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Monty had always had a shorter temper than the other animatronics. He wasn’t sure if it was in his programming or if it was simply the way he was, but it had always been a part of him. His green room was always in some state of disrepair, there was always something smashed or torn or broken. But after overhearing the maintenance teams begin to complain about the constant repairs, he figured he’d start trying his luck in the golf course.
The golf course was bigger, it gave Monty more to play with but that also meant more damages. He knew that damaging the golf course would have bigger consequences, it was a public area after all, and with Roxy Raceway still out of commission (something about a sinkhole?) he was sure the higher-ups wouldn’t appreciate him decommissioning another attraction. However, golfing around only relieved so much stress, especially when he wasn’t allowed to actually hit anything.
The PizzaPlex was closed now after another day of sticky-fingered children and repetitive shows. Monty felt his wiring spark, his claws twitch and a frustrated grumbled filled his chest. It had been a long day. Monty had been on edge for days now, his room was already smashed and the golf course just wasn’t enough. It left him with a built-up tension that made him snappy. He had snapped at some kids after their show, he had snapped at Chica over some pizza she had left on the floor and he had snapped at the maintenance bots who were just doing their jobs. He needed to do something before he really lost his cool.
Stomping through the halls, Monty glanced from door to door at all the different areas he could go to. Fazerblast could be fun, but running around with nothing to shoot didn’t sound like it would work. That also meant Mazercise was out, though he figured if he wanted to run around in circles he could do that anywhere in the Pizzaplex. His golf course was out, and he didn’t even want to think about Bonnie Bowling.
He let out a frustrated roar, stomping his foot into the ground. There had to be somewhere in this goddam MegaPlex he could go to cool off.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a poster on the wall advertising the daycare. He paused, tilting his head as he stared at the poster. None of the Glamrocks really knew the daycare assistant well. Sun was never seen outside of the daycare while Moon sometimes roamed when the lights were out, but he was never really the chatty type.
Still, as Monty thought about it he realised that maybe the daycare wasn’t such a bad idea. The whole place was designed for energetic children, which meant that the whole place had been designed to withstand excitable tots that weren’t all that mindful of what they were wrecking.
It sounded just like what Monty needed.
And besides, he had never ventured into the daycare himself. He was curious to see what it was like.
Inside the daycare, his eyes were assaulted with bright colours. The big play structure sat in the middle, and he noticed there were a lot of different soft blocks he could throw without breaking anything. He also noticed the large Freddy plush resting against one of the play structure frames and he grinned. He could definitely get some use out of this place.
Monty didn’t hesitate to begin letting out his frustrations. With a roar, he grabbed one of the soft blocks and threw it as hard as he could. He grabbed another and slung it into a tower of drums, knocking them over with a satisfying clatter. He laughed, rolling his shoulders as he felt the tension begin to melt away. He continued to throw the soft blocks around, kicking them into other towers or against the walls. He threw one at the Freddy plush’s face, hitting it square in the nose with a squeak.
He lunged at a pile of soft blocks, grabbing one with his hands to rip it apart as he sat among the different shapes. The foam and fake leather tore apart and he discarded the pieces aside. He grabbed a smaller wedge-shaped block and began tearing it apart with his teeth, spitting away the chunks of foam.
Midway through biting into another shape, he noticed the long legs of a relatively unfamiliar animatronic stood in front of him. He trailed his eyes up, foam stuck to his tooth, and met the face of the daycare assistant looming above him.
Sun leaned down, face twisting to simulate it tilting out of curiosity.
“Why helloooo, new friend! New friend! Oh, oh! This isn’t how we play in the daycare.” Sun suddenly pulled back, hands gripping at his spikes in distress as he looked around at the chunks of foam. “Oh no, no! What a mess, what a terrible mess you have made!”
Monty sat, stunned, as he watched the frantic bot begin to pick up the soft blocks, piling the ones that weren’t torn to shreds back into their piles. The bot continued to talk to himself as he tried to clean up the blocks but Monty had made quite the mess. The floor was littered with pieces of soft blocks, while the rest lay scattered around where he had thrown them.
“These blocks are not for making messes, new friend! We keep things clean and tidy, clean and tidy!” He spun around to face Monty, swaying slightly as he moved. It was intriguing, watching the way Sun moved. It was a lot more fluent compared to the clunkier Glamrock animatronics, all smooth and elegant. Like a gymnast or a ballerina. Sun leaned back down toward Monty, causing him to recline away. Sun stared for a moment, before reaching over and plucking the foam away from Monty’s sharp tooth. “And we must not eat the blocks! We don’t want you choking on them.” Sun leaned back again before gasping, head tilting side to side. “Oh, oh, oh! You are Montgomery Gator! I’ve never met one of you Glamrocks before! Oh, how the children love you, I have heard such wonderful things about you all.”
Monty didn’t have any time to react before he was pulled to his feet. Sun lifted him up from under his armpits, just like you would a small child, before setting him back down again as if he weighed nothing. Monty stood, staring at the other animatronic as he bobbed in time with the music that played over the speakers.
“So,” He placed his fists on his hips, puffing his chest out as he eyed the other animatronic, intrigued. “You’re the daycare assistant.”
Sun’s head spun around excitedly, “Oh how silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sun.”
Monty raised his brow, arms now folded. “You’re an odd fella, ain'tcha?” His claws drummed against the casing of his arm.
Sun seemed unbothered by the insult as his head lolled happily. “Oh, how exciting it is to have a new friend. There are so many things that we could do!”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on-”
“We could play games. Do you like games? Oh, I love games! Or we could craft, crafting is so much fun. I have paints, and glitter, oh I love glitter, and there’s glitter glue! Crayons, pens. Oh, and puppets! Do you like puppets?”
Monty blinked, “Puppets are, uh, fine. But I was just about to-”
Sun clapped his hands together, swaying side to side. “Oh, what to do first, what to do first? There is so much fun to have here at the daycare. So much fun!”
Monty eyed the exit. He wouldn’t be able to easily slip away unnoticed, the door was too far away. But he realised, his frustrations had simmered down and the strange animatronic was working as a good distraction. He didn’t really consider himself an arts and crafts kind of guy but he figured he had nothing else to do, his friends were all pretty cautious around him at the moment so maybe staying for a bit couldn’t hurt.
He sighed heavily, drumming a rhythm on his arm before unfolding his arms. “Alright, I’ll bite. You like puppets?”
Sun’s grin seemed to widen as he bounced excitedly, “Oh I love puppets! Would you like to make some? Montgomery Gatory deserves his own puppet, after all.”
Monty flashed a crooked grin, “Sure, let’s make some puppets.”
Sun was over the moon, his hands clapped as he danced from leg to leg, “Oh, oh, this is so exciting! This will be so much fun, so much fun! I need to get the supplies, we need so many things! Oh, this is so wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!”
And with that, he was rushing off to go and gather whatever supplies you apparently needed to make puppets. In fact, Monty wasn’t entirely sure what making a puppet really meant.
Sun came back soon enough, arms full of many different supplies, packets and tubs and tubes of different colours and shapes and sizes. “Come, come!” He dropped the pile down on top of one of the small crafting tables, pushing the chairs away as neither of them would be able to fit in them. Monty wandered on over, sitting near enough opposite Sun at the table. He examined the supplies on the table as Sun began sorting through a pack of ready-made hand puppets, plain but an assortment of colours. Sun set down a cheery yellow puppet in front of himself.
“What colour would you like? Oh, we have many pretty colours!”
Monty looked across the table at the puppets laid out, placing his glasses on top of his head. One of them was a very close shade of green to his own, so he reached across and picked it up, careful not to stab it with his close.
“A wonderful choice! A very nice colour, indeed.” Sun praised, nodding in approval as he began to gather some supplies for himself. There were markers, felt sheets with safety scissors, foam stickers as well as glue, glitter and glitter glue. There were a few other bits and pieces spread across the table, all sorts of craft supplies you could use to decorate a hand puppet. Monty was relieved to find that making puppets actually meant decorating the puppets. Glitter and markers he could handle, a sewing needle? Less so.
Sun expertly worked on his own puppet, this being something he had done many times. Monty watched, unsure where to start with his own. Not exactly the creative type, he figured he’d just make himself. He took some red felt, glancing at the scissors and realising they were definitely too small. Instead, he used his claw to cut out a shape that resembled his mohawk.
From there, Monty actually found himself relaxing into the whole thing. His hands were a little big and clunky for some things, but Sun was very eager to help him out or make some suggestions on different ways he could do something. Sun chattered away, asking some questions as he made his own very glitter-heavy puppet; Monty even added a little to his own.
In the end, Monty was happy with his puppet. It was messy, and his hands were now covered in glitter glue which he peeled off once it had dried. The puppet only fit on a few of his fingers, but he was able to wiggle the arms around and he chuckled as the googley eyes jiggled around.
“An excellent puppet!” Sun grinned as he placed his own puppet on his hand, wiggling it about and making it dance and wave. Monty shook his head, amused before a sudden red light flashed on his screen.
Low Power
Monty stood up from the table, taking the puppet from his fingers to instead hold it. Sun watched from his place on the floor, head tilted.
“Ah, looks like I’m gonna have to head off. Gotta charge up.” He stretched his arms and shoulders, reaching up to flick his glasses back down onto his nose with his finger.
Sun deflated, gripping at the puppet on his hand and bringing it to his chest slightly. Still, he nodded slowly. “I understand!” He jumped up from the table, regaining his bouncy composure. “You should hurry now, don’t want you running out of power now, do we?”
Monty nodded as he made his way over to the exit of the daycare. Sun followed just behind but hang back away from the door. There was still a wide grin on his face, but it appeared a little strained.
“Thank you Montomgery Gator! This has been a very fun evening, very fun! You are welcome back anytime, as long as you promise not to make any more messes!”
Monty chuckled, “We’ll see about that. And hey, none of that Montgomery business. Friends call me Monty.” He flashed a toothy grin before turning on his heel and heading off to go and find a charge station.
As he left, he missed the stunned look on Sun’s face as he stared after Monty. He hugged the puppet to his chest and smiled, soft and sincere. “Friends?”
And with that, Sun was left to clean up the daycare for the morning while Monty charged up back in his green room, the puppet stored safely away on his desk.