The hat is the same as before, as far as Moon can tell.

Moon offers to show her where they do laundry as he takes the clothes from her, but she declines with a shake of her head. The celestial animatronic nods and leaves, grabbing a bag of laundry left by the play area doors on his way. Sun must have left while she was changing. 

12am

Left alone again, Cillia fidgets and grips her sleeve, the soft plushness helping to ground her. She’s fine, this is fine. Stepping out of her cubby, she spots Moon on the upper level heading into the theater. Maybe she’ll take a look around after all? Looking around, she tries to get a better sense of the space within the daycare. It’s not quite so overwhelming anymore. Taking a calming breath, she heads into the play area to take her first proper look around.

Ignoring how high the ceiling is, the play area is quite fascinating to explore. The two… no, three play structures had a variety of cutouts depicting a few of the animatronics. She can only really identify Chica and Freddy until her system pops Roxanne Wolf into her headspace while she was looking at one such cutout depicting a space gun wielding purple-grey animatronic with a tail. 

The doorway to Sun’s crafts room has a sun painted around it in bright warm colours, tables and chairs visible within. Across the play area, past the play structures, is another doorway with a cloud painted around it. Must be Cloud’s room if the theme holds true. She can see brightly coloured flooring from beside the smallest play structure. A ‘moat’ ball pit flanked by towers, green padding and another play structure around the back is to her left now. She can see glass and a gate behind her on the other side of one of the towers, between Sun’s crafts and the back wall. 

Curiosity piqued, she approaches the gate and eyes the two doors on the other side. On the right in the back wall, is a staff door. In front of her is a smaller roller shutter door decorated with… masks? One is smiling, the other sad or frowning. What strange images. Stepping through the gate and approaching the door, she flinches when it suddenly lifts with a clatter. Revealing a dark room with glowing neon stars and red walls. The floor looks like carpet, purple and patterned. Her eye is drawn to the stage and the big moving image behind it on the opposite side of the room before she can decipher what pattern. 

She didn’t notice she had taken a few steps in, until the shutter door rattles closed behind her and two figures she didn’t notice standing down by the stage turned to look towards her. Startled and feeling like she just got caught somewhere she should not be, Cillia panics. She frantically darts behind the closest wall, almost losing her hat in the process. Surges through her wiring froze her with her back pressed hard up against the wall. No no NO! She’s going to get in trouble! They’re going to yell and threaten her! Not again! Not again!

“Cillia?” a voice from way too close beside her makes her jump with a yelp. Her legs give out beneath her, slide falling down the wall onto her padded butt with a thump. Simulated panting breaths wrack her body without her permission. Pressing against the coding responsible in her headspace does not cease the mimicry.

A familiar face steps out from around the corner into full view, Cloud looking down at her with concern. The other figure peeks over Cloud's shoulder, their face… almost familiar yet not. Another animatronic with a sun themed face, a big floppy purple hat with a feather on top hiding a few of the small rays around their face. Cillia thought Cloud was tall. Even from her position sitting on the ground, she can tell this new face is even taller than Cloud.

They both look… concerned?

Two hands are offered to her to help her up. Whirring within her chest, the sensation of something shifting. She takes their hands, allowing them to pull her back to her feet. The clikclikclik of her vents fluttering to cycle cool air before stilling once more. She's fine, they're animatronics too. Neither seem angry that she's not in the daycare. She doesn't really know where she is. Every attempt to bring up her map has been… less than helpful. Nothing is labelled and the thing feels outdated.

“Are you alright?” Cloud asks, bringing Cillia out of her thoughts. She attempts a nod, though it is half hearted and small, her smaller hands letting theirs go once she noticed she had yet to release them. Averting her eyes from the look on their faces, she tries not to shift her weight nervously. Cloud doesn’t look convinced, and neither does the other animatronic.

“Uh… ahem. Hi I don’t think I’ve met you before” floundering to change the subject and shift the focus from her, Cillia addresses the other animatronic.

“Oh! Hi, I’m Cosmo. Nice to meet you Cillia” Cosmo smiles at her. Now that she’s standing, she can get a better sense of just how tall the other is. Compared to Cloud, she only comes up to a bit above where his nose would be. Compared to Cosmo? She barely comes up to his shoulder. Awkward introductions and small talk are exchanged, Cillia learning that she has found herself in the Fazbear Theater, which also connects to the daycare where she had seen Moon disappear with laundry. At the mention of the lunar animatronic, the older bots tell her about the wardrobe room beneath the theater, where Moon had no doubt gone.

Saying goodbye to Cloud and Cosmo, Cillia leaves the two of them to continue the conversation she had accidentally interrupted. With their directions, it was relatively easy to find her way back behind the theater and down to wardrobe. From the top of the walkway beside two tables with itty bitty mirrors and a plushie, she could see Moon hovering beside large machines. One seemed to be active, making a fair bit of noise and spinning something inside it. Washing machine, her programming chirps as she turns to leave. 

1:53am

Retracing her steps until she came to the junction where she could see into the theater on her right, she opts to take the left, heading up a long flight of stairs. A door sized poster about a pirate themed show at the top of the landing- 

BONK

A security S.T.A.F.F. bot bumps into her, the new animatronic forgetting to look where she is going. The S.T.A.F.F. bot plays a prerecorded line about not messing with Fazbear Entertainment S.T.A.F.F. bots, then rolls away to wave its torch back and forth over the bleachers overlooking the theater below. Darting past while the bot has its back turned, Cillia takes a quick glance about while she can before she’s out of the theater, and at the concession stand she had seen the other day. Then back into the daycare when a second patrolling S.T.A.F.F. bot appears from back behind the counter of the concession stand and shines its flashlight in her face. 

With nothing much else to do, Cillia continues to roam the daycare. She heads down the stairs to poke her head into the bathrooms and the staff door between them, then back up the other stairs to wander down the way to the daycare reception. A large pair of statues stand in the centre. One of Moon in full gremlin pose facing into the daycare and one of Sun with his hands in the air facing a large roller shutter door, a deep blue decorated with stars and rainbows. Chairs encircle a couple tables scattered around. A few couches pushed up against the right wall.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she approaches the shutter door until it detects her and automatically lifts, revealing a long dark hallway. A pillar in front of her glows with bright blue neon lights. She can hear water trickling somewhere nearby. Pillars in the walls glow pink. Spot lights illuminate huge posters of the daycare animatronics and a big sign for the daycare on the walls. Distant voices echo from the darkness. 

It’s not until a large roller shutter door at the other end of the dark hallway on the right rattles open, light from beyond pouring in that Cillia could spot it, or locate the source of the voices. They’re too distant to be heard clearly. Cillia barely budges a foot before two figures, silhouetted against the light beyond, step into view as they wandered past the door. It’s difficult to make out details, but the presence of a tail suggests at least one is another animatronic.

Not feeling up to socialising with another new face, Cillia retreats back into the daycare. Though not before she catches a glimpse of one of the silhouettes turning their head. She walks faster as the daycare shutter door rattles closed behind her, quickly speeding up to a near run. She darts down the stairs and retreats back into the familiarity of the confines of her Cubby. 

    Low battery! 20% remaining!
Return to Cillia’s Cubby to recharge.

A warning blips in her headspace as she takes a step towards the pile of pillows and blankets, hesitating to regard it. Cillia stands there for a while before heading back to her private room with a sigh.

6am Friday

Friday comes, just like every day previously, and much too soon in Cilla’s opinion. Roused from sleep mode, Cillia slowly opens one eye and blankly stares up at the ceiling. She is on her back, one arm draped over her face and obscuring her other optic. The plush padding threatened to consume her vision entirely. Pulling up her power levels within her headspace, she idly notes that her charge is at 42%.

Her exploring the night before had gone on longer than expected, leaving precious few hours to recharge before the Pizza Plex opens. She is rather tempted to just lay there a bit longer… maybe a lot longer. Vaguely, she recalls someone mentioning something about the plex being closed over the weekend; Saturday and Sunday, her system had helpfully provided, before reopening on Monday. Those two days will give the animatronics time to do a thorough deep clean, and catch up on anything else that needs doing. For Cillia, those two days mean that after the plex closes, she doesn’t have to remain in Cillia’s Cubby for 12 hours a day until Monday.

She just has to get through today first… 

Friday’s work day is almost exactly like every day previously, the hours passing by in an agonising crawl. Eagerness for the promised days of respite from expectations. So tantalisingly near, yet so far. Certainly more than one animatronic is looking forward to the weekend. A bit more freedom to socialise and roam. No guests to deal with for hours on end.

9am comes and goes, eventually followed by 12pm and then 2pm.

4pm crawls past.

6pm… 

7pm

The daycare animatronics are watching over the final two children, siblings, their pickup guardian having yet to arrive. The usual dismay and tension at having their routine thrown askew is mediated with the knowledge that, once these children leave. They will be free for a precious 58 hours. Give or take a few hours. The daycare assistant appears to be attempting contact with the siblings approved pickup guardian. With the play area and animatronics to themselves, the siblings play tag with the celestial duo. Cloud having retreated into his room to attempt to restore order to the chaos that had been unleashed during a temper tantrum earlier.

Neither human nor animatronic expected the sudden slamming open of doors and what can only be described as a gremlin Cillia erupting out of her Cubby. Stance wide and hunched, arms out from her sides. Both Sun and Moon are unsure what to make of this sudden strange behaviour from the newest addition. Once the shock from the sudden bang had passed, both children are fascinated by the new animatronic, gleefully pointing and asking to meet her.

Suddenly hyper aware that the daycare is not empty of guests as she had assumed, Cillia straightens her posture looking quite embarrassed. With a little pleading from the kids and encouragement from the daycare attendants, Cillia joins in keeping the kids entertained until their approved pickup guardian finally arrives.

Itching to be free, Cillia is a little surprised when the two older bots exchange a glance and dismiss her from cleanup duty. Any confused half hearted protests are met with smiles, encouragement to go explore and playful shooing gestures. With the rest of the Pizza Plex still open to guests, they suggest she starts from wardrobe, beneath the theater. The hallways connect to the utility tunnels, where guests aren’t allowed and animatronics and S.T.A.F.F. can travel between locations unhindered.

Excited thank yous tumble from Cillia’s voice box, the animatronic bouncing on the spot with barely contained glee. A waved goodbye as she darts out of the daycare play area, and up to the theater. Sun and Moon chuckle and smile at her enthusiasm. She’s gone so fast, she’s out of sight before the celestial animatronics begin to clean.

Darting into the theater, Cillia narrowly avoids crashing into the S.T.A.F.F. bot patrolling the concessions stand floor, apologising even as she stumbles into the wall, bouncing off it and keeps going. She slows her mad dash to a stop as she enters the theater proper, looking over at the S.T.A.F.F. bot duo patrolling the other side. They are doing a confusing weird loop right in the way of where she wants to go, effectively blocking it off with their constant quick movements.

She opts to head down the stairs behind her on her left instead. She’ll just have to cut across the theater and try not to disturb Cosmo if he’s busy.

Upon reaching the bottom and turning to go up the side corridor, she catches a glimpse out of the corner of her eye that makes her pause. Cosmo is standing on the stage beneath a spotlight, looking rather unhappy. Hesitating for a moment, Cillia steps out from the shadows and approaches him. Upon noticing her, Cosmo perks up and turns his body to look at her. His feet remain in place.

“Could… could you please turn the spotlight off?” he asks, gesturing towards the source of the light above him.

“Oh uh, sure. Where is the switch?” 

Cosmo points her to the back of the theater and gives her directions to the switch, watching her until she steps out of sight. He starts to fidget a bit right before the spotlight vanishes. Cillia peeks around the corner to check, grinning back at Cosmo when he smiles at her gratefully. She is scooped up in a quick thank you hug before waving goodbye and jogging down to wardrobe beneath the theater. The room is large, and mostly beneath her. She tries not to take the stairs two at a time, taking a passing glance at the huge container of coloured balls to her left on the way down. Foam blocks piled on shelves. Some kind of storage thingy. She’s not sure what a lot of what she sees is called, taking a quick wander around. One room has tables and mirrors with a cup and a small variety of brushes, and a few… mini rooms with a curtain for a door?

She spies the big machines she saw Moon beside the other day, both silent and dark with a red light. There might even be two further in the corner, but it’s hard to tell for sure in the darkness. The shapes lack the red light. She ignores them in favour of investigating the other rooms with greyish blue doors and various other, more interesting things in the big room.

9:30pm

Cillia wanders over to the two red double doors curiously. They look like they could be staff doors, but a different type. They make a click, but don’t open when she gets close. It takes a bit of puzzling before she places her hand on the bar and gives it a push. It swings open easily in her hand, revealing more storage shelves and a tiled part of the room. There’s something with holes in it, the edges of the tiled area raised. Weird. A peek down the hallway running off it to the right doesn’t look too promising. It goes down not very far along.

She almost thinks she has to walk back out to go to the next room, until she spots a doorway without a door leading right to where the other room would be. In there, she finds various cutouts of things and other stored items and two more doors. The one to her right looks like a bathroom door, and a quick peek confirms this. The one in the other back corner leads on to a corridor that turns out of her immediate view. Curiosity piqued, she closes the door behind her as she wanders down it.

??am

Cillia isn’t sure just how long she’s been roaming corridor after corridor. She became hopelessly lost very quickly and not even the names of the corridors she’s wandering painted on the walls is of any help. She attempted to consult her map once, she’s not doing that again. Her position is not showing up, and nothing is labelled. Not even the layout is matching the twists and turns she has walked for the past… must be several hours by now. Her programming had freaked out and pitched a right fit at the map issue, glitching and causing her to jerkily fall over. Her internal clock no longer worked soon after that, frozen at 11:58pm. 

Her system eventually stabilised enough over the map thing to allow her to get back up and continue to wander aimlessly. Warning popups in her headspace over her map error kept appearing long after, driving her to immediately dismiss any more warnings after getting the same error 86 times. They came less frequent once she was moving again.

Eventually, she comes upon a set of stairs after following a long larger corridor called MAIN-COR-SW, taking a right and having the option to go right again at a fork, or take a left up the stairs. Round signs painted on the wall beside the stairs mean nothing to her, but they look far more promising than the corridor going right.

Up, up, up, the stairs just keep going. She starts to wonder if they will ever end when she comes upon the final landing. Any hope she had was promptly squished when she finds herself in yet another spaghetti junction of corridors and doors. Wary of wandering too far in one direction, she tentatively explores a ways down each possible route, until she finds more stairs leading up and one of the signs from before painted on the wall. These stairs have her going up two landings before she spots a staff door at the top of a third around the corner. Is she finally free from this maze?

What she finds on the other side is… not what she was expecting. Her first impression is that it is dark with neon lights and loud. A lot of… somethings are intermittently making noise, but there’s just so many of them. Stepping through the door and letting it close behind her, she finds herself underneath a landing with a glowing edge, stairs to it immediately on her right. Some of the noise makers are glowing. Lifting her gaze a bit higher, she can see… holes in the walls? With coloured glowing rings inside. Further left, another set of stairs curves up to the other end of the landing above her. Something big and golden glitters beyond it between the steps.

Moving further, there are neon lights seemingly everywhere! A huge pillar over by the other stairs seems to be purely a bright blue neon light. Something high above her head arching from one side of what must be an upper floor over to the other side. Hanging neons pulse from bright pink to blue then back again over the big golden thing. Walking closer, her optics are constantly moving, trying to take in the sheer amount of things and lights. More holes in the walls, some giant, some small. There’s even giant ones in the patterned ceiling!

The big golden thing appears to be a statue of three… maybe four animatronics? The shapes don’t make much sense to her, and her system doesn’t provide any suggestions. She dismisses another pesky alert.

Circling around it to the right of the statue, her eyes on it as she attempts to figure out what it is, she almost doesn’t hear the sound of movement.

Turning around, Cillia freezes in place. Towering impossibly tall over her, is the largest animatronic she has ever seen. It’s head alone was far bigger than she was. Standing on six legs so long that even Cloud could walk underneath and not touch it, it stares down at her with featureless black eyes. It’s mouth is open, a pink neon within, spilling blindingly bright light past strange teeth. It lifts one giant, gloved hand.