Chapter Text
Sundrop had been in way over his head for the longest time. Twenty children was too much to take care of for one Daycare Attendant! After a horrific day during which the kids had tied him up and danced around him like those portrayals of rainforest tribes, the maintenance people at the Pizzaplex had decided to create Sun a colleague. He'd been told that her name would be Y/N, and that she was specifically designed with Sundrop's shortcomings in mind, as to complement his personality. Sundrop was pacing around the Daycare the day she was supposed to arrive. When Y/N was rolled into the Daycare by the maintenance man, Sun was immediately awed by her cute and pleasing design. The children were going to adore her.
''Here she is,'' the maintenance man said, ''I'm just gonna have to run a couple of tests on her, and after that, she's all yours.''
Sundrop hopped around the Daycare, looking at Y/N from different angles. ''She's so pretty!'' He looked up at the maintenance man. ''D'you think she's gonna like me?''
The maintenance man chuckled as he stuck a cable into the back of Y/N's neck, and connected the cable to his laptop. ''Of course. You both were programmed that way.''
The maintenance man was right. Sun clearly remembered having to go to parts and service to get a relationship chip installed- one that would regulate his relationship with Y/N. Sundrop didn't like going to parts and service: although he couldn't feel temperature, the place looked cold and it was generally unpleasant. Besides, Sun didn't like being taken off of his safe mode, he didn't like the thought of being able to hurt other people, or doing something that would get him scrapped. The maintenance man typed in a few things on his laptop, then Y/N's eyes opened.
Sun jumped a little bit, then excitedly waved at her. ''Hi! I'm Sundrop, your colleague, but you can call me whatever you like! Sun, Sunnydrop, Sunshine...''
Y/N hesitantly waved back at him.
The maintenance man laughed. ''Don't overwhelm her, now! She's only just started up!'' He removed the cable from the back of Y/N's neck. ''Y/N?'' He asked, ''Can you talk?''
''Yes, I can.'' Her voice was soft and fluffy, just like her hair.
''Nothing seems to be wrong with her voice box.'' The maintenance man said, ''Can you walk a little for us, please?''
Y/N stepped off of her forklift and stretched her legs a little bit. Sundrop noticed that she was wearing bunny slippers- Moon would love that!
''Everything seems to be okay.'' The maintenance man collected his laptop and tipped his hat at the two animatronics. ''Now, if there's any malfunctions with her, don't hesitate to contact me. You've got my email, so it shouldn't be a problem.'' He smiled and waved at the two of them. ''Now, play nice, you two!''
''Goodbye, mr. Jones, sir!'' Sundrop exclaimed.
''Bye-bye, mr. Maintenance Man,'' Y/N said.
Woah, they were alone. Together. Sundrop had to admit to himself, he was a bit nervous. What were they gonna do? Well, it was Y/N's first day at the Daycare, so he should probably ask her what she wanted to do in an encoded message directly to her. The animatronics could send encoded messages to each other. These were coded in programming language rather than human English, because it was the animatronics' native language. Translating thoughts in programming language to English, just to say them to a robot who would translate them back into programming language was a bit of a roundabout way to do things, so Sundrop decided to just send her messages in programming language instead. It was kind of like human telepathy. Exciting!
''What do you want to do?'' He asked
Instead of sending him a message back, Y/N just... stared at him. Sundrop stared back at her, quietly hoping for her to say something. Maybe a 'nothing' or even an 'I don't know', but she didn't say anything.
He waited a little longer before he asked her: ''Do you want to... draw something?''
''Sure.'' She walked over to the tables that stood in the Daycare, and sat down on the ground.
Sundrop grabbed a piece of paper and a blue crayon. He gave the art supplies to Y/N. Y/N took the crayon and proceeded to stare at her piece of paper. Hm, this definitely wasn't good.
''What do you want to draw?'' Sun asked her. Maybe that'd give her enough of a nudge to do something.
Y/N didn't answer him. She stared at the piece of paper in front of her. She didn't even move an inch. Sun didn't understand how she could stay so still- even Moon was programmed with some sort of idle animation as to not unsettle the kids.
''Okay, why don't you... draw a sky?'' He said. ''A sky with clouds, a sun, and a rainbow.''
Y/N looked down at her paper, and started colouring. Sun let out a soft whir of relief. At least he got her to do something, even if it was in a roundabout way. He looked down at his own paper and started drawing the two of them together, holding hands. While drawing, he typed out an email in English to the maintenance man.
''Dear Mr. Jones,
Y/N is doing well. Her grammar functions work excellently and she's able to move like a regular animatronic.
However, I've noticed that she has trouble coming up with her own ideas. When I asked her what she wanted to do, she would stare silently. When I told her to draw something, she'd get ready to draw, but stare at an empty piece of paper until I directed her. This isn't supposed to be part of her programming, right?
In addition, she seems to be having no idle animation. She sits completely still, which is kind of creepy.
I'd appreciate another visit from you tomorrow, perhaps you can fix these issues.
Until tomorrow night!
- Daycare Attendant 1 (Sun / Moon)''
Y/N had drawn a pretty realistic picture of the sky- as far as one could achieve realism with crayons and kid's paper. Sundrop was very impressed! This hadn't even been in Y/N's list of pre-programmed skills! His internal alarm clock told him that it was almost the end of the hour, so he stood up.
''It's almost naptime! I mean- if the children were here, that is.'' Sun chuckled nervously. ''But there's an extra surprise my designers had in store for you! You see... when the lights go out, I change into a whole new person!'' Y/N nodded. ''Now, I don't usually show the children how I swap around my outfits, because that'd spoil the magic! However, you're...'' Sun chuckled. ''You're special. You can see my transformation, but you'll have to promise not to tell any of the children how I do it, okay?''
''Okay.'' Y/N said. ''I promise.''
Sundrop consulted his inner clock. ''Oh, it's almost time! The lights should go out in 3... 2... 1...''
The lights went out. Sun felt his programming switch over to Moon. A small, electrical current was sent over his plating, which turned the yellow and orange paint into blue and white paint. His pants turned inside out, revealing the blue trousers with yellow stars on them. A hatch in his stomach opened, from which the Daycare Attendant grabbed his nightcap. He put it on.
Moon bowed for Y/N. ''Ta da!'' He said.
Y/N clapped for him. Moon noticed she had a round patch of glow-in-the-dark paint on the back and front of each of her hands. Her eyes glowed in the dark, too. She was so elegant, even when the lights were out.
''Although Sun can use his cable to get around, he usually doesn't use it,'' Moon said. ''I use it a lot more to keep an eye on the children from above, so I don't make as much noise while moving around. Come, let's test yours out to see if it works.''
Y/N stood up. ''Okay.''
She called down her rope and attached the hook to her back. Moon did the same, and like he was programmed, he made a swimming motion as he ascended. Y/N more so let the rope pull her upwards, hanging from it like a limp doll. Had the maintenance people not programmed her with an ascending animation? Well, considering she'd stay on the ground most of the time, she didn't need one, but even Sun had one, so why not Y/N? Children would probably find it really unsettling, seeing Y/N getting hoisted up like that. Moon would have to add that to his email to the maintenance man.
''That looks good. Can you also move in the X and Y axis?''
Y/N, while still hanging face-down from the mechanism, moved left and right, front and back. She wasn't even looking at him. How odd.
Moon motioned to Y/N to come join him by his side. ''Come here, I want to show you something.''
Y/N looked up, and slid over to him.
Moon gently pulled Y/N close to him by the waist, and pointed at the entrance above the castle cut-out. ''That's our room,'' he said, ''Above the ballpit. Can you see it?''
''Yes.''
''You can only get up there with the cable mechanism. It used to be my room, but since you've joined, it's our room now. Feel free to go there whenever you please.''
''Okay.''
The night mostly transpired like that. The Daycare Attendant would show Y/N around and teach her some stuff about the Daycare and things she could do to entertain the children. He even showed her all the children's drawings he'd collected, which was a very private stash Sun usually never shared with anyone. At the end of the night, the Pizzaplex opened back up, and one by one, children went down the slide, into the Daycare. Sun greeted a bunch of new children to the Daycare and adopted their names and faces into his database, which he shared with Y/N. She was standing around, introducing herself to the children. Like Sundrop predicted, the children immediately accepted Y/N as the second attendant, and they asked her to play hide-and-seek with them. Of course, she accepted, and covered her eyes as she counted to ten. The children hid in the play structures. Meanwhile, Sundrop was busy helping a few of the more creative children make puppets out of socks and paper bags. The children and him were working on an amazing puppet show together, it was going to be the next hit of the century!
A few children ran to him, some showing signs of distress like furrowed brows and wide eyes. ''Y/N won't let us play in the play structures!'' One of them yelled.
''She's really scary!'' Another exclaimed.
In the distance, Y/N emerged, carrying two children under her arms like some sort of giant who'd just kidnapped a few people. The children under her arms only showed mellow signs of distress like furrowed brows, but they didn't appear terrified. Good.
''Y/N?!'' Sundrop asked in spoken English, ''What're you doing?!''
''The play structures are unsafe,'' she said as she put the children down, ''The children aren't allowed to play in them.'' In an encoded message, she added: ''There are generators in the play structures. Playing close to them could bring great harm. Protecting customers is our first priority.''
She was right- the play structures were potentially dangerous for the children. Sundrop just paid it no mind, because management didn't seem to want to reorganise the Daycare. Besides, the children were playing fine regardless of the generators. Except for that time one of the kids got electrocuted... and that time one of the children got his finger stuck in the generator, and that time a child turned one of the generators off and the lights went out. Other than that, nothing ever went wrong!
...Maybe Y/N had a good point. Sun turned to the children. ''It doesn't matter! We can still have fun without the play structures! Who of you wants to make a puppet show with me?'' Meanwhile, he sent another complaint about the generators to management.
The rest of the day went smoothly as smooth could go. Sundrop would sometimes send Y/N art prompts if the children asked her to draw something, but other than that, she worked like a charm. Especially during naptime, she'd lay on the ground and the children would lay around her, using her like a pillow- as the designers intended. Moon liked to sit on one of the play structures and watch her cuddle with the children. Even though she had her eyes open, she still looked really peaceful when she laid still like that. Moon finished up the email to the maintenance man, adding the occurrence with the play structures and sent it. After the day was over, the maintenance man came over to check up on Y/N.
''I got your email,'' he said, ''Y/N's personality is supposed to be more soothing to complement your outgoing personality, but she's not supposed to be as airheaded as she appears right now.'' He motioned towards Y/N. ''I wrote some code and prepared some adjustments so she can function like normal. Y/N, could you sit down for me, please?''
''Of course, sir.'' Y/N walked over to the maintenance man and sat down in front of one of the kiddie tables.
The maintenance man put a laptop on the table and connected a cable to it. ''This'll be so quick, it's not worth the trouble of taking her to parts and service.'' He connected the cable to the back of Y/N's neck. Her eyes closed. Sundrop wrung his hands. He trusted the maintenance man, but... what if he couldn't fix her? What if she ended up scrapped... because of this malfunction? What if she ended up getting scrapped... because of him? Because Sundrop tattled on her?
''There,'' the maintenance man said, ''Piece of cake.'' Y/N's eyes opened again. ''Y/N,'' the maintenance man asked, ''What would you like to draw?''
She stayed quiet. Just like before, she just stared at the maintenance man.
''Huh, strange,'' he said, ''I must've made a mistake somewhere.'' He typed a little on his laptop. ''I'll retrieve her old software and tinker a bit with the coding at home to try to fix this. As it stands, she's not completely faulty, is she?'' Sundrop shook his head. ''Then it'll be fine if she stays running like this for a week or so. I'll come back once I've found a way to fix the issue.'' The maintenance man removed the cable from Y/N's neck and closed his laptop. ''Don't hesitate to send me another email if you find anymore malfunctions,'' he said, ''Good night, you guys!''
''Good night, Mr. Jones!'' Sundrop said.
''Good night, sir.'' Y/N said.
Sundrop paced around the Daycare. ''I don't understand,'' he muttered to himself, ''What's going on?'' Of course, his mutterings could only be heard as whirring and beeping. Sundrop found the noises of his processors calming, though. ''You'd think that you'd give at least some response, like an 'I don't know' or even a 'processing', but absolutely nothing? That's absurd! And the maintenance man couldn't fix it?''
''Are you worried about something, Sunnydrop?'' Y/N asked in an encoded message, ''You're whirring and beeping.''
''I-'' Would she worry too, if Sun told her what was going on? He didn't want to worry her and further mess up her programming. Then again, maybe not telling her what he was worried about would only worry her more! Besides, Y/N was programmed to be mellow, right? Maybe she could find a way to calm him down. Or, better yet, maybe she could even find a solution! ''You're... not acting like you should be programmed to act,'' he confessed, ''I'm worried about you.''
Y/N stared at him for a couple of seconds. No, she stared next to him. Her eyes had this far away feel to them, as if she wasn't paying attention at all. ''How am I programmed to act?'' She asked.
Sun wrung his hands. ''You're supposed to... you know. When I ask you to do something creative, you're supposed to come up with something- or at least answer me. When you're lifted up by the cable, you're supposed to have an animation, so you don't hang still in the air like that. When the children are playing in the play structures, you're not supposed to take them out!''
Y/N took a good look at him. ''Would that make you happy?'' She asked, ''If I stopped doing those things?''
''...Yes.'' Sundrop confessed. He felt like he was asking her to not be herself.
Y/N nodded. ''Okay. Come, let's go draw things.'' She walked over to the kiddie table and grabbed a piece of paper. In crayon, she started drawing a unicorn.
Sundrop sat down next to her. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that the solution had always been so simple! Why mess with her inner programming if she could just fix it herself? He almost laughed out of relief. As he started to feel much better, Sun grabbed a crayon as well, and drew a portrait of Y/N that said: ''My new best friend!''