Dino Dan's Discovery Zone (Chapter 6)

	That lonely trail of streetlamps along the road had quickly become a comfort for Michelle, a rock of routine amidst the surges of absurdity both around and inside her. The weekend had proven itself quite a sobering experience for her, memories of goals long sidetracked and ignored bubbling back to the surface from their abyssal hideaway. There was a wounded resolve to Michelle on this night, the challenge to surpass her own inadequacies in the hopes of finding a more ideal life or at the very least a better outlook on her efforts in this world. She had awoken a couple of hours early to vigorously clean and organize her shabby apartment, something which made her feel equally satisfied and exhausted. She hoped her coming shift would be as lax as the majority of the preceding week had been. The hatchback came to its usual place behind the facility, headlights aglare upon the painted slate exterior before being extinguished, replacing the harsh yellow with the muted halogen glow of the service entrance’s bulb. The night guard stepped out from her trusted vehicle, enjoying the slight bump in temperature after last week’s front. Though a bit foolish of her to assume so, Michelle entered the building considering it an omen of good fortune for the coming shift.
	It was 11:58 as she booted up the computer, once more squeezing herself into the office chair before it, the security program slowly coming to life and baring feeds of the facility’s nooks and crannies for her criticism and concerns. The introductory sweep had brought little that she wasn’t expecting: Sarah was off in the Hatchery trying her damndest to sort through the myriad toys provided either by the building or its guests, Tracy was tending to the band’s “instruments,” which were more than likely just hunks of shaped plastic, and Dan was looking oddly wistful as he gazed out the main storefront, seeming to just watch whatever wayward car made its way down the road. Michelle felt a pang of concern for the ankylosaur for the briefest of moments before realizing that she had come up a head short. The diminutive dork must be having another one of his adventures, she surmised. There had always been something about the concept of Randy and Beamz coming and going to visit each other that the night guard couldn’t fully grasp. Granted they aren’t as huge as Tracy, but surely someone had to notice a man (well, young man) sized dinosaur walking the city and back by this point. Furthermore, how was management seemingly completely unaware of any of the fantastic world she’d stepped into? Were they just assuming that the janitors were doing everything while said employees shirked their duties knowing that someone was handling it for them? It would honestly put Dan’s never-ending stream of housekeeping duties into perspective, to say the least. So many questions swam through Michelle’s brain, none of them answerable with anything more than theories based on pure conjecture. She clasped her forehead with her right hand. This was not a good night for her to deal with such taxing thoughts.
	“Got a girl fantasizing about me the moment I enter a room. Best compliment I can ask for.”
	Michelle’s train of thought jumped its tracks as she picked up on the voice to her side, internally cursing herself for that nasty tendency she had to end up lost in her own head. As she turned, her eyes came upon none other than her missing machine: Randy, standing with his back to the wall, shades down, and the smuggest look his limited jaw movement would allow him.
	“Honestly, I’m flattered. I can see it now: you lost in dreams of my awesome bod or maybe the two of us just cruising down that endless road called love.”
	Michelle grimaced. “Actually, I was just kinda wondering why I didn’t see you on the cameras.”
	“Ah, I get you. Gotta play that hard to get, just to make sure I’m not some jabroni. Girl’s gotta have standards after all.”
	Michelle’s face shifted from an expression of barely-concealed disgust to a coy pout as an idea dawned upon her. “Oh, I do Randy,” the night guard began. “Gotta be smart. Friendly. Cute butt would be nice. You know, a guy like…” she looked away and began stroking her chin.
	“Like…?” Randy repeated in anticipation.
	Michelle scooted her chair to move a bit closer to the tiny raptor as she adopted a sultry smile. “Like your friend, Beamz.”
	“Oh! Oh, uh…” Randy turned his head away and huffed nervously. “Well, that’s good to know, but,” he paused momentarily to seemingly regain his damaged composure. He turned back to Michelle. “Well, I think you can do better.” His old cocky grin returned to him.
	Michelle was somewhat surprised at the sturdiness of Randy’s facade of virility, but decided to continue with her scheme.
	“Can I?” she asked. “He’s such a nice boy.”
	“He’s cool, but he’s not as cool as me,” Randy replied, bringing his thumb to his chest. “Between you and me, he’s a little bit of a dweeb. Me, I’m primo stuff, baby.” He flashed yet another toothy smile. “Think about it. You need a big, strong man to protect you, right? Pretty little lady like you?”
	Michelle used all her willpower to keep herself from snickering.
	“All I’m saying,” Randy continued, “is that you gotta have somebody with confidence. Machismo! You don’t need sweet and sensitive. You need a bad boy. Like me.”
	Michelle had to admit to herself, he was indeed confident.
	“Maybe you’re right,” she said. “Maybe what I need,” Michelle leaned forward to put her face mere inches from Randy’s while using one hand to grab at the collar of his shirt, “is right in front of me.”
	Randy stared blankly at Michelle in a stunned silence. His processor was struggling to find a return statement. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Michelle burst into laughter and let go of him, rolling her chair back to its original position in front of the computer.
	“Man, I’m just messing with you!” she laughed. “You should have seen your face.”
	“Um, yeah, sure,” Randy mumbled, still uncertain of what to do with himself.
	“Sorry, sorry, that was mean,” Michelle apologized amidst her giggling. “I just couldn’t resist. What would a date with you even be like, anyways?”
	“Ah, well first we’d… we’d…” Randy trailed off, going oddly quiet and overcome with an unsettling lack of focus. There was an almost rhythmic tremor in his digits and Michelle could make easy note of a sudden gnashing of his plastic teeth. “W-we could get a pizza,” he finally managed to stammer out. 	“Plenty of back stock in the fridge.”
	“Wait a sec,” Michelle blurted out. “You’ve used that one before. Yeah, back when I first met you.”
	“What? Come on now, there’s no way I’d be lame enough to reuse my patented lines on the same girl twice.”
	A small chill ran up Michelle’s spine at the comment. It wasn’t like he was human and these things could just just slip by him. As emotional as he was, Randy was a machine and the idea of him forcing that out just after his spasm deeply worried the night guard. “Yeah, maybe I just… remembered it wrong is all,” Michelle lied, hoping to not do anymore harm. “Randy, are you all right? You, uh, got a little weird for a second there.”
	“I don’t know, actually.” That impetuous sneer she had become all too familiar with was gone, replaced with a voice that seemed to crack under its own weight. “That’s just never happened before. It’s like I reached in for an answer and… nothing. Like there’s this gap in my head or something. Has that ever happened to you before?”
	“Well yeah, sometimes we just don’t know things or don’t remember. Memory isn’t a perfect thing. Kinda sucks in that regard, to be honest.”
	“I don’t get it then. Everything in my head tells me I’m supposed to know this, so why isn’t it there? I mean, I’m a bonafide ladies’ man! This should be as easy as breathing for me.”
	“Come on, it’s not that serious,” Michelle replied, hoping to deflate the situation. “You’re just having an… off day is all. Relax a bit. For my sake, alright?” She cringed a bit internally at the comment but knew it was her best shot at soothing his troubles.
	After a brief pause and a hissing mechanical sigh, she could see the new tension in his frame start to leave the raptor. “Well… I can’t exactly say no to a babe, much less you.”
	“Thanks for that. You were getting a little weird, which for you is some kinda milestone. You’re sure that you’re ok, right?”
	“P’shaw! I just had my one union-regulated spaz out. I’m still the same bodacious dude I’m sure you’ve fallen head over heels for.”
	“Yup, you’re back to normal,” she dryly replied, eyes in circuit.
	“You say that like it’s such a bad thing. Well, like…’bad’ bad. Like dictionary bad, you know? Ah, whatevs. Somewhere in that sexy heart of yours is a raptor shaped hole waiting to be filled. And I’m a patient man.”
	The night guard blinked once in confusion before briefly shuddering at what she hoped wasn’t that kind of innuendo. “Egghh,” Michelle blurted out. “Suddenly, spaz you is sounding a lot more likeable.”
	“Don’t worry babe, he’s rare but he comes with the complete Randy package!” Accompanying his outburst was an air guitar pose, arms raised grasping an invisible instrument and pelvis thrusted forward. With the package line still fresh in her head, Michelle’s mind went to a very confusing place, her cheeks flushing at the thought while her face stayed in its state near perpetual consternation.
	“Well, you’re looking about as red as I am rad! Penny for your thoughts?” His mechanical eyebrows began to raise and lower in quick succession.
	“It’s nothing… just a stray thought or two,” she managed to blurt out, her brain still putting together what shouldn’t be there.
	“Aw man, you’re usually so good at playing hard to get! But fine, I’ve obviously set your heart on fire so I’ll give you a bit to cool off. Can’t watch that computer if I’m all you’re thinking about, after all.”
	“That would be nice.” The words were stilted, almost squirming as they came out of the night guard.
	“Gotcha babe, catch you on the flipside.” With a saunter that oozed fake charisma, Randy made his way out of the office, stopping briefly to give a finger gun motion towards Michelle before he left the door frame.
	After his exit, the night guard sat there for a few moments, somewhat a mess internally. Though glad that she was able to diffuse the raptor’s rather unsettling episode, Michelle couldn’t help but feel a bit disgusted about the mental picture his recovery put into her head and her own brain for putting together his double entendres. She needed to refocus, to put that awful image of his… motions… out of her head. The night guard returned to her computer, perhaps the only machine in the restaurant incapable of judgement. 2:45 AM was the counter’s readout as she made a round of the displays, trying to force the normalcy back into the night. A curious sight caught her as she rounded the Hatchery camera, however. It seemed that Sarah had gathered up all of the toys in the playroom and was orating to them for some reason. Perhaps in practice for something. With a sigh and a twisting motion to free herself from the perverse arms of her chair, the night guard said goodbye to the usual routine once more and headed off to investigate.
	Walking through the darkened halls of the restaurant, Michelle thought back to how she had felt unsettled in the place the previous week, and how that feeling was no longer with her, even though she was walking through what could have been the setting of a Goosebumps book. She felt a sense of security within the walls of Dino Dan’s, both for the nostalgia over her trips to Fazbear’s and how she felt that she was growing to understand her nighttime companions. They may have been a dysfunctional bunch, but at least she could talk to them. It was more than she had experienced with any people she had worked with before. That probably reflected poorly on her, she thought, but that was a matter to ponder another time. Michelle stepped up to the entrance of the Hatchery to find Sarah pacing in front of her audience of toys.
	“Sarah?” Michelle called.
	The triceratops jolted in surprise before turning to the archway where the night guard stood, awaiting permission to enter.
	“Oh! Michelle! You-You caught me off guard. Give me a second, I was just, uh,” Sarah paused, her eyes darting back and forth, “putting the toys away.”
	“I saw you talking to them on the security camera.”
	“Oh.” Sarah stared at her feet and rubbed the back of her head. “Um, you can come on in.”
	Michelle walked in and surveyed the row of trinkets Sarah had set up to give speeches to. “So, what’s all this about?”
	Sarah sighed. “Do I have to tell you?”
	“No. But I’d like to know.”
	“Well… I was, erm, practicing talking.” Sarah looked at Michelle briefly, but quickly opted to avoid eye contact. “To Dan.”
	“To Dan?” Michelle repeated, eliciting a nod from the animatronic. “What did you want to talk to him about?”
	“Well, I wasn’t going to go confront him about anything. I just wanted to be able to… stand my ground, if he’s mean to me again.”
	Michelle lit up. “Well, good for you, girl!” She gave Sarah a playful, light punch on the arm, which the triceratops did not seem to appreciate. “Sorry. But that’s great that you’re doing this. I think a little bit of confidence can really improve your standing with him.”
	“You think so?” Sarah asked, her voice carrying a hint of cautious hopefulness.
	“Yeah! Dan responds to outgoing behavior. You show some grit, and he’ll respect you for sure.”
Michelle put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder and gave her a proud smile, to which Sarah responded with a smile of her own.
	The smiles of both girls faltered as a set of heavy footsteps sounded from the entrance to the Hatchery. In walked Dan with his arms behind his back and a stern expression on his face, as per usual.
	“Good day to you, Miss Schmidt,” Dan said, giving Michelle a slight nod. His eyes then turned to the toys splayed about the floor of the Hatchery, scanning them before focusing on the triceratops. “Still not all here. Sarah, how long has it been since I told you to gather up the missing toys from the other rooms and bring them back here?”
	Sarah shied away from eye contact. “Umm, a few days.”
	“A week,” Dan said bluntly, with audible ire. “I give you a simple task, and a week later, it still isn’t done. Care to explain yourself?”
	Sarah looked to Michelle for some kind of guidance, to which the guard responded with a vague gesture meant to provide encouragement.
	“I...” Sarah began quietly, “I… I don’t need to explain myself to you!” Her face quickly shifted from nervous to slightly angry.
	The outburst took both Michelle and Dan aback, but the latter was swift to recover and retaliate.
	“Don’t have to explain yourself?” Dan repeated. “You have completely failed to step up to a very basic responsibility, you think you there is no issue there?”
	“There’s a whole team of people that works here during the day! Why do you make us do their jobs for them? Why do you gotta play dictator?” Sarah shouted.
	Dan gritted his teeth, his annoyance reaching a boiling point. “Oh, how ignorant you are,” he hissed. “Do you have even the slightest idea of how essential it is to keep this restaurant in the absolute best condition possible? How even the smallest flaw in our presentation could alienate a customer forever? We need to do everything in our power to assure the survival of this business, of our livelihood, and you don’t see the importance of doing your part?” He leaned in close to Sarah, his intense expression shattering the facade of rebellion the triceratops had put up and causing her to take a step back. “Do. Your. Damn. Work.”
	Sarah was cowering, her confidence gone. “I-I’m sorry,” she whispered.
	Dan’s face eased into a condescending smile. “Good,” he said. “I am expecting the toys to be in place by opening time.” Contented with his results, he turned his back on Sarah and made his way out of the Hatchery.
	As Dan walked away, Sarah went from looking afraid to crestfallen. “Maybe I’m just not cut out for working with people,” she sighed.
	Michelle, still cringing from what she had witnessed, took a second to gather herself. “Jeez, um… Look, maybe you went a bit too far. Well, not really ‘maybe.’ You did go too far. But that’s alright, you’re testing boundaries. You should keep trying, just… probably not with Dan, for now.”
	Sarah sat down, wrapping her arms around her knees. “I don’t know, I think he’s right,” she mumbled dejectedly, ignoring Michelle’s uplifting words. “I’m just a screwup.”
	“Dan can be pretty abrasive,” Michelle replied. “He has his reasons, but he still shouldn’t be treating you like that.”
	“But he’s not wrong.”
	“You can make him wrong, then.”
	Sarah looked up at Michelle, who sat down next to the triceratops.
	“All you have to do is keep working at improving yourself,” Michelle said. “Try being more proactive. You’re on better terms with Tracy now, right? Try talking with her more, you can learn a bit about interacting with people. And maybe do some of the chores Dan asks you to, even if it’s at your own pace, he’ll be impressed that you exceeded his expectations.” She put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “Just keep at it, okay? If not for yourself, than for me. I don’t like seeing you like this.”
	Sarah gave a weak, but genuine smile. “Sorry,” she said.
	“Don’t apologize.”
	“Oh, sorry. I mean, uh…”
	“I got it,” Michelle chuckled. The night guard gave the animatronic a pat on the shoulder before standing up and stretching her arms. “Well, I’ve got to get back to the cameras. You going to be okay for the night?”
	“Yeah, I think so,” Sarah replied. “I’ll try to make small talk with Tracy, if I can.”
	“That’s the spirit. See you later,” Michelle said, making her exit.
	“See ya,” Sarah said with a slight wave.
	The clock on Michelle’s computer read 4:30 AM when she’d returned to the office, head just slightly abuzz from the night’s events. Normally, Michelle would be a bit more excited to see a shift in its death throes but given what just occurred with Sarah, she couldn’t help but feel a bit conflicted. It was her prodding that led to the triceratops getting her proverbial head bitten off, after all. Her mind was a mire, the deliberations piling atop one another in rapid succession. Was it really right for her to be dealing out such seemingly informed life advice when she barely had a handle on anything herself? With the dinosaurs coming to depend on her so much, the chance of things backfiring like they did with Sarah would only build. Tracy had become a basic, if somewhat more open, shell of her former self, Randy had his strange moment, and Sarah tried to run before she could walk, causing Michelle worry that the triceratops may end up back in the shape she started in. As much as it pained her to admit it, her work with Dan was looking to be her only efforts that were panning out thus far. Granted, she had only walked into their lives just a week ago, but it really seemed to Michelle that she was helping the situation. For the moment she was just feeling a vague and an uncomfortable sense of existential dread, but she would have to ignore that for the time being. Even if she wasn’t that great at it, she still had a job to do. It is the night guard’s responsibility to look after the facility and its personnel, after all.