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One idea led to another and Bloodmoon found themself in the Pizzaplex despite being warned not to enter. They assumed the turkey wouldn't be around. They saw her leave out the front doors a few hours ago, yelling and groaning about something they couldn't pick up on and were honestly too scared to listen much to.
But she returned right when Bloodmoon was just started to have fun! They had been chasing a few of the animatronics around the massive mall, all laughing maniacally while their prey screamed for mercy. Screamed for help. It made Bloodmoon's circuits twist and pull in joy. The opossum was the most fun. She screamed the loudest. She ran the fastest.
But that fun quickly stopped when a familiar and very angry voice shrilled through the entire mall. Bloodmoon froze, letting the opossum run away.
“WHY ARE YOU ALL SO LOUD!! UGH!!”
Panic set into Bloodmoon. They didn't want to get beat up again. To be targeted by someone that even made Papa Eclipse surrender.
In the search, Bloodmoon noticed the pathway to the daycare being the closest. Surely the turkey wouldn't go there. She seems like the type who'd hate kids. She wouldn't be near them, let alone somewhere well-known for having them.
Bloodmoon booked it down the hallway, the bell on their cloak hood jingling with each heavy step.
When they reached the main entrance, the turkey's voice grew louder. Angry. They heard the opossum close behind the turkey, explaining what happened and wondering where the turkey went. The spike of overreacting sensors led to them tripping and stumbling down the slide. Their smaller body let Bloodmoon roll through the slide with relative ease.
The first think to meet them was plastic spheres of all kinds of various colors and saturations. Bloodmoon gasped when their head broke to the surface of the pit, as if coming up from being underwater. They pulled themself up and scanned the daycare. They hadn't been in here before, rarely even heard of it aside from the occasional annoyed grumbles of Papa Eclipse after one of his ideas were foiled. Bloodmoon wants to help him more. They just don't know how.
They miss him.
And they're hungry.
It took a bit of a struggle before they managed to escape the terrifying clutches of the spherical pit. It was weak and couldn't keep them contained! They were unstoppable!!
“Chica, please-”
“No! That pest will pay!”
Not unstoppable. Very much stopable.
Bloodmoon scrambled over the foam wall around the pit, falling faceplate first onto the colorful mats of the floor with a “THUNK!” and a groan of pain.
They had to find somewhere to hide. To not be seen. They don't want to know how angry the turkey is.
The daycare was huge. Massive structures that climb and bend all around the room. Some led to slides, some led to stairs, some led to odd looking machines. Cartoon versions of a sun and moon character along with all types of patterns and mats litter the area.
Bloodmoon scaled up one of the walls like a racoon. They scanned around the bright room for anything of use.
Far too little red.
Very little red.
Yes, they need better decorators.
In the haste of searching, Bloodmoon noticed a figure near the front doors of the daycare. They had their back turned to the vampiric animatronic, but Bloodmoon could see a blurry clipboard in their hands. They were talking to the air. Very weird.
What caught Bloodmoon’s attention was the spikes along the stranger's head. Not as tall or dark orange, but similar by all other accounts. The stranger was opposite to Eclipse; one sarcastic and bitter while the other was warm and almost inviting. Watching the spikes on the stranger's head twitch with each perceived thought. Bloodmoon wanted to…needed to know who they were
They carefully approached the stranger, making sure to stay out of sight.
A predatory hunting.
Meanwhile Sun hummed in clear uneasiness as he read over the clipboard again. “Why do we need so much beetroot?? Is it like, a girl thing??”
Moon on the other side of the call sighed. “I dunno. Chica was throwing a fit about how she needed more since the whole town is running low. Something about how it ‘cleans out the digestive system and makes her less stuffy’ from what I gathered from her call.” When repeating the chicken's words, Moon made sure to sound as sarcastically disinterested as robotically possible.
“But… we don't- we don't have digestive systems??? We're robots??"
“Don't worry about it.” Moon groaned. His eyeroll very audible. “Just be out front when the truck comes and have them move it all to the pizza shop for now. It's closed for repairs so we can use it for storage until we find out what to do with it.”
Sun’s grip on the clipboard tightened. He barely heard the pattering approaching.
“What if it all rots before we can use it??? How do you even store this much beetroot?? Do we need to buy another freezer, or a pantry??! What if…what if there's rats, Moon!! Sneaky little rats who only crave beetroot! Oh, those sly vermin who's stop at nothing t-”
“Sun.”
“The rats, Moon!!”
“I'll be back in less than…” Moons voice moved away, muffling for a minute. “less than ten minutes. There's no rats in the Pizzaplez, let alone ones that could get to supply that fast.”
Sun hesitated, rays shifting back and forth. “Okay…”
Moon made a vague promise of going the fastest he can before the call ended, leaving Sun alone in the silence. He always hated silence. Left with nothing but his constantly racing thoughts.
But Sun can do this! He's greeted delivery people before, plenty of times even! While Moon was typically present with it, he didn't do much unless whatever was being delivered caught his attention. Which was hard in itself. His moon counterpart had just as bad of an attention span as Sun himself. Moon was just better at pretending that he doesn't.
Sun just has to stay confident! Put on his child-friendly smile and bounce in his step and everything should be fiiiiine!
Nothing can ruin it!
Not even the sudden weight collapsing onto Sun’s head and small hands grabbing at his rays! Not even th-
Wait. .
Sun stumbled at the weight pushing onto his frame out of nowhere but thankfully held himself up. He couldn't fully make out what it was, but heard them talk to themself. And then respond to themself.
“Umm. H-Hi! Who are yo- Ow ow ow ow-!!” The strange body pulled at his rays, setting off his pain receptors.
“Feels the same.” One voice spoke.
“Indeed. But not the same.” Another voice countered in a different tone.
“Stop!! Hey!!” Sun frantically reached to grab whoever was on his head, their legs locked around his neck.
The delivery was forgotten for a moment as Sun kept trying to grab the strange body. He didn't want to hurt them. Or to scare them. But he also couldn't leave them on his head! What if they accidentally led him to trip? Then they could injure themself! Oh that wouldn't be good!!
“You stop, imposter!”
“Imposter??” Sun stopped panicking for a moment. He tried his best to angle his vision up to get a good look at his current head accessory. “What are you talking about?”
The being snarled. “You're pretending to be him!! Even look like him!!”
“We should kill you.”
“Ohhooh we should!”
Sun stumbled again when the stranger began to pull harshly at his rays. It actually wasn't too aggressive considering how small they were compared to Sun. Sun’s been grabbed by stronger, pedicured nails.
The commotion busied Sun to where he didn't hear the front doors open and two figures stare. The girls really weren't sure what to make of the scene.
“Uhh, Sun?” Roxanne began before Chica pushed the wolf aside, be it not as harsh as she would others, and stormed over to where Sun stood. Fists on her hips and a glare in her eyes.
Bloodmoon noticed Chica first. Their attack stopped and they instead clung to Suns's head with wide eyes and a whine escaping their voice box.
“I told you not to come back!! Ugh!” Chica attempted to grab Bloodmoon. But with no avail since she still as smaller than Sun, even in his shrunken down form. That paired with Bloodmoon hissing and moving out of her reach left nothing but an awkward scene.
At one point, Bloodmoon clung tight enough to Sun that it triggered his daycare sense. Like a child holding so dearly into him mixed with the scared posture and tone. Sun instinctively straightened up, expanding the distance to where Chica couldn't do anything.
Three sets of eyes watched the daycare attendant's eyes seemingly switch to appear more friendly. “Okay, no more pulling!” Sun huffed and looked up to Bloodmoon, who growled but released their grip enough to only hold on out of height. “I don't know who you are..you look a bit like Moon… but I have a job to do sooo, let's sort this out!!” He said with a surprised confidence. Even Chica was confused.
Suns's gaze then fell to the chicken, who rolled her eyes. “Why exactly are you trying to attack them?”
Chica clicked her tongue and pointed a perfectly manicured finger at the smaller animatronic, who hissed in response. “Be-cause! That little creature stole all the beetroot in town! Then tried to act sooOOo tough. Then they met me.” She finished with an imaginary hair flip. Her feathers weren't long enough to actually flip.
Roxanne approached Chica’s side with a brow raised, only to get a “Hmph!” back.
“We need beetroot more! Much more than the selfish turkey!! ”
“SELFISH???”
Sun lifted a hand to flick what he assumed was Bloodmoon’s nose. The cloaked animatronic whined again.
“How about uhmm. Well, Moon had a shipment of beetroot coming in, how about you two.. I dunno, share it? He talked to Bryce about some ‘knowing a guy named Steven who gets the goods’ so there should be plenty!”
“Oh, I met Steven before! He has a warehouse up in Iceland and offered to give tours. Super nice guy!” Roxanne spoke as her tail swished slightly.
“Exactly!! Soooo, I'm sure we can talk to him and get it split evenly so you both can be happy.”
Chica and Bloodmoon were quiet. Both thinking.
Then they agreed. Mostly on Bloodmoon’s side since Chica didn't bother making a vocal response outside from twirling her wrist in the air as a sign to continue the conversation.
The walk to the main doors was as uncomfortably silent as assumed. Roxanne kept looking at Bloodmoon with suspicion. She stuck to Chica’s right while Sun carried a bit further that the girls, staying on the chicken's left. Bloodmoon clung themself to Sun’s shoulders as a sole safe space and shot raspberries at Chica despite flinching whenever she so much as looked at them.
The truck pulled up right as the group got to the front. The driver didn't question why a small crowd greeted them, instead asking for a signature and calling a few helpers to move in the rather large amounts of boxed beetroot. Half of the group were sure that they'd never seen that much of one vegetable in their lives. Roxanne offered to lead them so Sun could keep an eye on the vampiric animatronic and chicken. He already is a babysitter to actual children, he isn't supposed to be one to his coworkers.
Chica and Sun helped the delivery men bring everything in to the best of their abilities, be it pushing a cart or carrying boxes themselves. And either out of wanting to keep the smaller out of trouble or not caring much, Bloodmoon was allowed to stay on Suns's shoulders and free from helping. Their chin rested atop Suns's head and their hands hung on the sides of his faceplates.
Sun was... warm. A living heater that melted their wiring.
They wondered if Papa Eclipse was the same way.
“They're actually kind of cute when not.... you know... trying to kill and stab us.” Roxanne gave a hesitant smile. The same animatronic that was chasing her down only an hour or so ago seemed so different from the one atop her coworker's head. She wasn't sure if she should worry about it or not. Still... she'll have to ask Chica to send her the few pictures she's seen her coworker secretly take. So much for hating everyone.
Chica's feathers puffed out when asked about it by Roxanne. Any movers around instantly flinched away by Chica's annoyed yells at the giggling wolf.
With a smile and thank you, Sun thanked all the movers and driver once everything was set up. All the boxes left little to no room to actually move around the back of the pizzapizzapizza shop. Containers stacked high enough to nearly touch the celling. It worried the attendant a bit on how wobbly a few of the stacks were. Surely it'll be okay. At least until everything can be sorted out.
"We crave beetroot... Do not trust the turkey."
Sun flinched, forgetting the animatronic on his head for a moment. He wouldn't touch them, they snarled and snipped when he tried to reach up. So, Sun took the nearest box at his side and pulled hard to open its top. Some of its contents nearly spilling out from the force of yanking the nails out.
As soon as the vegetable collection came into light, Bloodmoon's eyes went wide. They let go of Sun, leaning enough to fall and land on the box. A haven.
Sun chuckled as Bloodmoon shoved several beetroots in their mouth at once. They even stabbed a few of them with their rather long claws. Sun kinda wished he had a pair of his own. But he would struggle to keep kids safe. He vaguely heard Chica call the vampiric animatronic an "impatient nuisance" before indulging into another opened crate herself, being just as messy of an eater. Sun didn't realize he essentially was a living wall to keep Chica and Bloodmoon separated both physically and sight wise. A break in the tension to stop any fights or arguments that might happen, and towering ever so much over both of them, which added to his living wall image.
A shoulder tap by Roxanne drew Sun's eyes away from Bloodmoon. The wolf checking an opened compartment in her arm. Something that Moon began to test out in hopes of being able to also message coworkers instead of calls and voicemails. Roxanne offered to test it first, even if her and Moon were on weirdly, and sometimes hostile terms at times. Those times being mostly when Sun was around the two of them for some reason. "Moon said he's almost here. What do we do about them?" She motioned to the box in front of Sun at the assumed smaller animatronic.
"Ah.. Hmmm." Sun's rays shifted silently in thought. "Maybe Moon would understand? If he's willing to listen. We just have to-"
Sun suddenly panic yelled when a half-eaten and very cold beetroot bonked him on the side of his faceplate. The sight also startling Roxanne. Chica didn't care.
Bloodmoon cackled at the reactions. While Sun and Roxanne were distracted talking, Bloodmoon had hauled the box they were eating from into their arms with ease despite their size. They spat a rather slimy beetroot root in the general direction of the two animatronics.
Then they began running.
Sprinting with a maniacal laugh and a flash of red and dark blue as they stood fully.
"SEE YOU NEVER!!" One voice called
"GET STOLEN FROM, LOSERS!!" The other cheered.
Sun and Roxanne only silently watched the vampiric animatronic actually struggle a bit with carrying the box. They dragged it against the floor loudly, quietly grunting at first.
When they managed to haul it over their back, Sun and Roxanne were a bit impressed. Sun even clapped, much to the annoyance of Bloodmoon.
Bloodmoon blew one last raspberry before, a bit unsteady, running out.
But as they slowly vanished, they called out in joy.
"BYE, PAPA SUN!! BUY MORE BEETROOT!!"
The wolf and daycare attendant were still...
..
.
Papa?