FNaF- Not like they used to be 2

Susan picks up an old photograph from the small pile next to her and hands it to you. You couldn't help but notice the little glimmer of longing as she glanced over the photo.

The picture showed a group of 4 staff members, 2 men, 2 women. The two women, older man around their 20’s and one male around at least 18 years old. The staff members were each stood beside a large animal animatronic character.

Susan was stood in front of the large purple rabbit which stood with its mouth agape in an almost smile, its hands on her shoulders.

The second woman was beaming she was stood with the yellow chick character; the chicken appeared to be giving her a hug, its beak agape in that “smile”.

The older man was clad in pirate like clothing holding a sword aloft and stood back to back with the red pirate fox character holding aloft its hooked hand to mimic the man.

The younger man stood in the middle, the large top hat clad brown bear stood beside him with its hand on the man’s shoulder.

It took you a moment to take in the sheer size of these animatronics; the rabbit was at least 7ft tall from its feet to the tips of its ears, the chicken and bear stood at around 6ft. You couldn’t quite understand how a simple family restaurant could afford such robotics.

“When you apply to be a ‘Friend of Freddy’s’ the manager whittles the applicants right down and lets the character pick… I can see that look on your face I still don’t understand it to this day but it must have worked”

Susan pointed to the large purple rabbit.

“He was my character, Bonnie the bunny. He would play the bass guitar when Freddy sang. They gave him a Brooklyn accent to go with his image. He was sort of an athletic character and would try to get children up and active and playing. He was always first off the stage when we showed up for work. They programmed him to be quite the tough guy, rather rebellious, unruly at times toward staff and Freddy, he was a pain in the backside, he always seemed to have a soft spot for Chica. He was highly sensitive to music or sounds and would always be making noise of some kind be it tapping or singing or playing air guitar. We think he picked me due to my music, I was listening to a Dokken tape on my portable tape player and I was stood tapping my feet, playing air guitar as I waited for my interview… I didn’t even notice he was there copying my actions” she lets out a small laugh at the fond memory and smiles, you can see her eyes about to water.

She pointed toward the yellow chicken.

“The yellow one is Chica the chick. She was a backup singer with Freddy; occasionally she sang her own songs with Bonnie.  She was our little mother hen thanks to Rebecca her handler. She was programmed to be a bit ditzy, oblivious, but she was amazing with children, you could have left a tiny baby with her and she’d be fine. She was given the ‘ability’ to actively seek out and care for crying or upset children, she would always be watching over the children like a hawk and keeping count of the children… she would always make sure everyone was fed and happy that included us staff members and the other characters she would always come over to help or see what they were doing”

Her finger moved to point at the black haired woman stood in Chica’s grasp.

“That is my oldest friend Rebecca Davidson, we went to college together and started working at Fazbear’s to earn a bit of money on the side. She loved being around children, she wanted to work in a kindergarten when we’d finished…. Chica insisted she would come along and work with her. Becky was very patient, calm, confident, motherly girl. We thought that was why Chica picked her, Chica used to be the most ignored character because she wasn't a cuddly rabbit or bear so she would hang back out of the way and only approach children when they came to her. She took to Rebecca like a duck to water and began to copy her behaviour and actions and she became our mother hen.”

Next she pointed to the pirate Fox.

“This is Foxy, as you can see he’s a pirate. Imagine the most stereotypical pirate voice you can and that’s him. It was his job to get children to use their imaginations by telling them stories that they would help him with by shouting things. He would usually get into fights with Bonnie the pair of them were always teasing each other and tormenting each other. He saw Freddy as his captain and would only respond correctly to Freddy at first. They gave him a brave, heroic and courageous charge into battle personality. It was always amusing to watch him charging around the room with the children in tow shouting “yar over on the starboard bow thar be a mighty sea serpent, what do we do crew!”. He used to be shy and would hide away behind his dirty old curtain with his ears down and refuse to come out unless only children were present until Keith came along”.

She pointed to the brown haired man stood beside the fox.

“This is Keith Barlow, or should I say “First mate Keith”. He was an engineer before he joined the Fazbear staff. He was cocky, playful, a comedian who enjoyed the spotlight. It was his idea to turn Foxy’s attraction into a full pirate show once a day, he enjoyed performing with Foxy you could always hear it in his voice they’d do the same stories over and over again but he was enjoying it. His confidence must have rubbed off on Foxy because after that it was hard to keep him confined to his stage unless you had somebody watching over him… they would both sneak in and disturb Freddy’s band and take the kids to pirate cove”

She pointed to the younger blonde haired man.

“This is Robert Williams, he joined us much later since they couldn't find a suitable person to work with Freddy… or rather the Bear hadn't picked the right person. He was only a young man, his father wasn't a very nice person, he used to go to the restaurant all the time as a child but he was forever afraid of Freddy.  He was shy, withdrawn, quiet and a rather lonely thing. We all welcomed him with open arms and declared him our little brother. What always makes me think is that Freddy chose him to help Man him up, call me crazy but it was as if the bear had took him under his wing. He was afraid of being called Robbie, bad childhood memories; however he only ever allowed Freddy to call him Rob… I will until the day I die never understand the bear” She says with a sigh of surrender.

“Last but not least is our star, poster bear. Freddy Fazbear. I’m pretty sure he was way more intelligent than the company let on; he knew things that a robot shouldn't know. That’s why they could never find a staff member for him. The other three only obeyed him and us and he took orders from nobody. We were sure the manager was scared of him. It was his job not only to sing but to tell children stories with morals for real life situations like “never go anywhere with strangers” or “always tell your parents where you’re going” things like that which was a brilliant idea. He was like a protective figure toward all of us, the handlers, the other characters and the children it was unusual… I never really liked him he was kind of intimidating”

Susan took a drink of tea and paused for a moment as you caught up with her. You finish your sentence and hand her the photo back.

She takes a long look at it.

“They were all programmed to protect, serve and entertain children no matter what… which probably explains why they’re still kicking even now in whatever horrible condition they've been left in… I don’t think anything could derail them from that primary programming they were given”