Past Present Party pt1

Monday, January 6th, 2121

8:30 am

The robot chicken stirred softly, her wake up program taking a moment to initiate in the cold of the apartment. She hadn’t slept well, regardless of her battery claiming to be at full capacity. She clicked on the light beside her charging station, then scrunched her eyelids in response to the sting of her ocular sensors adjusting. This morning, as was the case most mornings, she pondered why on earth she was programmed to feel pain of all things. Of course the question was more rhetorical, even if it hadn’t left her head; Generations ago there was that law that mandated robots and humans must be able to feel the same things, with no options of adjusting these settings. Something about it being more peaceful that way, if humans and robots were at the same ‘level’ or something. Her processors didn’t want to get into it. She’d been out of school for 8 years, and the only history she had to concern herself with was that of which her job was related to.

She stood and stretched, her smooth yellow plating visible in the gap between her pajama pants and shirt. While she wasn’t required to come in so early, since the restaurant didn’t even open until 11am, she knew there would be work waiting for her, She knew who had closed out the night before, and they were notorious for… slacking. Not that it bothered her. In fact, coming in and working without the threat of strangers coming in for food, that was her dream. She wasn’t sure how the boss felt about it, but he didn’t ever tell her to stop doing it. Perhaps since she was a manager, he trusted her to make the right decisions for her own schedule.

She went through her morning lubrication procedures, shined her cosmetics, and slipped into her old fashioned uniform. While there was an option to change into it at work, she always prompted for the easier route. The walk to the restaurant was a short one anyways.

The building stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a squat brick and mortar structure, with a historic plaque mounted outside, detailing its age. The framed glass windows and shingled roof were rather quaint when compared to the towering, sleek metal style of the businesses next door. While the rest of the neighborhood had been leveled and rebuilt about 3 times in its lifespan, the restaurant seemed to always scrape by and survive. It had been in the boss’s family for almost 150 years, so maybe that was what gave it its staying power. Maybe someday she’d ask him more about it.

She unlocked the door and stepped into the dining room. As was expected, it wasn’t exactly at her level of clean. With a sigh, she took up a broom and started to sweep. Even when cleaning, they had to keep ‘historically accurate’. It was one of the policies she actually really liked, in a weird sense. It kept up a certain level of magic that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. These were the sorts of quiet moments where she could let her mind drift; times when her stress levels had yet to escalate due to whatever the big issue of the day was. She would drift and wonder if this is what it really felt like back 100 years ago. Things were simpler, more romantic, probably so much… easier. It was a thought that probably passed through every historic re-enactors mind. Well, she couldn’t talk for her co-workers, but that nostalgia was certainly something that kept her going.

A few minutes passed as she wiped down the tables and set out new party hats. Suddenly the bell on the front door jingled. She looked up and smiled. Early as usual, it was her favorite employee and her assistant manager, Bonita. She was a small blue rabbit clad in a white work shirt, pencil skirt, and party hat, much like the other robot was, with a constant look of eagerness about her. She was never the type to sit still, taking the old adage of ‘time to lean time to clean’ into the very forefront of her directive programming.

“Birdie Lu, what are you doing in so early??” the rabbit asked, a certain hesitant edge to her voice, worried that perhaps her own schedule was off.

“Freddi and Mae closed last night, and I figured I’d make sure everything was clean for the school group coming in today. They did reserve their time a little earlier than most groups do.” When the chicken looked up, her coworker was already hauling things from the janitorial closet, carrying far more things than she should have been at once.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED ME IN EARLIER I WOULD HAVE HAD THIS PLACE CLEANED UP LICKITY SPLIT!” the blue one called from down the hall, beginning to frantically mop the floor. Birdie Lu shook her head, but she was smiling at the display of pure, typical Bonita. She set her own rag and cleaner down and went to assist her friend. As they worked, the bunny motor-mouthed about… something. To be honest, the chicken had totally lost track of what she was even talking about, but it wasn’t work related, and it was nice to kind of be a part of a conversation.

It wasn’t until about 15 minutes til 11am that the other two members of the wait staff rolled in. The first was Mae, an average built, pink and white robot fox. She dragged herself in and punched her timecard. The manager often wondered if there was some kind of malfunction going on in her. She always seemed so drained, even first thing in the morning. She waved a yellow hand at the vixen.

“Mae! How are you doing today?”

The fox paused for a moment, then replied, “I’m ray of sunshine being sucked into an endless black void,” She stated with with a small grin. Well, at least she was smiling now. It was an improvement.

With 2 minutes to spare, in came the last of the robot workers, Freddi. She lived in an apartment built onto the back of the restaurant, and as a result, didn’t roll out of bed until absolutely needed. Her skirt and shirt were wrinkled, but she wore the happiest expression of the lot, and it really did seem to make up for it. She gave everyone a hug when she came in, and seemed genuinely enthused to re-live the history of her ancestors. She was certainly a Fazbear, molded from the feet up to be an affable entertainer. The kids loved her, and well, she loved the adults. Perhaps a tad… too much, but, regardless of her position being lower than Birdie Lu’s, her family name and relation to the big boss meant, despite her laziness when cleaning, she was just as much of a staple as the bricks of the building.

Before they opened the doors for the day, Birdie Lu’s stepped forward before her crew. “Today we have the Denford Elementary group coming. L-let’s make today a day that they never forget!” She gave a look that was supposed to be motivational, but it really fell flat. This always seemed to happen, but the crew got the message. It was another day of living in the past.