Late Nights at the Factory, Night 1: Cindy

You're an absolute nut for buying this shit. You know this all too well, you did stay the day in the factory once before for the promise of fifty bucks. THEY never got their wiry, cold mitts on you, thank God, but it was far too close of a call. Yet now here you are, doing the same shit again, not even for cash this time.

"C'mon, I'm telling you, it's a TOTALLY different place at night, you gotta believe me dude."

If you didn't see him walk out of the factory the next morning fully intact, well, minus some severely torn clothes and sweatier than usual, you'd never have even considered doing what you are doing now. Namely entering the factory once again. You did bring a bat with you at least, so maybe you aren't entirely retarded. Your other hand holds your smartphone, the flashlight app on, illuminating the patches of lifeless gray concrete as you walk down the first room. So far the place just seems... empty.

You could hear a pen drop in here, and while you aren't seeing any sign of the animatronics around you, you'd be lying if you didn't admit you were to the point of nearly pissing yourself just waiting for the robotic roar from one of THEM at the intruder as their damaged faces leap from the shadows-

"Oh my g-gosh, another one! W-welcome to Candy's Burger and Fries! Is it your first visit, Mister!?"

"Fucking fuck!!" you exclaim, tossing your bat and phone in shock as something vaguely... pink emerges from the inky darkness from the room beyond you.

Before you can react, your flashlight illuminates the attacker for a split second before two cold metal arms press down on your shoulders-

One lone glowing brown eye catches your attention first, her jaw slightly agape, her right arm is almost entirely exposed endoskeleton by this point, numerous loose wires visibly dangling from her elbow to her wrist. Her remaining cheek is glowing a vibrant pink, illuminating the face of the abomination as well as your own.

Her voice is surprisingly chipper and upbeat despite her morbid appearance, like an overenthusiastic Sonic employee minus the roller skates, her lack of eyelid only further adds to the impression of complete and utter excitement she seems to exude as her hands grip into your shoulders.

"Gah! Please don't hurt me-" pleading for mercy from a robot, it's to be assumed you haven't watched Terminator before in this story. The robot is quite a bit taller than you, roughly six and a half feet tall, she leans down to put her nose to yours, her nose caves slightly, it's rubber, and gives a small, sharp squeak.

"Are you thirsty, Mister!? Here, we have a chair and table just in the room beyond this one, why don'cha let me t-take care of you tonight?"

"Um... I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh my gosh, pay attention, I'm C-cindy and I'll be taking care of you tonight! No arguing, you're our first guest all month so tonight is o-o-on the house!"

Having said her piece, she lets you go and begins to half-sprint (surprising she doesn't fall apart...) to the next room. You gasp as her tail jerks backwards, wrapping around your hand like a coil, and yanking you along with her.

"Wait- gah!" You have to run to keep up with her, otherwise she'd wind up literally dragging you alongside her. You are able to reach down just enough to grab your phone before you're brought to the so called 'dining room'.

Put simply, the dining room is an empty concrete room with a single wooden chair and a slightly chipped wooden table set in the middle of the room. Any attempt to argue that this is not a proper dining room would have been a wasted effort, as the anima-erm, Cindy you suppose, quickly sets you by the chair, taking your hand in her own and gesturing for you to sit.

You don't fight her, for a supposedly plastic animatronic her grip has a surprising amount of force. Once you are seated she lays one elbow on the table (her good arm) and leans forward, her red, fabric bow dangling onto the wood below before speaking.

"Well Mister, I'm afraid the Cook just left for the night, but we'll make do with what we h-h-have, we do have a fine range of soda pops to enjoy! Any preference? We have Dat Taste Classic, Dat Taste Diet, Cherry Dat Taste, Vanilla Dat Taste, Dat Taste Sangrita Apple Baja Blast, Dat Ta-"

"Um, just a uh, Classic is good-" you interject before she gets caught in a loop from reciting drink names at such a speed. She claps her hands together happily. With a 'sproing!' a bolt pops out of her bad arm and two more wires dangle from the holes in her suit, you wince but she doesn't seem to notice.

"One Dat Taste Classic coming up! Don't move a muscle!" She literally bounces out of the room, tail wagging swiftly from side to side. Were she not so warped, and were your previous experience here not so life-threatening, you'd almost call her actions and demeanor kind of adorable.

-Oh goddammit she's a fucking robot she's probably going to bring you WD-40 or something.

You sit for roughly ten minutes, the intense darkness of the 'dining room' makes you start to feel uneasy, this Cindy character so far seems friendly enough, but what of the others you saw when you were unlucky enough to visit the factory by day? Every thump and thunk that echoes through the long abandoned factory puts you ever so more on edge.

Clink!

You are jarred from your growing paranoia as a tall, surprisingly clean glass is pressed against the table. You jerk forward as you notice Cindy leaning over the table once again- how the hell was she able to move around so quickly and so quietly?

"Lucky you, Mister, the g-g-generator is working tonight, so it's cold and everything!"

Before you can press for information, the pink animatronic proudly uses her free hand to pull a tall can of pop off of a slightly dented silver tray balancing on her other hand. She brings it to her mouth where one of her once sharp teeth had chipped. With unusual precision she pops the tab with it, a gentle fizzle emanating through the room.

"Aaaaand there we go~" She hums some showtune to herself as she empties the can from far above the glass, watching the syrupy liquid drizzle in one fine line with her good eye. With finesse, she tilts the can back when the fizz threatens to overflow, and sets the tiny amount of content left in the can next to the glass.

"Purrfect!" two plastic hands clap together, "Are you a fan of cherries, Mister?"

"Uh, sure."

"Great! We had just a few left in the old fridge in the breakroom-"

She apparently notices the look you give.

"-Oh don't wor-r-ry, they're preserved and just as yummy as they were in INSERT_YEAR_'XXXX'_75_99! Promise!"

With that said, she sets her tiny tray on the table, and true to her word a glass jar of preserved cherries are set atop it, she pops the lid off, and with the tip of her finger and thumb grabs the most prominent stem and gently sets the fruit atop your tall glass of soda. Her plastic, segmented tongue briefly flicks past her lips to lap up the cherry juice along her fingertips.

She keeps leaning forward, resting her good elbow on the table, holding her head in her hand, watching you intently with her good eye.

"Well? Let me know how you like it!"

Truth be told, it's just a can of soda poured into a glass, but given the state of your waitress and the overall energy she seemed to radiate, sipping the cola feels far more momentous than it had any right to be.

True to her word, it's icy cold and very refreshing, especially given how dry your throat was from your little panic attack at being jumped by her earlier.

"Mm, it's good." is all you can really think to say, her cheek glows brighter at the compliment,drumming her fingers along the table quicker and quicker, as though she was ready to burst from the pink suit containing her at any time.

"That's wonderful! I was a little teensy bit nervous, I h-hadn't had any guests in a while so I'm so happy you're happy!" her voice sings out, her own enthusiasm usurping the slight distortion that usually interferes with her voice.

"Wait, so you guys see guests a lot then?" you ask the robot.

She stands up, and begins to make her way around the table, still sliding one lone finger across the wood.

"Not as much as we used to... and when we do get guests, they never seem to want to be served by little old me, it's always my brother, even Blank sees more business than I do, so I g-got lucky when I found you first!"

She pounces once again, this time behind you. Before you can protest or even express surprise, you feel thick, heavy palms cup around your shoulders. Her grip isn't painful, but very firm, betraying how otherwise flimsy the animatronic looks. You feel her fingers keep drumming, sinking into your shoulders.

"Um- What are you doing?"

"Oh! A-all of Candy's guests seemed to like it when he'd r-rub their shoulders while they were here, oh gosh! It doesn't hurt does it? I-I don't see many guests so I don't know how hard I'm-"

She releases her grip on you immediately, her voice jumping tone like a deflated balloon.

"Oh no, no it's completely fine, I just wasn't expecting it." you sputter out quickly, feeling strangely guilty over what would usually be a justified outburst. A tinny sigh of relief escapes the animatronic kitty.

"Phew, that's a relief, in that case-" her fingers return, pulling you backwards into your chair, encouraging you to lean back as far as it would allow. The plastic shell of her fingers have the undersides coated by a layer of foam, surprisingly plush. Her touch over your t-shirt (it was a rather humid evening when you left) was cool of course, but the gentle shivers of the processors and hydraulic endoskeleton within makes it difficult not to want to melt into her dull, slightly vibrating touch.

"-Just sit back and let me take g-good care of you, Mister!"

You feel no drive to do anything but.

You would never have thought it would be so easy to ease the tension from your body with what(at least by day) was a murderous robot directly behind you. With that said, it was all too easy to surrender, her thumbs gyrate from their ball joints, rubbing small circles around the base of your neck, the foam scritching where your hair ends.

You feel a warmth start to swell in your chest as she continues to squeeze and release her fingers from your slowly easing shoulders. You barely notice the dull popping behind you occasionally interrupted by a light hum from the animatronic. It wouldn't be until after the experience you'd realize she was purring as she worked.

You feel a growing weight atop your scalp, she's resting her head atop you. Luckily her lower jaw and muzzle were also coated by a similar foam as her fingers, it's not uncomfortable. As she continues to mingle her humming of what has to be some sort of show tune you can vague remember with her purring, you can feel your eyelids start to grow heavy.

The vision of the tall glass on the table in front of you starts to blur, the cherry starting to sink down ever so slowly...

"Psst, don't fall asleep Mister, you sti-i-ill haven't finished your drink."

Her voice stirs you from your near fall into slumber. You blink twice, the real world refocusing itself reluctantly.

"Oh right, sorry, it just feels really nice.." you groan, reaching forward slowly to grab the cold, damp glass in front of you, taking a long, slow sip. The cherry had time to mingle with the cola, providing a pleasant fruity sweetness to the carbonation. The contrast to the mild soda pop burn in your throat and the loosening muscles around your shoulders is downright heavenly.

You feel another curious sensation, something softer than her fingers against your lower neck, then slowly raising its way up your scalp, slightly damp as it musses up your hair before Cindy's chin returns to resting atop you. You recall her licking her fingers clean earlier and realized you had just received the same treatment.

"What was that for?"

"For such a sweet compliment, Mister," she chimes. After a pause, you feel the sensation again- it catches you less off guard now as her segmented tongue drags across your neck, nice and slow. "Mmmwah!"

At first the thought of being 'groomed' or 'kissed' by an animatronic was strange, but the combination of sensations overwhelmed any sense of surrealism attempting to ruin the moment

You keep hold of the glass in your increasingly lighter arms with effort, sipping from the straw occasionally as the clicking purrs of Cindy vibrate down through your scalp before coming to a halt to rest between your ears, her fingers working with more pressure now that you've lightened up considerable.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself Mister, you'll come back-k-k again, won't you?"

Her chipper, usually bursting voice lowered volume slightly to accommodate the mood, still valley in tone but far less giddy than when she first met you. You're grateful she occasionally stops her purring to speak up, as the threat of falling asleep seems to be constant with her.

"I'd love to."

"Wonderful!! I'm sure you'll love it here, my brother would probably love a customer like you, and I'm sure Blank and Chester would like to see you as well sometime, and um..."

She trails off, her grip lightens.

"What's wrong?"

"... Well, I... Gosh..." she trails off again, you feel something warm atop your head and realize a pinkish glow was usurping the room from her remaining cheek LED, "-well, anyways I was just thinking you'll really like it here is all," she deflects with a nervous giggle.

"Are you sure that's it?" you ask, detecting the shift in Cindy's tone, not that it's too difficult, even with a few pieces missing here and there, any changes in the animatronic's demeanor are very noticeable, even in a sleepy, relaxed state.

"What do you mean Mister?" she asks quickly, you hear a rapid tapping- not her fingers- her tail flicking against the concrete floor in simulated anxiety.

"You just sounded kinda bummed about something."

"... Oh shoot, I guess I may as well say it up front, I really like this sort of thing- but um, the others here, they offer more exciting fun and versatility for the customers, they are better built than I am, and nowadays all I do is s-s-serve pop and uh, watch them perform usually. I just get all nervous because once a customer spends time with anyone else, they..." she trails off again, finishing quietly.

"-don't ever want to spend any time with me anymore."

... A heavy pause before her voice sparks back up-

"-And that's completely fine! I mean, if the customer is happy then I'm happy! Sorry- that was awful selfish to say-"

She goes back to work, though the mood doesn't lift quite as easy. You aren't really sure how to respond, hell, up until tonight you only knew this place as the creepy factory full of killer robots, not some expanded vaguely-defined business by night.

"It doesn't sound selfish to me at all, I don't know why someone would want to avoid you, you seem really nice."

"Oh, it's not that, it's just that I'm not as experienced as the rest of the crew, even though I've been around longer, I-all I really know how to do is give massages and make simple drinks. And I only know about massages by watching my brother, I don't know that much about humans and making people happy like the others do, I'm l-lucky just to be allowed to be a greeter here."

She tenses her fingers into your shoulders, for a brief moment her voice loses the life it had earlier, and Cindy begins to feel significantly older and more worn than usual... She doesn't feel dangerous, just melancholic, like she was covering even more than the occasional statements and emotions she'd let slip through the night all along.

"Is there... anything I can do to help you feel better?

"Oh don't worry about me! It's my job to treat you, not the other way around-"

"But if I want to help you, then aren't you technically still doing me a favor?"

She pauses, whirring slightly as she processed the information given to her, you briefly worry about getting her stuck in a paradox.

"Well- but... There is one thing that my brother does I wanted to try but... gosh... I'm not sure if I'm any g-good at it." she whispers in a hushed tone, as though she's afraid the walls could hear her or something.

"Well, no matter what it is, I'd be happy to help, you seem sweet enough."

"You really mean that?" still keeping her voice low, her mood shoots back up like a rocket. You nod.

You feel something tighten around your stomach, from the ribbed segments you realize she has you wrapped in her tail.

"Um-" you start to protest as you see one leg-mostly busted open with the endoskeleton beneath on display through the cracks- cross over your lap, still secured and held still by Cindy's tail as she moves in front of you. To avoid knocking the table over, you feel her foam padded rump rest atop your lap.

She's not too heavy, but the change of dynamic so abruptly catches you off guard, goddammit- your cheeks are flushing- what is wrong with you?

"What are you going to do-?" you whisper, feeling just as paranoid now about speaking aloud as she is. Her good eye gazes to the open room behind her before she whispers back, equally tense-

"Sorry Mister, but please be quiet, I'm not, um... qualified to do this, could you... close your eyes for me?"

You have a quick internal debate, but realizing she has you locked down by her tail anyways, all you can do is trust her. You can feel the hairs on your neck and arms start to rise, your body tingling, the warm, slightly buzzing form of the feline sitting atop you not helping alleviate these unexpected, albeit not unpleasant feelings.

Cindy seems to notice the rising tension as well.

"I promise I won't h-hurt you, Mister..."

Your breath gets caught in your throat, her cheek was glowing so brilliantly the whole room was illuminated in a rosy pink, her processor was working into overdrive, you could see the hydraulics within her exposed side pumping, steam venting from where her pink suit was missing...

"I trust you..." you say, just as much reassuring yourself as to her and close your eyes as you feel her start to sidle forward...

You start to tremble against your will as there is a brief pause, you can hear Cindy's slightly ragged 'breathing' mingling with the faint 'tssst' of steam releasing from her side and back. She scoots further into your lap, until you can feel the cloth of her bow press against your shirt, her now-warm hands resting atop your shoulders.

Hot air blows against your neck as she leans closer still- even with your eyes shut you can see the pink glow of her burning cheek through your eyelids. She's so close you can smell her-

"Nnya~"

You feel cool, foam-padded, slightly damp lips tap against your own very briefly, a second at most, followed by what is either a nervous or excited squeal from Cindy.

"Um-"

"Yeehee!! I did it! Thank you-thankyouthankyou-"

Before you can speak out again, the cat pulls you into a hug, more sudden than she realizes as the chair topples backwards, her arms keep your head from hitting concrete as she nuzzles against your neck.

THAMP!

"Uh-"

"Oh gosh, finally! I finally did it, thank you so much Mister! I'll never forget you, I- I..."

She rolls over, dragging you with her in excitement, in her deteriorated state it's a miracle she isn't falling to pieces, even more so, laying atop her is doing very little to ease the mounting tension she's layered onto you through the ni-

"I... am overheating. Hee hee, whoops!" she giggles to herself. Before you can say anything else, her eye goes dull, and she falls limp under you in an instant.

"Uh-Cindy?"

"Ugh, told her she couldn't handle it..."

You jump a mile high as a brownish figure with no eyes trudges past you slowly. He barely seems to register you as he pulls Cindy away and effortlessly lifts the cat over his shoulder.

"That said, she tries her best, she really does. I'm sure she'll appreciate the memory when she wakes up. That said, the rest of the crew is a bit busy tonight..."

The monkey begins to walk out of the room, but turns to give you a once over before finishing in a rather gruff voice.

"However the Boss said he wants to spend tomorrow evening with you personally, a reward for treating his Sister so sweetly apparently. It'd be best if you make sure to show up, not many people can boast an evening alone with the boss. Maybe... dress a bit nicer for the occasion too. Just a friendly recommendation. Take care, Sir."

With that, he leaves into the darkness with Cindy's body, leaving you alone in the empty white room sitting beside the nearly broken wooden chair nearby, the half finished soda still atop its table.

"What."

END OF NIGHT 1