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Dayton sat idly by behind the security desk, the largest source of light in the whole room when the lights were dimmed. Still it wasn't helping much to keep her awake, not without the tall robot pestering her from the other side of the desk as usual. It was naptime, and though the sleepytime version of the Daycare Attendant, one Mr. Moon, and Dayton herself had finished putting the tykes to sleep, or to their quiet time tasks(--because let's face it, not everyone was going to be able to take a nap all at the same time), instead of coming over to keep her company she watched out of the corner of her eye as the robot hoisted himself up into the tower on the far side of the daycare. She thought maybe he needed a charge, but he never actually disappeared, just sat there and watched like a bird on a perch.
Maybe he was just bored with his routine, Dayton thought. He wasn’t really supposed to be bothering her anyway, but for whatever reason he seemingly liked to try pushing the limits of how far he could get to the other side of the security desk without setting off alarms and breaking the rules. For such a stickler to them, he certainly was funny. Still, she enjoyed his company as they idly chatted as they kept an eye on the kids, gossiping about parents and co-workers all the while, and occasionally he watched Dayton fill out paperwork with a nosy glance. Not wanting to pester him though, she moved to sit up in her chair, eyeing the monitors at her desk. Was she security? No, but they were useful monitors nonetheless. One was there to show various areas of the pizza plex, in case trouble should arise, and she needed to either lockdown or evacuate the kids. She could see her coworker friend Freddie on this screen, in the top right, helping with yet another party, and in the bottom corner the funky, green haired technician roaming around today. Maybe they'd finally do something about Roxy's eyes, but she sort of doubted it. On the other screen, she could see the daycare, all the kids looking cozy with their blankets, pillows, and plushies, and the others doing coloring pages or puzzles in the dim lights. She also saw a couple of sleepers beginning to move around, and when she looked up it seemed they were coming to her desk. Meeting them halfway, she crouched down a little to see what was wrong.
One of the kids, who she recognized as Bon, immediately reached out and gave Dayton a pat on the hand, being led by Dayton's own glow in the dark stars.
"Miss Dayton, we need to go potty, but it's too dark. Can you take us, please?" The little girl asked. Both girls' hair were tied up in little buns, compliments of Dayton herself. She remembered them being adamant on matching each other just that morning and she had just enough time to oblige.
Dayton glanced to Moon, but it seemed as if he hadn't even moved. She gave a nod, before speaking up. "Sure, space cadets, let's just make sure Moony knows we're heading out." She said, taking the oldests hand. Bon kept her sibling, Lora, close doing the same, and they buddy systemed over toward the tower overlooking the ballpit. Moon still hadn't even looked down.
Because of the fact of missing children during some evenings when Dayton or any substitute assistant were not present, she was now required to let the Daycare Attendant know when she would be taking any brief exit, even if just to the bathroom. She jokingly dubbed it the Dayton Golden Rule: Communication! The Heads claim that maybe some kids just slip past their watch; Machines too can fail. Dayton was the extra set of eyes, human, their checks and balances; that perhaps working in tandem would make him more aware of their surroundings. Good thing that wasn’t being tested at the moment.
When they got there, she whispered loudly, not wanting to wake the other kids but knowing Moon should have been able to hear her.
"Hey Moon, we're taking a quick field trip. Moon are you listening?" Dayton asked, but was met with silence. She glanced at the two girls standing there antsy, and frowned a little. Had he fallen into sleep mode up there? Taking her free hand with her bell bracelet, she shook it lightly as she waved, speaking a bit more normally. "Moon, wakey wakey."
She had no idea what was going on in that big AI brain of his, but it certainly wasn't electric sheep. It could have been a staticy bunny just beyond his vision, but whatever it was, he shook it away the second time the assistant below called out, blinking the stars out of his eyes and looking down. He recognized Dayton immediately after, though it took him a moment, always a moment lately, as he rolled through his database of authorized adults, and he tilted his head. He hadn't caught a word she said.
"Yes, yes, go on." Moon prompted, in hopes she'd repeat, or just go on with what she may have said she was going to do.
Dayton gestured to the kids, “Potty break, make sure to keep an eye out, alright? No spacing out.”
Snickering lightly when she realized her accidental word play, she shot Moon a smirky smile, but when he didn’t chuckle she waved a hand unphased. That made the two girls giggle. "Forget you, that was funny and you know it. C'mon girls, let’s be quick."
Watching as the trio wandered away, Moon turned his attention properly this time to the children scattered about. Some wrapped in their blankets, some having kicked them away, some having rolled on top of each other no less. Even a few of the quiet area children had seemingly nodded off, and his smile, although unmoving, seemed to warm; good children all napping as they should be. A message then blinked into view in the corner of his vision, Sun checking in on him. He shook the ‘thought’ away, deciding to finally remove himself from his tower and begin floating down to tend to the children below--and do a headcount while he was at it, considering the Dayton Golden Rule.
It was almost like counting sheep as he swam through the air, fixing covers and gently repositioning children at first (one, two, three). Then he grabbed a few more comfortable blankets, draping them across the shoulders of the kids resting, heads down, at the tiny tables (...seven, eight, and nine-) eyeing their crafts proudly. They had such an imaginative bunch today, very creative. Yeah… Suddenly he stopped, face plate rotating idly as he processed. He’d only counted eleven children, including the two that Dayton had taken with her. Two of them were missing. He looked left, he looked right, and caught the sound of whispering coming from the play structures. His eye lights narrowed. “Naughty naughty…”
As he stuck his head around the corner, his smile, yet still, faltered. That wasn’t one of the children. Vien had entered the daycare, treading lightly. The lights were dimmed, which meant nap time, but Dayton wasn’t in her usual spot at the desk. She knew she had to be somewhere, and she hated to travel further in, considering the Daycare Attendant, but she didn’t expect him to pop up right in front of her. She let out a yelp before she knew it, and Moon flinched. A hand quickly reached out and placed itself over Vien’s face, and she let out a muffled sound.
"Shush-" He rasped out, in an attempt to quietly silence her.
Laughter rang out from the maze of towers however, the two missing kids having watched the whole exchange, and Moon tilted his head toward the sound. There they were, he just had to-
"What's going on?"
"Gasp! Raceway? Is Roxy coming to visit??"
“Quiet, some of us are trying to sleep!!”
“Says the loud mouth!”
Kids began to stir, much to Moon’s displeasure, and he rolled his eyes, a mechanical sound giving off the mock impression of grinding teeth. Removing his hand from Vien’s face, from where it had been perched for maybe just a little too long, he looked at her and pointed.
“Your fault, help fix it.”
Now, Vien wasn’t an unfamiliar face to some, they were one of the few workers down at Roxy Raceway, and some of the older daycare regulars knew that when Vien showed up, Roxy wouldn’t be too far behind. A few times it was because the fox in question would get bored, wander into the area, and start chatting it up with Sun who was more than happy to oblige whether he could see her or not. This mystery in and of itself startled Dayton often, because she just wasn’t sure and neither half would tell her; maybe the Daycare Attendant was using its infrared sensors, she did know the fellows had that. The other times would be in-between performances and parties, when Vien (or any of the other pit crew) would bring Roxy around to say hi to the kids who didn’t have as much free reign as older children did. Of course Roxy wasn’t the only animatronic to stop by, but she was a fan favorite, so cool, so fluffy.
Vien often visited during nap time if she could to avoid such a bombardment, like today, however she wasn’t as fond of the lanky, metal babysitter like Dayton was, and would try to avoid him too if at all possible. Sun with its glassy, dead eyed stare, and Moon with its mischief and piercing gaze… To be fair, today just wasn’t her day.
“Well, I mean I just came to give Dayton a message, so I could always come back and-” Vien started, as she waved a hand in an attempt to get out of it. Moon however just grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her forward, facing the gaze of many children doe-eyed and groggily staring up at her in anticipation. “Uh…”
Rubbing her wrist, that was a little more rough than she expected from the robot, she glanced back again but he’d already begun squeezing himself into one of the nearby play tubes. Gosh, she hates it here. She began explaining to the kids that Roxy would visit asap, but only if they all took their naps. This of course was met with opposition, they had taken their naps. They had her there, but it was the best she could do at that moment.
Thankfully it wasn’t much longer until Dayton showed back up, plunging into the ballpit from the slide, giggly girls in tow albeit she shushed them playfully. Three heads popping up from the plastic ocean. Dayton blinked when she heard a new voice now in the daycare apart from the usual. A few screams rang out as well, though playful, and she hurried the two girls along to ‘dry’ land to figure out what was going on. She was surprised to see Vien there, with blankets in her arms, and storybooks at her feet, and kids pointing and laughing at both one kid swaddled so tightly in blankets it may have been a straight jacket, and another still dashing through the play structure, Moon not too far trying to catch him from one of the openings as he swam about in the air. Bon and Lora scrambled to go back to their little group, practically everyone awake now and watching the show in the dim daycare light, and seeing the two newcomers, Vien quickly looked around.
Target spotted.
“Vien, what is going on?” Dayton asked, when Vien approached. They heard one of the kids screech, and she looked back up towards the Towers of Trouble™ just in time to see Moon grab said kid by the ankles. Um.
The two watched as Moon successfully slid down the slide backwards, dragging the kid along with him who was laughing the whole way.
“N-Naughty children?” Vien shrugged awkwardly.
