Tori Zeen?
Remi watched as Tori got out of the car, "Pick me up at 6:00 AM remember?"
"Even if I don't my alarm will," Remi and Tori laughed.
Tori waved goodbye as Remi pulled away, smiling. Tori sighed, looking at their backpack. Moondrop was printed onto it, holding the Dream Sphere. They walked into the Pizzaplex through the staff door, using their ID to get in.
"First things first," Tori looked at their phone, "The daycare.."
Tori hadn't been to the daycare since they were 6. By that time they had gotten into school. They also had a babysitter by then, but their love for the daycare attendants never went away.
Tori began to walk towards the hallway that they remembered ever so faintly. They expected to work in the daycare since they were a cleaner there for crying out loud! But they at least thought that they would be somewhere else for a bit first, apparently the other cleaner had quit a bit earlier than expected.
Tori walked down the hallway, watching the metal door lift so they could duck under. Tori stared at the slide; they had a faint memory of the first time they came here.
"But-" Tori squeaked at their father leaned down.
"You'll be okay, Tori," Their father kissed their head before walking away.
Tori looked at the slide, and taking a deep breath, slid down the colorful tube. They landed in the ball pit, basically disappearing into the rainbow balls.
"New friend! Let me help you!" Tori was lifted up by a sun animatronic, "What's your name?"
"T-Tori.." Tori stuttered out, looking at the other children.
"Welcome to the daycare Tori! I'm Sundrop, but just call me Sun or Sunny!" Sundrop carried them out of the ball pit.
"Okay," Tori watched their counterpart fly around the children.
Tori re-opened their eyes. What they wouldn't give to be kid in the daycare again..
Tori jumped as a chime started on their phone, it was the Moondrop Dream Sphere music. Tori quickly turned off the alarm, walking down to the daycare doors and opening them with their shoulder.
Tori wasn't strong, let alone tall. So they had a bit of trouble making their way into the daycare. Luckily, they already had the uniform on so no-one really payed any attention to them.
"New friend!" Sundrop exclaimed as Tori finally pushed the giant, heavy doors open, "Are you the new helper?"
Tori nodded, thinking one thought; More like an old friend. They said nothing about it though, as Sundrop probably didn't remember them.
"Well we should get started so we can finish!" Sundrop read their name tag, his smile flattering a bit when he saw the name Tori Zeen on their name tag.
His smile came back though, just as quickly as it flattered. Something nagged him in the back of his mind, he had heard that name before, but where?
Tori picked up one of the barrels that toppled over, placing it back just like Sundrop and Moondrop do. Sundrop began to pick up the toys and craft stuff still out. Tori finished placing all the barrels back in their places.
Tori looked into the play areas, "Am I gonna do the play areas?"
Sundrop had heard them ask the question, "Do you want me too?"
Tori jumped, looking at Sundrop wide-eyed, they hadn't thought he had heard them.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Sundrop waved his hands apologetically.
"You're fine," Tori shook their head.
Sundrop checked the time in his head, seeing it was almost the end of the hour. He started to worry, what if Moon scared Tori? They seemed like such a type to be a very scared and anxious person.
"Can you do the play areas? I don't want to get lost.." Tori had never liked the play areas, so it made sense.
"Of course!" Sundrop fidgeted on his feet.
Tori didn't raise an eyebrow as he did so. This confused Sun, he was used to the people in the daycare hating his energy. Sundrop then went into the play areas, leaving Tori to finish with the arts and crafts stuff.
Tori looked at their watch, only 2 minutes before they got to see Moondrop once more.. They twitched a bit, shaking off their hands and wiping them on their work jeans, they began to clean the little table.
By the time the lights went off, Tori had gotten to scrubbing down the table. Glitter glue was stuck to the point they had to scrub pretty hard on the table. Tori felt Moon's eyes on them, but they didn't dare flinch at the scarlet gaze.
"Hello, Zeen," Moondrop dropped down from his wire behind Tori.
"Hello, Moondrop," Tori replied without looking away from their task.
"Scared to look at good ol' Moon?" Moondrop shifted so he was leaning in front of Tori.
"No," Tori finally met Moondrop's eyes, the red making their eyes look a bit red as well.
"I don't believe you~" Moondrop teased.
Tori sighed, "Well, believe me or not, I have to do my job."
Moondrop flinched as Tori hit him a bit with the rag. Tori obviously wasn't scared of him if they had courage to do that. Although sometimes fear makes us do things we regret.
Moon met their eyes again, seeing no forms of regret in their eyes, he backed off. Tori caught his interest, usually people were terribly afraid of him. Why weren't they?
Tori wanted to motion for Moondrop to come back as he backed away, but they did no move to do so. They continued to scrub at the glue stuck on the table. Moondrop watched them, finally grabbing the wire and dangling above them. Moondrop watched the way they tried to scrape it away with their nails, painted purple and blue with stars and a moon.
"Are you just gonna stare at me?" Tori continued to scrub and they felt Moondrop's hat on the back of their neck.
"Perhaps," Moondrop swung a bit on his wire.
Tori snorted, "Not an acceptable answer, Moondrop."
The way they said Moon's name was a bit scary, but Moondrop suppressed any fear from this person. Moondrop decided to test what their fears were, so he picked them up.
Tori didn't panic as they were picked up, dropping the rag on the table below them before they got too high. Moondrop flew over to the play places, landing on top gracefully. Tori was set down rather roughly, glaring at Moondrop as they got up.
"Why?" Tori swiped dust off their pants, "Why bring me up here?"
"What are your fears?" Moondrop noted that they weren't scared of heights or the dark.
"I ain't tellin' you!" Tori crossed their arms.
Moondrop's smile flattered, "I'll get you to tell me or I'll figure it out myself."
Tori huffed, "Good luck."
Moondrop didn't care for how they were treating him, since they were nice to Sunny.. That didn't matter though, he put them back down. When they were close enough that Tori wouldn't get hurt, Moon dropped them.
Tori grunted, "These mats do nothing to support falls.."
Moondrop didn't respond, so Tori looked around. When they didn't find him, they stood.
"MOOONN??" They called out for the lunar animatronic.
No reply. Tori was starting to get a bit worried, where could he have gone? Tori shrugged it off, he was an animatronic. They grabbed the cloth again, and even got out bleach for the table.
After about 5 minutes of pure scrubbing, the glitter glue finally came off the god forsaken table. Tori sighed, their arms hurt, but that didn't really matter. The only thing left to do were the parts that Sundrop didn't finish in the play areas.
Tori bit their nails at the thought of the daycare attendant. Moondrop still hadn't come back, and it was nagging at them. They toned it down to Moon leaving for his security shifts. They had been told about that. If Tori didn't see Moondrop in 13 minutes, then they would search around.
Tori sighed, pulling out their phone to listen to music, along with their wireless headphones so they could put their phone in their backpack. They also checked the time, 2:24.
It felt so much longer than that.. Tori put on their music, shuddering at the sight of the play places. They went up the stairs like they were supposed to, not up the slide.
Tori went around in the mazes, which were surprisingly clean for about 10 minutes, forgetting about Moondrop until they heard bells. Bells? Their music didn't have bells in it.. Moon! They weren't giddy, but they were relieved to know he was safe.
"Why are you in the play areas?" Moondrop appeared on the outside out the squared off area.
Tori snorted, "Because it's my job to clean?"
"We don't allow food in these?" Moondrop tilted his head.
"Yeah, well better safe then sorry," Tori sighed.
Moondrop's next question made their blood run cold; "Do you know how to get out?"
Tori realized that they didn't, and their cleithrophobia (fear of being trapped) kicked in quicker than the lights turning off. Their breathing caught on the way out, which Moon didn't seem to noticed until they hadn't taken a breath for about 50 seconds.
"Okay, breath, kid, breath," Moondrop tapped their back.
That triggered a coughing fit along with heavy and fast breathing from Tori. Their body shook as they coughed, and Moon had to go into the play area to get them out safely. Moondrop had them rest on him despite their protests to not keep him down.
"You're safe," Moon wasn't really pleased how he had found out that fear, it was quite sad.
Tori's breathing evened out, with the aid of the music Moondrop released to ease the tension in their body. Moondrop wasn't certain it was safe for them to go back into the play areas. Although, Moon wasn't about to run around in there when he knew they were clean.
Sundrop: 'Moonnieee, com'on. Do it for Toriii?'
Moondrop: 'No, I'm not going to.'
Sundrop: 'At least let them go then!'
Moondrop: 'No! Tori almost had a panic attack in there, did you not see that?!'
Sundrop stayed quiet after that. Moon sighed in his head, knowing that Sun would probably do the cleaning in the play areas for Tori.
"Having a fight with Sundrop?" Tori looked at Moondrop's eyes, deep in thought.
Moondrop snapped his head down at them, "What?"
"I know you and Sun share a mind," Tori shrugged, laying down on Moondrop's chest again.
Moondrop's mechanical heartbeat and breathing soothed them a bit more. Would he care if they slept? Well maybe he would if they slept on him.. But just in the daycare in general? Would he care? Tori's eyes closed before they could move off of the lunar animatronic. Moondrop seemed to notice immediately, shifting a bit. As much as he didn't want to wake them, he had to do his shifts. They also couldn't just sleep, but they did technically get their job done.. Moondrop was torn between his options.
