Work Text:
You settled your phone back down on the table and sighed.
Another failed attempt at finding a good guard dog for your home, you just couldn't understand it...
"What does a person have to do to get good security around here?" you muttered quietly, glancing around your small kitchen, fear ticking at your spine despite it being the middle of the day.
You still felt uneasy after that unexpected break into your home a few nights ago. You had never had very good nerves, but seeing a stranger creeping around your home in the middle of the night could unsettle anyone.
You still could remember it so vividly...
You had just been sleeping, not heavily, but sleeping. Curled up in your bed.
It was not until you felt a draft that you got up to check to see if you left a window open, as you sometimes did as it got hot during the day. Well, what you had found was an open window, but there had been a person standing next to it...wearing a black mask, you had barely gotten another glimpse of him or her before they quickly excited.
The encounter had been brief but had still chilled you to the bone. You had stood there for at least ten minutes before running back to your bedroom and locking the door behind you. You got no sleep that night, you had been too busy tossing under your sheets, afraid and dreadfully afraid the person was still there. Even when you got up the next morning and found nothing had been touched, you were still afraid it would happen again, even though you lived in an area where thieves were unheard of.
"But all that will change once I find something to guard my house..." you murmured, shaking your head and picking up your phone to scroll through your search engine again, perhaps you would be luckier this time.
You were uncertain though, as you scrolled through the hundreds of profiles and contacts. You wanted something perfect for the job, something that spoke to you and so far nothing was speaking to you.
"House pet...lapdog...kennel dog...farm dog..." you muttered under your breath as you scrolled, tapping your other hand along the table as you glanced about yourself cautiously.
When the shrill sound of your ringtone started shrieking from your phone you nearly jumped out of your skin and dropped it.
"Jeez...just about had a stroke," you breathed to recover yourself as you held the phone to your ear and answered without looking at the person who was calling.
"Hello?" you asked, tapping your fingers again, rather subconsciously.
"Hey, how's my bestie doing on this fine day?" came the joyful voice from the other end.
"Mark? Oh hi, didn't expect you to call today," you replied, breathing a sigh of relief to hear the friendly voice of one of your close friends.
"How's it going? Still shaken up from that attempted robbery?" he asked from the other end, you could hear the concern in his voice but you still answered rather sarcastically:
"Uh, yeah. Having a stranger break into your house in the middle of the night is no pleasure experience," you huffed.
"Heh, I know you never had good nerves on ya, but nothing to worry about. I'm sure that dude won't try to break in again after being caught," Mark said reassuringly.
"I know Mark...but to tell the truth I'm still...scared...I don't feel safe in my own home, I don't know...it's," you sighed as your words trailed off.
"Hey, I got ya, that's why I called! I know you've been looking for a guard dog lately..." Mark let a suspenseful silence follow his words.
"Well? What is it? Did you find me a dog?" you asked excitedly, tapping the table rapidly with your fingers.
"Nope,"
You felt disappointment weigh in your chest.
"I found you something even better,"
Hope sparked in your heart as those lines met your ears, what?
"What did you buy me...some security cameras or something?" you asked.
"No... actually, why haven't you done that already?" Mark asked curiously.
"I don't know Mark, maybe because I would rather have an animal or something. I don't think the neighbourhood would think of me highly if they saw me decking out my house like a spy, that would spark panic or something..."
"Oh,"
Silence.
"So what did you get me, Mark? I'm sick of waiting," you said jokingly, circling back to the original conversation.
"Welp, you know my Gramps had access to that old storage unit on the far side of town?"
"Yeah?" you questioned, persisting Mark to get to the point.
"Well, I was looking through some old junk in there yesterday, and I found an old security robot from that pizzeria that burnt down years ago,"
"You're kidding," you said, this was one of Mark's jokes wasn't it? Who would leave an old robot lying around, especially something that had been a part of that business?
"I know, crazy right? The little fellows a little beat up, but surprisingly in good shape after surviving a fire, it's even kind of cute looking," replied Mark, laughing at your appalled sighs as you listened to his words, ok, maybe he wasn't joking...
"Mark, you know Freddy's was a cursed place right? Weren't there rumours of dead kids or something? Is it a good idea to use one of their old robots as a guard dog?" you riddled Mark's idea with questions.
"Look, I'm just telling you, I found a harmless robot that was programmed specifically for guarding people, its name is 'Security Puppet' after all! If you don't want it, that's fine, it'll probably go to the scrapyard anyway..."
You didn't reply, you bit your lip and thought. You heard Mark asking if you were still there, but you ignored him, you had to think.
What's better, possibly never finding a good guard dog? Or using an old robot from a possible haunted pizzeria....?
"You're sure this thing isn't dangerous? Have you...turned it on?" you asked finally after a few minutes.
"I'm taking it to my Gramps today, he used to work with those old... animatronic things or whatever you call them, if you want it I'll get him to look it over! I'm sure the thing is perfectly safe as well, looks like it only alerts ya if there's danger, I doubt it has knife hands or whatever," Mark replied, laughing.
"Okay, sure, if you could do that for me that would be great, thanks Mark," you said gratefully.
"Sure thing, and if you don't like it we'll take it back, I'm sure there's some collector out there who would want something as weird as it,"
"What does it look like?" you asked, noting Mark saying 'weird'.
"Ah, well, nothing like I've ever seen...I'll bring it over tomorrow and you'll see. Can you survive one more night for me?" asked Mark teasingly.
"Shut up, yeah I can, see you tomorrow," you said good-naturedly.
After the two of you had said your goodbyes, you set your phone down and sank into your chair, sighing happily.
"Well, maybe tomorrow I can finally sleep peacefully again..." you said, smiling.
That night wasn't very eventful. True, you once again locked yourself in your bedroom and put a pan on your bedside table...just in case...but at least you slept a little easier knowing that the next day you would be getting your security robot...
........
The loud, rhythmic knocking on the door nearly made you drop the glass of water you were carrying to the kitchen the next morning. Quickly setting it down on the table beside your leftover lunch, you ran to the door, hoping it was the person you were expecting...
Mark's bubbly expression met your eyes as you opened the door to the young, blond-haired male.
"Hi Mark, please tell me you have what I think you have...?" you laughed, giving him a quick friendly shoulder hug before he had a chance to talk.
"You betcha I do! Hold on... it's a little shy..." Mark moved aside and you realized that something had been hiding behind his back this entire time.
There, standing in the middle of your walkway...was the strangest-looking security robot you had ever seen.
It was decently tall, like I mean DECENTLY tall, nearly as tall as Mark, and he was a tall guy.
You looked at its white face (up at its face) to see it was very round looking, with a line going straight down between its black hollow eyes like its face could split open and in those hollow eyes, each had a bright yellow pupil peering at you from the dark depths. Two blue stripes led from its eyes down its red cheeks, like tears, the rest of its body wasn't nearly as colourful, but strange nonetheless, from the waist down it was incredibly slim, with striped arms and legs, and little pointed feet. Its black mouth seemed to be stuck in a permanent grin, and it smiled at you effortlessly as you eyed it.
"It's...interesting to say the least..." you said slowly looking it up and down, feeling slightly uncomfortable under its yellow stare.
"Don't worry, the little fellow is just a bit nervous, it did survive a fire," Mark said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Little? This thing doesn't look little to me, Mark," you said jokingly, but you were trying to hide the uneasiness in your voice as you tried to stand up straight to the silent animatronic, smiling at it weakly.
"Shhh, it can hear you y'know," Mark whispered, crossing his arms as he winked at the robot.
To your surprise, it raised its arm to wave at you slightly with three-black fingers, and you waved hesitantly back.
"See? It's friendly, and we tried fixing it up as well, even though there aren't any parts in existence for its type of model anymore, we did fix some burnt spots, and gave it a paint job," Mark gave you an exaggerated thumbs up.
"And...it works?" you asked quietly, staring at the black-and-white animatronic.
"Well, we don't know that yet..." replied Mark sheepishly "Can we come inside? I have a feeling your neighbours are going to start to stare..."
"Yeah, uh, come on in," you said hurriedly, suddenly feeling acutely aware that other people passing by would find it odd to see a skinny robot standing on your driveway.
You stepped aside to let Mark in, and he gently grabbed the Security Puppet by the hand, leading it into your house as you shut the door behind you three.
"So...um, so, anything else I need to know about this thing before you leave it with me...?" you asked, clasping your hands behind your back as you faced Mark.
He let go of the puppet's hand and patted it lightly on the back.
"Well, don't think so. I haven't spent too much time with it myself, but we left it on all of last night at my house, and all it did was stand near the door, just staring at it. I'd say you have a pretty good watchdog on your hands," Mark winked.
"Alright, should I turn it off during the day...or...because I assume it doesn't talk, right?" you asked curiously.
"Not from what I've seen, it hasn't uttered a word since we turned it on, but it's acted friendly enough, so I suppose you're good to go," Mark said assuringly.
"Alright, well I'll call you up later and update you then," you said, shaking Mark's hand "Thanks Mark,'
"No problem, I gotta go do some more chores around town, but when I'm done I'll phone ya up, take care of 'er buddy!" Mark said, heading for the door and calling one last time to the puppet before leaving.
Well, that left you two in silence as you listened to Mark's vehicle drive away, and you glanced back at the security robot.
"Well, uh, welcome to my home! Feel free to wander around if you like..." you said quietly, smiling, and spreading your hands around to express it was free to roam the space.
It stared at you for a few more minutes, then slightly bent its head to one side, and circled a little bit, like it was scanning the space, and you didn't notice up to this point that it had a little black and white whisp protruding from the back of its head, kind of like a jester hat, a yellow bulb was attached to the very end of it. Huh, what a weird design choice, but you guessed it was kind of neat in its way.
Without thinking you reached out to touch it, standing on your tip-toes to lightly punt your fingers at it.
Security Puppet twirled around rather quickly to look at you again, still smiling, and you smiled back awkwardly.
"Uh, sorry, keep doing your thing," you said, walking around it to go back to your kitchen. You weren't surprised when you heard it silently following you from behind, this thing was meant to protect you right? No wonder it was following you.
You sat down back to your glass of water and leftover lunch, trying to think of what to do next. The puppet stood beside the table and looked around, twirling on its tips, all the while keeping half an eye on you, making you feel a little weird...but at the same time, it was kind of comforting...it did seem friendly enough.
"Do you have a name buddy? Or girlie...I suppose, is it just Security Puppet?" you asked quietly, tapping your fingers gently on the table.
It stopped turning to nod to you quickly, its yellow eyes blinking as if to say 'yes'.
"Ok,'' you tapped your fingers on the table again and bit your lip. You knew you probably didn't have to talk to it...but it felt a little weird having someone in your home and not communicating with it, even if it wasn't human, and you couldn't help feeling a little curious about it.
"You can speak at all? No offence..." you asked, leaning over the table to rest your chin in your palms.
It didn't nod its head, but it didn't shake it either, just stood there staring at you.
"Ok, um, sorry, I'm just really curious, I've never been in the company of an animatronic before, I kind of missed out on the entire 'Freddy's' thing, you know, the place where you're from? Did you guard the kids or something there? I heard of a lot of accidents that happened there, although I never knew if the rumours were true or not..." while you were speaking you noticed it tilting its head at your words, in a way that you could only describe as being 'uncomfortable', it's yellow lights dilating when you mentioned kids.
"What, are they true?" you asked, leaning forward interested, what if this thing still had a memory of that place?
The puppet looked at you uncomfortably, and turned its head away, folding its long striped arms tightly against its side, the bulb on the end of its hat jumping around a bit at your question.
"Sorry, I know you can't talk. What am I even doing...trying to talk to a robot? Just let it do its job..." you muttered the last sentence to yourself, getting up again and holding a palm to your head.
Sighing, you put away your dishes, and as you filled the sink with bubbly water you were aware of the puppet watching you the entire time as you washed each dish, one after the other.
For a little while your mind drifted off, and when you finally put the last dish away and turned around to fetch a cloth to wipe your hands off you nearly yelped when that puppet was standing right behind you, how'd it sneak up like that?!
It stepped away slightly at your outburst, raising a three-fingered hand like it expected you to do something.
"Sorry buddy didn't see you," you reassured it, taking in a few steady breaths, trying to calm the beating of your heart.
It lowered its hand and tilted its head again. Those glowing eyes softly bore into you as they stood there silently.
Feeling a little awkward you stepped around it again to make your way to the bathroom, to no surprise you heard it tip-toeing after you as you made your way to the smaller room in your house.
"I'll be out in a minute, ok pal? How about you go...secure the house or something?" you asked as you prepared to close the door after stepping into the bathroom. You saw it nod slightly as you shut the door and you sighed a breath of relief, at least that would keep it busy for a while.
When you got out after you finished your business, you were surprised to find it was still busy, as it wasn't waiting outside the door for you.
In fact...it wasn't anywhere to be found...
"Security Puppet?" you called, looking around, where could it be?
You decided to check the kitchen first, nope, not there, living room? Nope...not there either.
Worry started to churn in your stomach as you quickly went through your house, checking the garage, the closets, and lastly your bedroom.
You sighed a breath of relief when you opened the door to find it in the room but not what you were expecting. To your immense surprise, it had seemingly found a discarded box you had left on your bedroom floor after taking out the contents of a package. To your even greater surprise, it was sitting in it, rather contentedly as well, arms on the edge of the box, while its legs were crisscrossed apple sauce. It looked rather startled when you entered, but didn't move from its position in the box, staring up at you happily.
"Huh, you like boxes, eh fella?" you laughed, bending down.
It nodded, tapping its fingers rapidly along the ridge of the box, the bulb attached to its head bobbing.
"Well...I was going to throw that out, but you can have it if you like," you say, patting it gently on the head.
It nodded rapidly, snuggling its face against your palm in thanks.
"Ok you a funny thing, I guess you can stay in it for now, I got to go out for a little while anyhow, do you mind staying here keeping a lookout?" you giggled, looking it in the eyes.
It hesitantly looked at you, like it didn't want you to leave, although you guessed it just didn't want you getting out of its extending sight.
"I'll be back, don't worry! Just hand tight," you said "Pinky promise," you held out your palm again, extending your pinkie.
You then inwardly hit yourself when it just looked at you questionly.
"It's like a promise, a promise that I'll be back," you explained.
It gave a nod of realization and extended its arm to link one of its needle-like fingers with yours.
"Right, I'll be back buddy," you said, getting up again. You left without locking the bedroom door, you were sure it would be ok on its own for a little while...
S-Puppet's POV
(**Authors note: This is my first time writing from a different character's point of view, just a heads up! :)**)
The slam of the door was the last thing it heard as you left the house, it scrambled to its feet quickly, easily stepping out of the box to peer out of your bedroom window, hoping to catch a glimpse of you before you left, but you had already gone...
It felt its protective programming stirring within its system, a force that made its very being stirred with anxiousness as it stared out of your window, and if it could breathe it would have had bated breath while awaiting your appearance. Despite the promise you had made, the absence you left in this strange new building was etched in its mind, as much as its natural curiosity did.
Why it had been given a second chance at life it didn't know, or at least as close to life as a robot like it could. The last memory it had was of that dreadful fire, animatronics, both human and not screaming as the flames licked higher and higher at the building, engulfing everyone and everything in its greedy warmth...
Security Puppet stared out the window, even more fearfully than before, those memories reminded it how it couldn't fail to protect you, not like how it had failed to protect everyone else...oh, but how it had tried...it had tried so hard. Tried to save those that had become its masters, those who had locked themselves behind closed doors, blocking it out, refusing it's pleading banging's as it tried, so desperately tried to do its job correctly.
Everything in its programming had been obliterated that day. How it had made it out without being burnt to a crisp it didn't remember. However, the faces of all the others still haunted it...a constant reminder of how it failed...that's why it had, had to make sure its new place with this human worked, to make sure they were protected against any threat...this time no one would be dying on its careful watch.
It replayed Mark's words again and again in its mind:
"Take care of them, take care of them, take care of them..."
Oh, it would be taking care of you, if one thing was certain, it would take care of you...
Your POV:
When you finally entered your house again carrying the bags of your errands you nearly bumped into S-Puppet standing directly in front of the door, like it had been waiting there for awhile.
"Sorry there buddy, could you close the door?" you asked, getting over your surprise, and jerking your neck towards the door as you walked to the kitchen. As you set your earnings down on the table you heard the tell-tale click of the door being shut and the puppet was once again beside you again, watching you as you put things away.
"Everything ok while I was gone?" you asked, smiling. It was almost like having a dog funny enough, that buddy waiting patiently for you to get home every day, watching you...except this one nodded to your questions eagerly, those bright dandelion eyes blinking at you like you had been gone for hours.
"You know, you were not what I was expecting at all for a robot...you almost human in a way..." you said thoughtfully, crossing your arms and looking it up and down again, smiling to yourself, perhaps you were in good hands...but you had to see how tonight would go.
It tilted its head a bit, side-to-side at your words, but still, it smiled, raising its hand in front of you, extending one of its black fingers.
You looked at it, a little confused.
It pointedly looked at your fingers, motioning to its hand.
"Uh..." you raised your finger again, realizing it wanted to do the pinkie promise thing again, and you linked your pinkie with its skinny finger.
"What do you want me to promise you buddy?" you asked curiously, knowing it couldn't respond.
Or maybe it could...a moment later you heard a paper-thin whispery voice, you weren't even sure if it was coming from the puppet, but you heard the words.
"This is my promise to you...I will keep you safe, no matter what..."
You blinked, and shook your head slightly, feeling like you had imagined it, but that puppet was looking at you with such sincerity...you had a feeling...
"Thanks, buddy," you smiled, shaking its hand in a handshake, to which it kindly obliged despite probably not knowing what it meant.
The rest of the short afternoon passed by rather uneventful with your new robot friend, most of it spent with you sitting on the couch, looking at your phone, while keeping an eye on the puppet as much as it did for you.
Most of the time you spent was googling online to see when the last kind of its making was manufactured, but you couldn't find anything. The model must be impressively unique, and unheard of.
You mumbled quietly as you thought, rubbing a hand across your forehead as you scrolled.
"Well, you're one of a kind, aren't you?" you asked jokingly, finally setting your phone down on the coffee table to look at it again.
The puppet (whom you assumed had been standing there the entire time observing you) tilted its head at you again, smiling. I guess you weren't getting any answers about its origins from the being itself, maybe even it didn't know.
"Well... it's starting to get dark out there...I better get ready for bed," you murmured half to yourself, glancing at one of your windows. It was starting to dim in the room as the natural light slowly started to fade, and that familiar fear ticked your spine as the shadows started to grow longer around objects in your living room, casting their darkness onto your face.
Hurriedly getting up, you switched on the lights, enlightening the room once more.
"Ok...calm...don't forget you have a security robot with you tonight," you breathed softly, collecting your nerves.
"Alright," you spun around, clasping your hands to look at the puppet once more "I'm going to go get ready, and then we'll set you up for the night, ok?"
The puppet didn't answer but vigorously nodded, seeming a little on edge from your frantic scramble, as it silently stepped closer to you as you spoke.
You nodded justifiably and quickly went to prepare yourself for the night ahead.
......
"Ok buddy, here you go..." you said enthusiastically, setting the box down.
You had grabbed the box from upstairs and sat it down near the window in which you had seen the robber infiltrate, only a room away from your bedroom.
You decided the best way to make sure the robot stayed in one place all night, would be to give it the best thing it liked, which in this case was a box.
"Okay, so, you can stay in the box and guard the house tonight, sound good?" you asked, watching the puppet joyfully settle down in the box.
It nodded happily, tapping its fingers along the box.
"Alright, see you tomorrow then..." you said, turning towards your bedroom.
Your hand reached for the knob to your bedroom and you glanced one more time behind you.
Nothing but darkness...but you knew those dandelion eyes were watching where you had gone...waiting...watching.
Maybe you could finally fall asleep peacefully tonight.
**S-Puppets POV**
It had heard the words, it only had one objective, stay and guard...but still...
It peeked out of its box to see where you had disappeared off to, but nothing could be seen in the dark except for the soft glow that came from its yellow eyes.
Nervousness pricked its functions, a familer feeling, the same as the one it had felt that afternoon.
Stay there and guard.
Stay there and guard.
Stay there and guard.
S̸̯͗t̸͕̅͜ȁ̶͙̦̚y̷̩̝͘̕ ̴̩̏͐t̵͎͒͋h̶̡͝e̷͎̒r̸̭̔é̴͖̹ ̷̧̝͗͂a̴̺̭͊̿n̶̹̄̽d̸̯͗̈́ ̷̜̱̀͘g̶̨̟͌u̷̻̰͊a̵̳͊̏r̸̩̒d̴̨̩̽.̴̨̓̓.̸̭̯͆
S̴̙̯͈̗͙̭͍̯̘̭̦̪͓̮̫͔͓̑́͛̓̈̓͆̂̀̍̑̆͘͝t̷͇̟͇̅͋̓̓a̸̢̢̢͇̩͔͓̫̙̗̋̔̓͒́̏̂͗̈́̐̿̿͂̏̾̚̕ͅͅͅy̴̡̭̮̭̠̮͔̠̜̬̘̻̪̪̠̼̿̄͂̒̈́̀̐̍̂̓̓̚̕̚͠͠͝ͅ ̵̢̛̳̺͖̮̤̮̱́̀̇̈́͗̎̓̓̆̌̍̌̆̀̕͜͜͠t̵̡̢̼̤͓͖̥̞̯̣͖̠̰͇̗̩͛̅͒̐͆̌̋̓̉͌̏̋̀̒̕h̵͉̰̭̹̰̪̗̱̪̦͎̳̩̞̮̠͐̂́͗̔̉̒͆͋̂̈́̒̓̎̋̔̕ę̵̗̞͔̙͇̦̫͍̤͖̹̥̞̬̮̿̊̇͊̃͋̊͜ř̸̡̺̬̩͚͉̲̻̣̙̃̃͆͌͊̌̇́̐̕̕͝ȩ̴̨̺̭͈̝̥̳̼̠̹͕̄̄̏̀̕͠ͅ
It blinked, glancing around again.
No sounds.
No signs of harm.
Nothing.
It wouldn't hurt to check up on them, would it?
Getting up slowly the puppet let its long legs tip out of the box, snagging at the edge of the hard cardboard as it took a few hesitant steps towards where you had disappeared, sure, it was disobeying its commands, but the urge to check and make sure you were ok filled it with determination as it silently walked towards your bedroom. Its glowing eyes lit up the dark spaces as it went, finally finding the door that you were behind.
It reached out a three-fingered hand to settle on the doorknob, to find it was locked.
You had locked yourself in.
Memoires flooded its servos, like those people from such a long time ago...you had locked yourself in, it was blocked off from you...there was no way to get to you.
Concern flashed in its yellow pupils, what if something had happened to you and you were unable to unlock the door?! What if there was somebody in there with you!? What if...
It lightly shook the knob, then harder, and harder. Until it heard the sharp snap of one of its fingers breaking.
When it held up its arm one of the black claws had been cleanly snapped in half in an attempt to open it, sparks sizzling from the harsh break, that made it shiver inwardly at the warmth the sparks generated.
That wouldn't deter it though...
Unlike the others it failed to save, it would get to you.
**Your POV**
You had to admit, you had fallen asleep quicker than you had anticipated, darkness quickly swallowing you up into its comforting hands until you felt like those sleepless nights had been a horrible nightmare.
When sleep finally entirely engulfed you nothing but silence met your mind as you slipped into a dreamless sleep, unaware of anything as you slept blissfully unaware of the doings of the puppet you had left on guard, after all, you assumed it was doing its job.
Well, you were half-right at least...
The first thing that woke you up from your deep sleep was the sound of a window being sharply opened and glass shattering from the corner of your room. Panic immediately replaced your drowsiness as you struggled to sit up, and cold sweat poured down your neck as you desperately scanned your room in the dark, and your hand fumbled frantically for your bedside table as you struggled to turn the lamp on.
No sound except your panicked breaths echoed in the small space as you heard someone shifting across the room, surely making their way towards you as you wasted each precious second trying to find any source of light to see your attacker.
Finally, you let out one terrified scream as you felt something immediately reach forward and touch you from the side of your bed.
You squeezed your eyes shut, expecting pain, the stab of a knife, anything at all. But nothing happened...at least, you felt no aggression from who was there. In fact, after a few seconds, you felt a cold presence press itself against your shivering form, rather gently in fact.
Fear still ran through your veins as you raised your shaking hands to softly feel against whatever was snuggling against you and what you felt brought a striking realization to your mind.
A soft fabric with a bulb attached to it.
It was the Security Puppet!
"What...are....what happened?" you whispered, reaching over your other hand to feel around for the lamp again, when you finally found the switch a soft glow filled the room as you activated the weak light of your bedside lamp.
Sure enough, the black and white puppet had seemingly climbed onto your bed and shoved itself rather close to you, burrowing its head in your chest and clinging at your sides with its hands...or what was left of them.
"Buddy...what happened? Did somebody...break in?" you asked softly, fear etching in your voice as you looked at one of its hands to see two fingers broken and sparking at the tips. Did somebody try to hurt it? Were they still here?!
It looked up at you with those yellow orbs and shook its head quickly, tightening its grip on you as it observed your frightened expression. To your surprise it looked afraid itself, eyes darting about anxiously.
"How'd you even get in here?" you asked, squinting to the other side of your room to see that the window had been broken into, presumably, shattered glass littered the ground, and you could even see the other half of one of its fingers laying on the ground, illuminated by the soft moonlight filtering in through the now drafty hole in your wall.
Shock rippled through your limbs, and your fingers tightened into fists as you stared at the damaged puppet looking up at you like your life had been in danger or something.
"Why? Just why?" you asked in disbelief.
It just stared at you, smiling, but you couldn't help those yellow eyes were more afraid looking than it was letting on...
You sighed deeply, not sure how to feel about the situation. You felt angry, yes, but the way it was staring at you with such sincerity made you almost feel sorry for it in a way.
"Hey, it's ok... let's just take a few seconds to breathe..." you said quietly, patting it gently on the head, to which it responded with a relieved grip on your arms.
"It's ok, let's take a look at you ok?" you said, making your way out of bed with the puppet still hanging onto you. You picked it up and placed it on the bed right across from you.
"Let me see your hands," you said, holding out your palm.
The robot put a damaged claw in yours and you winced at the damage, turning its hand over carefully with your fingers.
"I'm sure Mark will know how to fix this, and I'll have to get him to fix that window as well...and maybe the front door if you did what I think you did," you grumbled, glancing at the broken mess of glass.
The puppet looked guilty if anything, and you sighed again.
"Guess you're going to have to stay in my bedroom from now on," you finished, shaking your head in amusement. This wasn't how you expected the night to go...but at least nobody had broken into your home.
You ruffled the top of its head again, and it looked happier than it did a moment ago at your words.
"Alright...I guess I'll call Mark up...'' you muttered reluctantly, sleepiness pulling at your eyelids again now that the excitement was over, but the damage had been done and you had to deal with it now.
That was before the puppet grasped your arm as you got up pointing at your bed when you looked at it questionly.
"Buddy, I gotta fix this mess...as much as I would love to go back to sleep..."
It tugged on your arm harder until you were sitting on your mattress again.
"Let me guess, you're not going to let me go call Mark, are you?" you chuckled sleepily as the puppet got up and patted your arm reassuringly.
The prospect of sleep was pretty tempting...but was the damaged puppet even in the right working order to guard for the rest of the night? Not to mention the broken window...
Security Puppet evidently knew what you were thinking, as it pushed you into your bed, not harshly though, and pointed to itself and then to the window.
You shook your head not understanding, the puppet shook its head and went to stand next to the window, its yellow eyes twinkling as it nodded at you.
"I don't know bud..." you said, guessing it meant it would guard the broken window all night...you hesitated. The cool air drifting in wasn't too cold, it was rather refreshing actually, and you were pretty sleepy...
"Alright you little bugger, I'll buy it. But we're getting you fixed first thing in the morning you smiled, perhaps you would be questioning your decision later, but the lack of sleep lately was making the prospect of sleeping through the rest of the night peacefully just too good to ignore.
In no time at all you were drifting off again, tucked underneath your blankets, knowing those warm eyes were keeping watch, making sure you were safe, and well.
It came to no surprise that sometime later you felt a presence very close to yours as the puppet once again wandered over again to snuggle up to you, but you were too tired to stop its antics.
You probably wouldn't have stopped it anyway.
Life was going to be very different from now on that's for sure.