Couldn't Help But Draw This Scene After Reading Dancing Queen By ArtemisRed

Couldn't help but draw this scene after reading Dancing Queen by ArtemisRed

October 6th, Hues

Star isn’t the only one who had noticed her chipping paint. 

The new mechanic bent over her head, fingers brushing against her rays. Star looked out at the room. Ominous, but not entirely frightening. She wondered if that might change one day. It was clear to her that none of the other animatronics were fond of the room, including the well-liked mascots of the place. 

She glanced back at the mechanic, Joanna. Joanna seemed like a lovely woman, with ebony hair and pretty hazel eyes. Her skin was a bit concerning, with the sickly pale hue it took, and how it sat gauntly on her frame. 

“How did you do that?” Star mumbled curiously. 

Joanna paused to follow the path of Star’s pointer finger. “My… hair?”

Star nodded.

Joanna turned away from her to pick the paint up off the floor. “Well, um, you take– well, it's best to practice with three ribbons first, but you divide a section of hair into three parts and then cross the far left or the far right over the middle strand and just continue doing a pattern of that. It’d be best to show you, it’s more  of a visual thing– hang on, have you never seen kids with braids? It’s totally popular right now.”

Star shrugged. “Children do not let hairstyles last long, and I never asked to learn from them.”

Joanna snorted. “That’s true. Now hold still please.”

Star followed the direction with ease. It was more difficult to match the mannerisms of humans than it was to sit as still as a statue. So many different habits humans did instinctively in their pose, their breath, their hands… Star could go on for a while listing the minute differences. 

“Where’s Ben?” Star did not move her lips to ask this question. Sometimes she would do so to antagonize the other mechanics, but she rather liked how polite this mechanic was. Odd to experience, yes, but very polite. 

Joanna faltered for a moment before continuing the paint job. “Sick for the day, I think. Sorry, um. Does it bother you? To do that? I mean, does it bother you to not move your mouth when you talk?”

A very human question to ask, Star mused. “Not at all. It makes no difference to me.”

“So…” Joanna gently grasped the edge of Star’s faceplate as she applied cold paint closer to the detailing of her forehead. Wispy white lines were painted there to make the transition of false hair to metal face less jarring. “Would you say it benefits you at all to have the ability to express emotions as you speak?”

Star really didn’t think the mechanic was asking the right bot. “Certainly. Children respond better to a face that changes constantly than a–”

“No, no.” Joanna leaned back to look Star in the face. “Not all that recorded nonsense. Does it benefit you?”

Star was at a loss for words. Her lips moved wordlessly, and then she gathered her thoughts and was able to ask a question of her own. “Why are you asking this?”

Joanna sat back on the chair that Star was situated on. Mechanics had never shared Star’s space like this, and she found she didn’t really mind it. She didn’t mind sitting sideways with the shorter woman, legs dangling off the table instead of down its length like she was at a human’s dentist office. 

“I’m trying to convince the higher ups to update the other daycare attendants' face molds. So they can smile and blink like you do. Not that there’s anything wrong with the way they are now, I just worry that they feel stifled, and no one’s gonna listen to that, and I figured if I could get a testimony from the bot that already is able to emote, well maybe that might help in the long run?”

Star looked out at the room. “Is my paint job finished?”

Joanna appeared taken aback. “Uh, sure. Yeah.” 

Star stood, and watched with a blank face as Joanna scrambled off after her. This time, Star didn’t feel bad for the human getting off a chair meant for taller bodies.  “Perhaps it would be best to speak to the animatronics that aren’t good enough for you, hm?” 

Joanna followed her up the elevator, and down the hall. “No, that’s– That’s not what I meant! I only meant–”

“You still speak to the wrong animatronic, Joanna Greenwood.” Star picked up the pace, and quickly lost the shorter human. Her stubby human legs were no match for Star’s mechanical ones. 

Sundrop didn’t notice her bad mood immediately, which Star was grateful for. Usually he was a hawk for this type of thing, prying eyes catching details faster than she could realize her own emotions. He was distracted, though, by all the children vying for his attention. 

It wasn’t the first time that someone had pointed out all the flaws in her fellow daycare attendants’ faces. She just… didn’t get it, though. Why should the ability to broaden or shrink a smile influence a person? The ability to cry or squint at someone in confusion couldn’t be all that important in a conversation. After all, Star understood the boys just fine. Well. Aside from Eclipse, but she determined that that was precisely because he didn’t want to be understood. He liked being the intimidating mystery.

She was aware that perhaps she had intentionally misunderstood what the mechanic Joanna was talking about. Star thought back to Sundrop’s reasoning behind his keeping her away from adults. They hadn’t accepted him because of his face. It seemed it still presented a problem for the adults. 

But that was her friend. Why must they bring up hurtful things and try to change him, when all he did was help people? He was so good at comforting people, and bringing smiles to people’s faces. Wasn’t that ability far more important than if he could blink or not? Wasn’t it far more impactful that he could handle five or seven children all at once without making even one of them feel left out or unimportant? It was an insane ability that Star couldn’t wrap her code around. The children didn’t care one way or another if he could frown when they wanted to. Why did the adults? Why fixate on something so unimportant? 

Star didn’t think she would ever understand humans. 

Joanna finished up the report and hit submit. She couldn’t fathom why even the animatronics were dodging her questions and ideas about upgrading them. Her bosses, sure, that was to be expected. She was just another one of the worker ants. Disposable and nothing to set her apart from the others. 

She was dead-set on improving things, though. Faz Inc was losing the public’s attention, and the only reason it was still afloat was because of its plummeting prices. Otherwise no one would ever spare it a second thought. 

It wasn’t logical long-term, though. It didn’t take a genius to understand that it wouldn’t work forever. 

She had ideas, and they banked on the upcoming October month. She just had to get their attention, somehow. 

Okay, so she took a year to get her plan implemented. These things happen. October had come and gone, frustratingly, so she made a game plan. 

It was coming to fruition, now. Her pen glided across blueprints that her previous coworkers and now underlings had made. Now she just had to okay them, and claim the credit, of course, as managers with perfect plans did. They wouldn’t say anything. It wasn’t talked about, really, but Ben had to get sacked at some point, and if it took a couple of perfectly placed oopsies on his end, well no one would argue that he would never be so careless as that. His position was handed to her, as she intended, and immediately used the way she needed it the year prior. 

The building was emptier, the bosses more desperate, and Joanna had the perfect solution in her hands. They gobbled it up in a satisfying manner that made her smirk at random intervals in a day. If only they had accepted their fates the year before, but no. 

This was fine, though. In fact, it made it all the more gratifying. 

The horror on that stupid Star’s face would be delicious. 

Oh, she hadn’t minded the bot before. She wanted to help them all, really she did, but ever since that first interaction Star seemed to have it out for Joanna. In all the ways she could, subtle and easily defendable, she aggravated Joanna. Accidently knocked her pen out of her grasp, bumped the paint can, snagged her hand on Joanna’s work hat, threw her jacket in the lost or found, never mind that it had a name tag on it. 

Joanna didn’t want to harm the irritating animatronic, of course. It would just be so delightful that her success would irritate Star. Joanna wanted the best for them, why didn’t she see that! They would get dismembered for parts without Joanna keeping them afloat. 

To think, this little spat of theirs was about a little smile. Sue her for being innovative and audacious, she supposed. 

Artificial Intelligence was still artificial, at the base of it all. Joanna tapped her pen against her lip in thought. She frowned at the blueprint of Star. Some parents had thrown a fit that the animatronic didn’t wear a shirt, stupidly enough. What was there to be mad about? It was just a metal contraption to protect an endo in the end of it all. 

The image made Joanna pause. Just an endo. Maybe she could… alter Star’s personality chip? Their feud would end in the matter of hours, or however long it took to reconstruct the personality of a robot. 

She then shook her head. Too much work for a robot she wouldn’t be interacting much with. What purpose would it serve for Joanna to be at a circus, anyhow? She could be bossy and look over projects from here, or wherever her new office was. 

Wasn’t that a clever idea? Appeal to the greater masses via a traveling circus of exactly four robots. The main four could continue playing their songs in the first animatronic-run music band and tour the world. Of course, humans would be pulling the strings, so it wouldn’t exactly be run by the animatronics, but the idea would appeal to all the people who just wanted to advance in the world of technology. Uh, everybody? Duh.

If the two organizations were accepted in the way she anticipated, the company could expand into other categories. Robots were already doing basic tasks, why not spice it up with a robot that could talk and entertain as they cooked or whatever else people had in mind. 

Of course, there would always be the people who thought jobs only belonged to humans, but minds could be changed. Appeal to their inner pathos or whatever it was called. Everybody loved to see basic appliances as having personalities, it wouldn’t be that tricky to let them see how human the animatronics could be. 

But she was getting ahead of herself. 

First, to redesign the animatronics for the outside world.

DCA PROMPTOBER 2024

I KNOW I'M STILL LATE I'M STRUGGLING TO CATCH UP I'M SORRY

Day 2 - Paper Pals

Pairing: Sun x Gender Neutral Reader, romantic Warnings: Slightly suggestive dialogues Words: 3000+ Summary: While making paper pals with Sun, you begin a game you quickly regret starting.

-Shit, this thing is so ugly,- you grinned, looking down at the paper pal you were working on. You were sitting at one of the colorful plastic tables in the arts & craft area of the daycare, with your fingers sticky with glue and your arms covered in doodles made by the kids. Some of those looked more like scribbles than actual drawings, but when one of the little boys pointed at his masterpiece and said; “-Cow!-” you had no choice but to laugh and say; “-Oh, I love your cow, David, it’s so cute!-”

The only problem was that the “cow” in question was green, it had three… eyes?—you didn’t even know if those were eyes, since you couldn’t understand which was the face and which was the butt—and more legs than you could count. Could it be that the child actually wanted to draw a centipede but didn’t remember its name? Maybe, but unlike the animatronic sitting right beside you, you weren’t an art critic.

-It’s not ugly!- Sun protested, looking at your paper pal, -I think it’s lovely.-

-You also said David’s “cow” was lovely, but that thing looks more like snot,- you laughed, and Sun gave you a dramatic gasp.

-Are you calling me a liar?!- he said, placing a hand over his chest like an old lady clutching her pearls. Grinning even more, you leaned a little closer to the robot. 

-Hell, yes I am.- Your whisper caused Sun’s rays to spin in fake outrage. Luckily for you all the kids were playing in the jungle gyms in the play area, so Sun was allowing you to swear as much as you wanted with no repercussions. Of course, he still twitched and flinched every now and then.

You and Sun had decided to stay there, sitting at the tables, to finish the project of the day which you didn’t have time to work on during the arts & craft hour. Paper Pals! Loyal, cheerful, flat and… horribly ugly little guys which Sun adored with his whole mechanic heart. Well, not all paper pals were ugly, yours surely was, maybe because you couldn’t decide on the theme. You had drawn blue stars on the face, like they were freckles, but changed your mind half-way and tried to fix it by making the entire face blue. The only problem? The blue you were first using had run out, so you had to choose another blue to finish the face, which was of a lighter shade than the previous. 

To add to the list, the silver glitter glue had been spilled the day before and the next batch was not going to come until Monday, so you had no silver glitter glue to make your pal prettier. 

-If you don’t like your paper pal, how about you make another?- asked Sun, looking at you curiously. You shook your head, beginning to draw a brown button-up on your little pal, like those shades of brown and blue didn’t look absolutely hideous together. 

-Nah, he’s ugly, but I like him.- You were so focused on your little guy that you didn’t even look up as you spoke, -He’s like, my ugly son.-

Next to you, Sun wheezed.

-Y-Your ugly son?- he asked, half between a laugh and a question. 

-Yeah! His name is Robert, I love him and I will treasure him forever, even if he’s ugly,- you nodded, -I don’t mind ugly things.-

Something you could pride yourself upon was, in fact, that look didn’t matter to you. Be it animals, people, drawings or paper pals, you didn’t care if they were “ugly”. In fact, you had decided you were going to make your paper pal the ugliest one in the existence of the Mega Pizzaplex, and you were going to love him to death. David’s cow was also coming with you. Was it ugly? Damn right it was. Were you about to do anything you could to let it stay on your skin as long as possible? Fuck yes. 

You grabbed a mouth for your paper pal, one of those with full and soft lips, then colored it so it had bright green lipstick. You glued it on Robert, satisfied, before noticing you had glued it on wrong and that it was slightly tilted to the side. Okay, that… you hadn’t done that on purpose, but oh well. 

-Is that why you like us so much?- Sun asked, and your ears immediately picked on the slight nervousness in his voice. You turned around just to see him working on his own paper pal. 

-What do you mean?- you asked, unsure. 

-You said you don’t mind ugly things,- Sun explained, gluing a leg to his pal, -So I’m wondering if that's why you don’t mind us.-

You stopped working on your project just to turn completely around on the little chair, until you were directly facing the animatronic. Noticing your stance, Sun also stopped working, looking at you with a surprised expression.

-Has something happened?- he asked, like he didn’t just call himself ugly.

-No, just…- you looked at him, like, looked at Sun, up close. You even stood up so you could have a better angle. -Just checking something.-

Wide-eyed, Sun stared at you as you inspected his skin, his features and clothes. He followed your movements as you hummed to yourself, mumbled as you touched the silicone of his hands and clicked your tongue, deep in thought. 

-Mhm, yes, I’m afraid it’s exactly what I suspected,- you spoke out loud after a few seconds. Sun smiled, perplexed. 

-What’s your verdict, doc?- he asked, amused. Satisfied, you sat back down. 

-You’re stunning.- Was your reply. As soon as those words left your mouth, Sun’s eyes widened even more and his fans turned on, working to keep his internals cool. The robot looked at you for a few seconds, mouth wide open, baffled by your response. He had expected so many things, but not… not this one! 

-Y-You don’t mean that…- he whined, but immediately regretted saying those words, because they betrayed how flustered he truly was. Sun suddenly felt the urge to hide his face behind his paper pal. 

-Are you calling me a liar?!- you gasped, echoing the same words he had spoken just a few minutes before. You even copied the way he had clutched his chest.

-Yes!- Sun replied with another whine, -Look at me, I’m…-

-Beautiful? Pretty? Perfectly detailed, amazingly shaped?- you suggested, looking at the jester with a grin and an amused look in your eyes. Sun’s fans whirred louder, reminding you of the sound of your old pc when you tried to run The Sims 4 on it, along with all the mods you had downloaded. Sun was overheating, and if the circumstances had been different you would have suggested he take off his blouse to let his fans do their job, but you were afraid that would have actually caused him to implode before anything could be done. 

Sun’s fingers were twitching and he was keeping his eyes closed, like not seeing your smug expression would have helped with cooling off. 

-I’m… f-full of those craters, and… and my pain is chipping off,- he tried to argue, like you weren’t ready to prove him wrong. 

-Those craters are absolutely adorable,- you pointed at the little dots on his face, which reminded you of freckles, -They make your smile stand out. But you’re right on the last part, we should get you re-painted, so you can glow even more than you do now!-

Your smile widened when Sun grabbed his rays and hid his face on his knees, groaning.

-S-S-Stop!- his voicebox was glitching, adding a static-y layer to his voice which made him sound even more desperate than he actually was. 

-You’re like the actual sun, Sunny,- you leaned closer, grinning viciously.

-Impossible to look at?- he sniffled, still refusing to look up.

-No, a true hottie.-

You immediately had to call maintenance to get them to bring Sun down to Parts & Service. After all, you had to look after the kids at the daycare, so you couldn’t leave, as much as you wished to. Apparently you had gone too far with your teasing, causing Sun to enter a reboot and drop unconscious on the table where you and him had been doing arts & craft. You had worried a lot when it first happened, but as soon as you checked that everything was alright you breathed a sigh of relief and began to laugh. Shit, you didn’t know that could happen. Oh well. 

The security guard on duty explained to you how to open up Sun’s chest cavity from the outside, giving his internal components the opportunity to cool off, then told you what to do in case Sun woke back up without a mechanic nearby. You listened carefully, just in case something like that happened again, but when the guard asked you the reason why Sun had overheated you struggled to stifle a laugh. 

-I, uhm… I complimented his… paper pal.- Yeah, sure, that could do. 

Not gonna lie, guilt was beginning to creep up on you. Maybe you should have been more careful, and not just because overheating could cause problems to Sun’s internal wiring, but also because there was a possibility you were overstepping his boundaries. Just the thought of making your friend uncomfortable was painful to you, so you decided you were going to apologize as soon as you saw him. 

Fortunately, not too much time passed before Sun was brought back up from Parts & Service, maybe just an hour. The mechanic told you that he was in tip-top shape and that there was nothing to worry about, but as soon as he left Sun turned his back to you and began to pout like a child. 

-Sunnyyy,- you called, prolonging the y as much as you could. The kids were playing Simon Says and by your prediction you still had a few minutes before any of them decided to randomly bite someone else or take off their pants, so you were fine. -Sunny boy?-

-Don’t call me that!- replied Sun with a huff, -You don’t want to make me overheat again, do you?!-

You smiled, but then apologized, gently asking your friend to turn around. 

-Sorry for what i said,- you began once he was finally looking your way, -It won’t happen again. I hope I didn’t say anything inappropriate and made you uncomfortable, that was not my intention.-

Sun was still pouting, and his eyes switched constantly between you, the floor and the ceiling, like he didn’t know where to look. 

-You won’t do it again?- he asked, and you nodded. 

-I won’t.-

-Ever, ever, ever again?- Sun repeated, like he wanted to make sure. 

-I promise I will never tease you again,- you swore, holding one of your hands over your heart and the other in the air. 

-...Oh.- 

Your brows furrowed. Sun seemed… disappointed? Wait, did he…? A grin opened on your face.

-...Unless,- you began to say, and the animatronic looked at you with hopeful eyes, -Unless you wanted me to tease you.-

Your smile was as large as your face, opening from ear to ear in an unsettling manner.

-Is this what you’re after? Praises? If that’s so, I don’t mind, I’ll tell you how adorable you are all day long.- Your voice ran smooth, dripping with honey, and it had the desired effect when you noticed Sun shuddering. He stared at you in disbelief, like he just realized that you meant every word you said, and his rays spun around his head. Something told you that, if he could have blushed, his entire face would have been red.

-T-This is a game we both can play, Friend!- Sun replied, sounding like he was reprimanding you. The stern expression on his face made you feel like that, at least.

-Then play with me, Sunny boy.-

You and Sun spent the following days teasing each other, fake-bantering like a couple of idiots, but quickly you realized that your robotic friend didn't lie to you when he claimed to be way better at this new game than you had first predicted.

You spent your free time at home thinking about more ways to get him to fluster, and he did the same after he was done cleaning the daycare after a long day. You whispered praises when there were no kids nearby, you dropped random compliments during normal conversations, but more often than not you and Sun ended up actually flirting with each other, and hard.

-You look absolutely splendid today, Sun. Have you polished your rays?-

-Friend, today you smell absolutely delicious, is it a new shampoo?-

-What a flatterer! You truly have a way with words, Sunny.-

-Oh, shame I can’t eat, you would have made a great snack, Friend.-

That particular last sentence made you choke on your water when you first heard it. Shit, you couldn’t let Sun see how flustered he could get you! It was almost like, the more you complimented him, the bolder he got, and it was beginning to have quite the effect on you. Multiple times during the day you had to slip in the bathrooms just to splash cold water on your face, but each time you did Sun teased you to no end. Your little game had long turned into a war which you had no intention to lose, but unfortunately for you, one day the worst thing happened.

-Friend?- Sun called you after finishing a game of tag with the kids, -We ran out of glitter glue, will you come with me to grab some?- 

His tone was completely innocent, but still you refused to let yourself be fooled. The last time you went with him in the supplies closet he had locked the door with you inside until you agreed with him that you were terribly handsome.

-I don’t know,- you said, looking at him suspiciously, -Can I trust you?-

Sun nodded, eagerly. 

-Of course you can! I’m not in the mood for playing today, I will leave you alone,- he promised, looking like a happy dog with that cheerful expression. You looked at the robot up and down, unsure, but eventually you decided he looked honest enough. You sighed and nodded, following the jester in his cheerful steps across the daycare, but not before asking the security guard on duty to keep an eye on the kids while you were away.

You and him headed for the supplies closet then went past it, much to your surprise. All the while, Sun didn’t stop skipping and humming the daycare tune.

-Wait, shouldn’t we…?- you began to ask, turning to look at the closet door.

-No, no, Friend! The glitter glue is up in my room,- Sun explained, -Follow me.-

Doubtful, you still tagged along, following the animatronic past a secret passage, a set of stairs and eventually the door to his room. You stopped before entering, hesitating. You had never seen Sun’s room, and even if it only made sense for them to have a private space all for themselves you had never really thought about it. You didn’t know what to expect, but even if you did expect something, what met your eyes was completely different from anything you could have come up with. The little space was messy, covered in kids drawings, old plushies and other stuff you were sure the animatronic wasn’t supposed to have up there. Random boxes were stacked around and used as tables or something of the sort, although many of them had a thin layer of dust covering them, like Sun never bothered to move them around or even just tidy the place a little. The robot held a hand on your shoulders and turned you the other way when you tried to look at a mass of metallic arms and… staff bot heads? Did you see that right? When you asked more about it, he avoided the question.

The jester asked you to grab a specific box on the side of the door, then went to grab two more himself. You cracked it open, seeing many packages of glitter glue stacked inside, while your friend began to tell you about something that happened with one of the kids that morning. Apparently Jimmy had tried to eat a red crayon, but after just a few seconds something caught your eye and you stopped listening. Hanging from one of the walls were some paper pals, all grouped together like they were friends holding hands, and between them you recognized some of the pals made by the kids a few days prior. They were messy, the colors had no harmony and many kids had glued eyes and mouths upside down, but they were the loveliest paper pals you had ever seen. What caught your eye however was your paper pal, in all of his blue, brown and green glory, kept on the wall next to something that looked like a makeshift bed made with various pillows and blankets. You were left speechless, unable to form a word, wondering how your paper pal had managed to grow legs and crawl all the way into Sun’s room.

-Ah, you saw Robert,- Sun chimed in. He was exactly behind you, -I hope you don’t mind I took him, I just thought he could… be friends with my paper pal.-

Next to Robert, in fact, was another paper pal. Its blouse was the same color of your uniform, the eyes were the same shade of yours and the expression drawn on it—a mischievous smirk—felt oddly familiar.

-Is that… me?- you asked, pointing at Sun’s paper pal. The animatronic laughed.

-Oh, no, silly. They are my new friend,- he replied, smug, -Aren’t they just lovely?-

You swallowed, then nodded.

-What’s their name?- you asked after a few seconds of silence. As you expected, your own name fell from Sun’s silicone lips. -I see.-

The hands of the two paper pals, yours and Sunny’s, were glued together, and they stood very close to one another, like they were the best of friends. You suddenly felt Sun’s presence a lot more than before, you could hear the little mechanisms moving inside his metallic body, you could hear the soft whirring of his cooling system, you could feel his eyes on the back of your head and his huge frame looming over you. 

-I’m happy to see Robert has made a friend,- you commented with a smile. 

-Agree. They are the best friend one could ask for.- 

As soon as those words left Sun, you immediately covered your reddening face with your hands, and in that exact moment you knew that you had lost the game. Shit, shit, shit. You had lost, and the blush covering your face, ears and neck was so deep you could feel your skin burning under your hands. All because of some paper pals.

If you are a fan fic writer and you're alright with people making fan art of your fic, reblog this 💚

October 8, Trouble

Star was “woken up” rather abruptly that morning. Someone was knocking rather harshly on the outside of her charging port.

She left the safety of her charging port tentatively, door sliding open with a quiet whirr. A short grumpy man looked up at her with his hands shoved in his pockets. 

“Moving day.” He announced. His grey eyes slid to the knicknacks on the walls. “You better figure out a safe place for all that or it's getting left behind.” He mumbled before turning on his heel. 

Moving day? Safe place…? She turned to her buttons, her sticker, her paper pal, and everything else that had earned the highest honor of being considered hers. 

She may not have a stomach like Chica or Sundrop, but she did have a stomach hatch, similarly to Freddy. Hers was much smaller than his, due to the size difference in builds. He was made to be wide and stocky, difficult to bowl over by eager crowds. She was made… well she wasn’t quite sure, but she looked almost exactly like Sundrop, Moondrop and Eclipse ignoring colors and unique characteristics. That is all to say, she had a place to store her meager belongings. 

Her buttons clinked against the metal floor in her stomach, and the paper pal rustled as she shoved it past the small door. The sticker clung to the far back wall once situated, her skirt was swept off the floor, bunched up in a ball and shoved inside. Jostled by all her movement, a stuffed critter lay on its side on the floor. She gently scooped it up in one hand and smiled at the dirty old thing. Well-loved was the green blob with legs, and flat were the pink and purple petals. Ram had given this to her in honor of her last day at the daycare. 

She placed it in her stomach hatch and closed the door. She smoothed her sweater over her stomach and made her way out of the closet. Her flats were quiet against the blocky floor, her pant legs loud as they swished against each other. The playsets were as colorful as ever, but the music wasn’t playing. 

That was what was off. She hadn’t realized that was what she was searching for as she scanned over the playroom. Sundrop was already waiting at the front of the room, bouncing in place idly, but his movements were stiff and odd. He didn’t seem to like this situation at all. Where were Moondrop and Eclipse?

She stood next to Sundrop nervously. What exactly did a moving day consist of? She looked back in the corner where her unassuming closet was. She supposed she really shouldn’t have called it hers, after all. 

Moondrop squinted as he moved to stand next to Sundrop. Now they waited for Eclipse. The old man sighed as he leaned against the check-in desk. 

“Donald?” Star asked quietly. The silver haired man startled and looked up at her. “Where are we going?”

Donald sighed. “Don’t ask me that, kiddo. I just work here. How am I supposed to know?”

His response gave her a few things to mull over as they waited for Eclipse. Interesting that he called her ‘kiddo’. Did he mean it in a fatherly manner, or did he use it to avoid using her name? And how ironic to not know the system of your own workplace. How interesting that this also applied to her, then. Did it count as a workplace if she had never willingly signed up for the tasks demanded of her?

When Eclipse finally arrived, it was in a state Star hadn’t expected. The three of them had been brought outside the doors of the daycare (how very odd to be outside her realm without the need to head to Parts ‘n Service) and down a hall. Star nervously glanced behind her. Would this be the last time she ever laid her eyes on the daycare, or had she misinterpreted Donald’s words?

The man led them to a glass door that revealed the outside world. Star balked and stopped abruptly as he kept walking, the door opening with a small shk under his wrinkled hand. What… What were they doing here? 

Sundrop walked confidently ahead of her, but she could see how oddly he held himself. She reached out to catch onto his arm, but he slipped beyond her grasp, her fingers curling around the air. 

Moondrop hesitated with her. Behind her he loomed, head tilted to the side so that the bell of his hat swayed just in the reach of her peripheral vision on her right. 

Donald looked back at them and sighed. “We don’t got all day, see? Let’s get a move on.”

Moondrop gently cupped her shoulder in his palm, his fingers curling into the bulky knitted fabric, and led her forward. She let him, though she cringed when her foot fell on pavement. 

And there was Eclipse. Or, supposedly. It was a large box with big bold letters bearing his name. It was being hefted onto the back of a truck. Her eyes widened. Eclipse would never willingly let anyone shove him into a box that cramped. Was he… was he… She pressed against Moondrop in shock. Decommissioned, her code offered up the word much to her disgust. She didn’t want to think that of any of her friends. 

What was to be their fate?

Sundroop willingly sat in a crate his height, packing peanuts shifting out from under his weight and some falling over the lip of the box. Someone reached forward and touched the back of his head. His eyes lost their light. Star grabbed onto Moondrop’s hand. Her shoulder was straining under the force of his fingers, but she didn’t begrudge him that. How could Sundrop so willingly allow them to turn him off? 

The hand digging into her shoulder suddenly relaxed, and no longer was there a weight against her back. She spun around to see Moon collapsing into a box shoved up against his calves. Humans pulled him up further into the box. She couldn’t look away from his lightless eyes. 

Something slotted against her head. 

Her world went dark.