Finally feel crazy enough about it to post my William Afton design that I've been musing on for a bit. Please excuse my handwriting.
This design for him is while he's still (relatively) young in my timeline (think, just before CCs death), so maybe one day I'll draw some designs for how he'd look over the years ^_^
I have a lot of thoughts about him, which I'll put under this read more ^_^ Just so I don't clog this post and make it 13 miles long, lol
I like to imagine William as a very animated person. He has big expressions, lots of gesticulation when he speaks, etc. Despite how expressive he is, he's still excellent at covering up his more unsavory feelings. He's a sweet-talker, very charming to most people. There are those who find him creepy: his "feminine" features, overly animated body language, and childish interests make other adults feel uncomfortable around him sometimes. Children adore him, teens find him annoying, and adults are occasionally mixed on him.
He has a fondness for art, cartoons, and theatrics (and bunnies/rabbits). The kind of man that scribbles small drawings in the margins of his notebooks. The kind of man that puts on morning cartoons while he eats his breakfast, and genuinely laughs at slapstick antics. I definitely think he knows a few party tricks too, small magic tricks and juggling and what not. He's ridiculous, honestly. I think people get weirded out by him when they realize all of this isnt part of his "work persona", but is just genuinely his personality.
He is well groomed (he takes it very seriously), charming, financially shrewd, talented in his hobbies, and generally very successful... most people pay him no mind outside of acknowledging how eccentric he is. Even people disquieted by him cant quite articulate why.
His lively mannerisms and unserious interests are contrasted by his short emotional fuse and violent tendencies. Or maybe it's perfectly congruent? He's childish in all aspects of his personality: his hobbies, as well as his selfish, destructive, temperamental mind. William is good at putting up a facade, but his smile rarely meets his eyes. He is entitled, controlling, egotistical... and a very jealous man.
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It has taken me years to settle on a design for him that i both like drawing and like to look at it. I've encountered a lot of very good Afton designs in this fandom, but I think this is kind of personal thing, because everyone's version is unique to their ideas, headcanons, and interpretation of him. I struggled to settle on what I think my Afton would look like.
I had a hard time trying to balance what I wanted to draw and what I thought was "good enough", before deciding I should just be honest with myself and lean into the fact that I love creepy, eccentric, pretty men. He's pretty! Handsome but... specifically in a pretty way. I don't know... I like him.
I also did want at least a bit of visual consistency between him and my AU's version of him, which led me down the road of making him more flamboyant. Theyre kind of like a fucked up pair of siblings, weird brother and sister.
I also wanted to take special care in describing his personality outside of his negative tendencies. I really adore the fact that Afton is so often canonically characterized as someone who genuinely adores theatrics and performance, and I like to lean into it. The idea of such a bitter, miserable person simultaneously having these silly, ridiculous interests is incredibly entertaining to me.
Thank you for reading, if you got this far. I know my writing can be very pretentious so I appreciate those who stick with me while I ramble. ♡
thing i hastily threw together because i thought this song suited fnaf... song title + lyric translation under the cut
in my personal lore, i like to write golden freddy's spirit as the elder sibling of one of the other victims. the matching bracelets are supposed to represent this connection.
Although most of the major events in the story will be the same, I did change some stuff pretty significantly. This will definitely be a long post, but I tried to keep each section as brief as I could without omitting any big details.
I'm not the strongest writer in the world so please forgive me if anything is clunky!
1980: Fredbears Opens
Fredbears Family Diner officially opens to the public. Winona and Henry are 30 and 29 respectively. The Afton children are 10, 7, and 2. Charlotte is 15.
For a short time, Winona and Henry are the sole performers at Fredbears. The restaurant becomes massively successful, and they begin to expand.
1982: The first Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is opened
Mid 1983: The Bite of '83
During his birthday party, Evan (now 10 years old) is placed into Fredbear's mouth by his sister, Michelle (now 13 years old), and her friends. The animatronic bites down on his head. Evan does not die immediately, but succumbs to his injuries while in the hospital. The Afton family dynamic is immediately changed. Michelle, in the hopes of appeasing her mother and easing her guilt, becomes withdrawn and subservient. Underneath her carefully manicured facade, Winona starts to crack.
(in order to keep this very long post from clogging up the tags too bad, I will put the rest of it underneath a read more!)
Late 1983: Charlotte's Murder
Henry encourages Winona to take some time off after the incident. Winona sees this as an attempt to distance her from the company and prevent her personal tragedy from being associated with the brand. Winona is too paranoid, spiteful, and devastated to perceive Henry's actions any other way.
Charlotte, a social outcast, is frequently bullied by her peers. One evening, during a particularly stormy day, she is pushed out of Freddy Fazbear's and into the back alley. Winona finds Charlotte there, and in a moment fueled by rage, paranoia, and jealousy, murders her. The security puppet manages to crawl out, and short circuit over Charlotte's body, leading her spirit to possess the animatronic.
Following the two tragedies, both Fredbears and Fazbears are closed. Henry briefly steps away from the company to grieve, presently unaware of Winona's actions.
1985: Ghosts and Funtime Animatronics
During the companies hiatus, Winona realizes that Charlotte is now possessing the puppet. I won't go into Winona's motivations in this post, because I have a lot to say, but this leads her to becoming interested in the concept of possession.
Both as an attempt to further her "research" and rebrand the company, Winona develops the Funtime Animatronics. While the other Funtimes were conceptualized soley for entertainment, Circus Baby was designed to trap and kill a child discreetly. Before Circus Baby could even be revealed to the public, Elizabeth (now 7) finds herself alone with her in Winona's workshop, and is killed. Circus Baby is immediately shelved, and the other Funtimes are never finished.
1987: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Reopens
(this year is kind of stacked so this will be long, sorry!)
The company scrambles to create a new line of animatronics in the wake of the Funtime's cancelation. They land on the Toys, and reopen Fazbear's. The Toys are not just cuter, but also equipped with high tech security devices. They are able to record (grainy, low quality) security footage, and are set to be able to walk around the pizzeria during operational hours in order to keep an eye on the guests.
While public reception of the restaurant was good, employees had issues with new animatronics. They reacted negatively to staff and adults (staring, freezing up), and even attempted to break into the security office after hours.
Two tragedies would occur during 1987: The Missing Children Incident and The bite of '87.
During a birthday party, 5 children between the ages of 7 and 13 would disappear. Their bodies would not be found during the first investigation of the pizzeria.
Later, an employee would be bitten by Toy Foxy/Mangle. His brain was irreparably damaged, and he died almost immediately. This time, while investigating the pizzeria, police would discover the bodies of the five missing children inside some of the classic animatronic suits being stored in the backroom.
The locals believed that the employee killed by Toy Foxy/Mangle was the one who murdered the children, and that he had been tampering with the animatronics in an attempt to scramble their security devices, leading to their strange behavior and eventually his death. Police did not have many leads, and the case went cold.
Of course, Winona had been the one to kill those children and force their bodies into the spare suits. By tampering with the animatronics herself, she created a rumor that covered up her tracks.
The restaurant would close, the Toys were scrapped, and the old animatronics were seized by the police. Henry would entirely step down from the company and disappear from the public eye.
1993: Anotherrr Fazbear's
In 1993, Winona would attempt to open another Freddy Fazbear's. With a tighter budget and (to be frank) less enthusiasm from upper management, the restaurant was a bit... mediocre. The classic animatronics that had been used to hide bodies during the 1987 tragedies had been reclaimed by Fazbear's, refurbished, and repurposed for this new restaurant (unbeknownst to the public).
Michelle (now 22) had been working closely with her mother for the passed few years. She took up managerial duties at the new Fazbear's location, but almost immediately gave up her position due to PTSD episodes and hallucinations she experienced while on the premises (those hallucinations being the "it's me" type easter eggs in FNAF 1). She would retire to a more internal role in the comany.
1997: Freddy's closes... Again
After a few years of subpar profits and rumors of haunted animatronics, Fazbear's would once again close its doors.
2000: Afton Robotics
Under the name Afton Robotics, Winona would begin a new project to revitalize her career. The Funtimes were finally completed (using some parts from the classic animatronics, wink nudge) and Circus Baby's child-killing mechanisms were removed.
Circus Baby and the other Funtimes were kept in a warehouse rather than a proper pizzeria of their own, and were rented out to other establishments. The business model was surprisingly successful, particularly because Winona's animatronics were so advanced and personable.
2006: Decline and Disappearance
After 6 years of success, public interest in animatronic entertainers would suddenly nosedive. The rental service was declining in clientele, and discussions of closing it were floating around.
Late one night, Winona orders the Funtimes to be taken to her personal workshop. Michelle oversaw the transportation of the animatronics.
Excuse me for being crass, but shit hits the fan. With every major player present, the spirits take their opportunity to corner Winona. Out of options, she puts on the decaying Spring Bonnie suit (a decision i will explain in another post alongside her general motivations), and dies due to a springlock failure. Her body, inside of the suit, is sealed away in her workshop.
Afterwards, the newly formed Ennard takes control of Michelle's body in order to escape. Like in the games, Michelle doesn't (completely) die from this, but for a time she is partially controlled by the ghosts and animatronic parts inside of her.
Michelle, now in control of the company after her mother's "disappearance", chooses to dissolve it and leave Fazbear's behind.
2015: Fazbear's Fright
A former assistant and reverent fanatic of Winona's opens a haunted house style attraction dedicated to the legacy and rumors surrounding Fazbear Entertainment. With permission from local authorities, the team is allowed to search through Winona's condemned workshop. They manage to uncover the sealed off room, and take Springtrap back to the attraction.
Michelle, (now independent of Ennard) curious and well aware of the owner's strange fanaticism, took it upon herself to investigate this new business.
The attraction is open for several months before being burned to the ground. Michelle, who had realized that her mother was very much conscious inside of the springlock suit, tried to destroy her by burning down the building. Obviously this didn't work.
2020: The End
Years after her departure from the company, Henry returns to try and set things right. After getting back in contact with Michelle, and confirming suspicions she had long held, Henry creates a plan to finally put an end to the nightmare.
Under the guise of a new restaurant, Henry and Michelle lure and capture all of the lost animatronics and spirits. Now gathered in one place, Henry's plan is to once again set them ablaze.
Originally, Henry and Michelle had a plan for how they themselves would escape. But once the fire started, the two understood that they were right where they wanted to be.
The building burns down. Henry and Michelle perish in the flames. The spirits of all the children are set free, and Winona finally faces the consequences of her terrible actions.
And that's it! I cut the events off at Pizza Sim. Of course, you could say UCN happens... that could be Winona's punishment.
Although Winona/Springtrap is my favorite, there is no good version of this story where she doesn't face any consequences.
I have a lot of details I plan to elaborate on in the future... Like Winona's motivations, Henry and Michelle's relationships with eachother & all the other characters, and some... self indulgent stuff that happens behind the scenes. Much more to come! Thank you for reading!
FNAF AU where i made everyone women because i like drawing women
Below the read more, I'll have extra information about the characters and their dynamics! Eventually I will write up the timeline for the au as well, since I changed and moved some stuff around.
Winona and Henry
Winona and Henry are estranged childhood friends that meet up again as adults in the late 70s, and combine their individual skillsets to open Fredbears Family Diner in 1980.
Winona comes from an affluent British family. She was an only child, and her family held her to extreme standards. As a result of this, Winona is a neurotic perfectionist, and it bleeds into every aspect of her life and personality. Although she herself isn't devoutly religious, her parents were, so she's got a lot of religious baggage (partially because she's a DEEPLY closeted lesbian). She's very good with robotics, but as a talented cartoonist, she primarily focuses on creating the designs for the characters.
Although Winona cares a lot about her public appearance, she is completely incapable of dialing back her eccentric personality. Her striking two-toned wardrobe and unabashed love for cartoons and rabbits makes her stand out amongst any crowd. Extremely well put together and charismatic, but always mildly offputting to other adults for a reason they can't place. Her wit and charm carries her through most situations, but there is always the lingering sense that something unpleasant lurks below the surface.
Henry came from an American working class family. She grew up with 5 sisters, and was raised primarily by her father after their mother passed away. Henry was always interested in engineering and working with her hands. When she was a child, she was picked on for her tomboyish nature, and her peers took to calling her Henry. As an adult and a butch lesbian, she embraces the nickname. Henry focuses on the building of the animatronics, leaving most of the designing and business aspects of Fredbears in Winona's hands.
Henry is an honest and pleasant person, but she's a bit withdrawn. She doesn't do well in social situations. She's incredibly intelligent, and spends most of her time tinkering with whatever she can get her hands on... if she isn't working, that is. Most people have a good impression of her despite her awkwardness.
The two of them struggled to establish themselves as business women in the misogynistic culture of the 1980s, but their respective brilliance propelled them towards inevitable success.
The Families
By the time Fredbears opens in 1980, Winona is already on her second marriage. Michelle and Evan are her children from the previous marriage. Elizabeth, who is only 2 at the time, is from her most recent marriage. Winona's perfectionist tendencies extend to her parenting style. She views her family as a symbol of her achievements, a sign that she's doing "what she's supposed to", a status symbol. She loves her children, but is emotionally unavailable and puts a lot of pressure on them. The appearance that they are a perfect family is ultimately more important to her than whether or not they actually are. Michelle and Winona butt heads frequently as Michelle constantly acts out and defies her mother's wishes. Winona's dynamic with her husbands can best be described as "ships passing in the night". Winona never even took either of their last names, insisting on keeping her maiden name, Afton.
Henry never married. Her daughter, Charlotte, is actually her niece that she adopted. After Henry's sister passed away in an accident, Henry stepped up to take care of her daughter. Charlotte was very young when the accident happened, so life with Henry is basically all she's ever known. Although Henry is a workaholic, her and Charlotte have a mostly good relationship. She supports Charlotte's somewhat morbid interests, and encourages her to be herself despite the bullying she faces from her peers. Charlotte considers the Aftons her second family, although she is a bit intimidated by Winona.
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Like I said, soon I will post a proper timeline for the story. This post is just an introduction to the characters and their family dynamics! Thank you for reading!
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