Fredrica's ch3 pt6

Hours passed as you and Bonnie worked together on costumes. You had no idea something like crafting would ever have been something you personally considered kind of fun. She was a very good teacher, even though you weren’t exactly an excellent student. As you worked, the both of you sitting at one of the many tables in the room, you started to tell her a little more about yourself and your life. You also decided to sanitize it a bit and make it a little less bleak for her sake. Despite your rather normal life, she seemed absolutely enthralled by your stories. It was the first time you actually realized that, since she was a robot and all, she hadn’t experienced most of the things you were telling her about.

Opening up to her was the best idea on your part, because it made her open up in response. She started to tell you all about what she could remember from her past. She pauses in the middle of doing some beading and thinks hard, probably probing the furthest depths of her memory banks. “It’s fuzzier the further back I try to remember, but… I can remember when I first arrived at that restaurant… I was so nervous for my first show…At least I think I was? I had a guitar, a red one. I remember the paint on it was really pretty and sparkly. And there were lots and lots of kids there… They were all so happy Mike! I don’t remember who, but there was a whole band with me.” She closes her eyes for a moment, smiling, “We sang Happy Birthday, and there was a big cake. It was really nice. I know… Back then I wasn’t really able to think a lot, but I know I was happy.” Her eyes pop open, her smile fading a bit, “It was really nice for a while, then they stopped repairing us, and the kids stopped smiling and eventually no one came at all… B-but that’s when Daddy came! He was the first person I had seen in a really long time and he looked at me so kindly… It was the first time someone had smiled at me in a long time… He made me able to walk and talk again, and made me a new body, and… He made me able to feel. Like I was really alive like a person.” She looks at you, “Ah, I’m sorry if my story bored you…”

You shake your head, “No, not at all! It’s really interesting! I never knew robots could remember things that far back.” You look down at the sequins your sewing on so you don’t poke the needle into your finger. “So… Daddy, that’s the owner, right?”

“Yes! He’s very nice! He says that we’re like his children and he gives us gifts too! It’s like having a birthday of our own! He only comes in once a week though since he’s so busy with the side business, but if something ever goes wrong here he drops everything and comes to help. Like last month when Chica’s audio box got gummed up and whenever she tried to sing she sounded like an old man, he was here in minutes flat and had her cleaned up and better than ever before midnight! He’s really amazing, Mike. He and Mama are the best parents a girl could ask for.” You weren’t going to say it, but you were sort of jealous, since your own family had been so dysfunctional.

You get so caught up with listening to Bonnie that you stick yourself pretty badly with the needle. You yelp and grip your finger. “A-Are you hurt?” She asks.

You lick the little spot of blood off your finger, “It’s nothing, I’ll be okay,” You laugh a little, “I guess that’s why I was hired for security and not seamstress work, unless that’s what you had the last guy doing.”

Her expression contorts strangely, “No… No the last person… No… he was a very bad man… A VERY bad man…” She shivers oddly and sets her work down, making you worry. Shit, you always seem to know how to hit a sore spot. She slumps in her chair and speaks very softly, “You.. You’re nothing like he was… He… He… Always said he liked me… But… H-he made me really uncomfortable… But he never dropped it…. A-and he touched me… And I tried to make him stop… B-b-but… He used the wire cutters and.. I c-couldn’t move again…..” Her shivers had evolved into a full tremble. You hug her and she cools down a little with the shaking. “But… But Mama came and saved me. Mama saved me and Daddy fixed me… And… W-well, you’re here now…” She hugs you back, “...Mama made sure he would NEVER hurt anyone again… ever…” While the red flags certainly go up in your head over this, the guy seemed like a scuzzball and seemed to have gotten what he deserved, right? Oh shit… Mama… Killed a man. You really were in a pizza robot mafia family. Or maybe your imagination was just running wild again. You decide to be shaken up by this revelation at a later time and instead focus on comforting Bonnie.

You sooth her in the most innocent and gentle way possible. Even if you made an assumption about the fate of the last man in your position, you know you’re being watched, and you have been from the very start. What Chica said to you last night was no joke. You didn’t mess with any of the robots. Well, you weren’t ever planning to, of course, unless it was totally consensual,  but even then, while it was okay for the bird, would Mama want you pulling anything lewd with Bonnie? For now, you’re going to be the most gentlemanly security guard this building has ever witnessed.

Eventually Bonnie gets lost in her work again and is her usual content self. The topics all remain light-hearted for the duration of the evening. Finally, one of the costumes is done. Bonnie looks so happy and immediately folds it and grips it in her arms like a precious bit of cargo. “I have to go show Chica right now! Wait here for just a second, I’ll be right back!” The large hipped purple robot skips out the door, and you’re left in relative silence for the moment.