Jingle J. and Polaris First 'Playdate'
A few employees bring a spindly, eight foot tall jester animatronic into a living room like area, equipped with a long couch, a chair, and a table. The many bells on the animatronic, attached to them on their skirt, their wrists, the tops of their feet, and extending from their hat, make loud jingling noises while they move.
She wears a mask reminiscent of older 'puppet' models or staff bots, with closed eyes and a wide smile. Her gait is long and energetic, arms swishing at her sides. She's mostly unbothered by the annoyance of the employees.
"Play nice," one of the employees says, then closes the door, leaving the robot alone only for a moment.
Not long after another animatronic is brought into the room. Shorter then the first at seven and a half feet with his heeled shoes.
He looks like a more aesthetically pleasing sun model, with bright colors and less uncanny face.
He frequently skirts around the employees attempts to touch him as they usher him in. He gives them a customer service quality smile, thanking them pleasantly for escorting him.
Upon the metal door closing and locking the two in the new room, he grimaces looking to the other in room.
His grimace is quick to change back into a broad, albeit strained smile.
"Ahem....Hello there....new friend. My name is Polaris, and you are?" He emphasizes his name, false cheer to the words.
The puppetoid leaps forward towards their new companion with boundless energy and enthusiasm, the chimes of countless bells still ringing in the air as they offer a three fingered hand.
"Jingle J. Jester, friend! It's very, very nice to meet you!" Their voice matches the energy of their movement, and even while they speak they cannot seem to stay still, swaying back and forth on their heels. "You're from another location, aren't'cha? Another daycare attendant model? Not like me, no, no, I'm not fit for the daycare, I just know some fellows from my location's daycare! I wasn't actually allowed in during open hours. Or anywhere near the general public. But Strudel and Kuiper spent time with me after closing!"
The fellow rambles quicker than lightning striking the ground, hard for any normal human to decipher. Their excitement is obvious, but it seems possible that's just how they are.
Polaris watches, keeping his strained smile and blinking slowly.
Something about the others mannerism read as like that of a child...while he could be wrong and they may not truly be a child in mindset...hard to tell with fellow animatronics over humans.
His smile becomes a bit less broad, still smiling but less strained then before as he listens.
Watching the other's constant movement, Polaris subconsciously starts to sway slowly. Just enough to make the skirt like ruffles on his waist give a slight swish.
A habit from working with children.
"...Yes, yes I am. I'm not sure which its referred to as though." He tilts his head. "Are...Strudel and Kuiper your....friends Mx. Jingle?" He asks politely, not wanting to outright imply they could be the others...guardians.
"Oh, yes! They got me out of that wretched box - I don't like cramped spaces, no siree, much too small for a fellow like me! I owe them everything, and they're so nice to me!" She takes her hand away, deciding he doesn't seem interested in shaking it. That is just fine, she's quite happy simply to meet another person. After all, Strudel and Kuiper are her only friends that stuck around. She hasn't seen any of the kids from before she was banned from interacting with them.
"Are your friends in the other room with you too? You're kept in a room, aren't'cha? Or is it different for you?" So, so many questions, very similar to how a child would behave. "Miss Strudel and Mx. Kuiper are still there, I think. I don't think they wanted me to go, they didn't look very happy... But when I go back I can tell them all about you, nice m... oh. gender? Er, pronouns?"
At the mention of them being in a box Polaris gives a concerned frown. "You were...trapped in a box before?"
He gives another polite smile, wary but softer. He can't help it around children, no matter how miserable he truly is, they bring out the best in him.
"I'm glad they helped you, they sound like...good friends." He's grateful when they dropped their hand, not wanting to be...rude but not keen on the contact.
Polaris blinks pausing and giving a strained smile when asked about his....'friend'.
"My....company counterpart...er 'friend' is still in the room yes. I share a room with it. I assume anyone here share's with others from their location." He tells the fellow animatronic, trying to force some cheer he doesn't feel into his words.
He clasps his hands behind his back, metal squeaking at his tight but hidden grip, hiding his discomfort with the last two questions.
"I'm....Male, I'm male, He/him." Polaris tells then, words coming out a bit more stilted, lacking the practice ease his speech usually has.
"Mhm. The charging box. I don't like it very much, but it's the only thing compatible for my model to charge." Their movements grow slower, more uneasy. They have no facial expression, only the ever-smiling mask, so body language is the only tell of how they dislike the topic of conversation. The box isn't nice, not at all. So small. So dark. So cramped.
She's very glad that the conversation is changing subjects, and returns to her previous, energetic state as Polaris brings up his 'friend'. Any sense of discomfort or tenseness is completely lost on her, and she claps her hands together.
"That's wonderful! Friends should be able to stick together. I can't imagine what it would be like without my companions. Oh, and thank you, Mr. Polaris! It's very nice to meet you, very nice indeed! You're so kind!"
They giggle and twirl, the pieces to their skirt flaring out like a tornado. They had been bored out of their mind only a few moments previous, when they were in their 'residential space', so they are very glad to have someone new to talk to with new options for things to do.
"Could you tell me about yourself, Mr. Polaris? You seem very interesting!"
"The rooms here are...decent at least, baren but decent in size and clean. Better then your box, I'm sure." Polaris tries to tell them cheerily, wanting to cheer them up.
"Er....yes, friends are certainly wonderful things to have. It's been nice to meet you as well little light." He feels awkward, agreeing but...not truly having friends himself, the little lights he watches over being the closest to that.
He realized what he said and is quick to backtrack. "Sorry, so sorry, Mx. Jingles, I didn't mean to call you....little light, habit of calling the children that." He smiles politely.
Polaris gives his rays a spin, trying to mirror the others energy.
"I'm sure you are much more interesting then me, but...at my location I work with the children, playing with them, making crafts and ensuring they stay safe. Sometimes they try to rope me into joining them for crafts or 'grand adventures' and stories. My...counterpart watches over them as they sleep."
"Oh, yes, very nice. Much more space in the room than in the box! Strudel and Kuiper both have beds, those are very soft and cozy." The beds aren't the highest quality, but they're better than no bed at all, which is what Jingle is used to. She doesn't have a bed of her own, but Kuiper and Strudel don't mind sharing with her, so it was fine.
"It's no problem, Mr. Polaris! I thought it was nice," Jingle hums with delight. They're more than used to being assigned little nicknames, Strudel and Kuiper do it quite frequently. They're rather fond of it, in fact.
"That sounds a lot like what Strudel does! And your counterpart is like Kuiper, then! Day and night, night and day!" Somehow, the comparison seems to make Jingle more excited than they already were, like they were winning a game of connect the dots. "Of course there'd be similarities, you're all daycare attendant models, but... Still!"
Polaris forces out a chuckle.
"Right....right, same base model, but we each have have things to make us different as well..." Polaris watches them for a moment, tentative.
"Mx. Jingles...what about you, is there anything you enjoy to do or talk about? There...isn't much to do in here but we could play a game of some kind or talk about something you like or....even a story if you'd prefer?"
Polaris can feel his caretaker protocols itching for him to engage like he's supposed to with a child, despite the other being....far bigger then himself, they read as a child nonetheless.
"Hmm... I do like stories a lot, Kuiper tells me those sometimes! In general, I like to do crafts too, Strudel usually helps me with that, but we don't have stuff here right now. And I love games! Games are so much fun, all sorts of games! I like a lot of things, I guess." Their words are followed immediately by an amused giggle, and they do yet another twirl.
They aren't very fond of staying still. They like to make use of all the open space they have while they have it, just in case they get trapped again. That's a thought they don't like.
"Mmmmm, nope..." she mutters to herself, then focuses on Polaris once more, "what would you like to do, Mr. Polaris? I don't mind any of them!"
Seeing their love of moving about, Polaris gets an idea.
"...I could teach you one of the dances I teach the little lights, it's not often I get a chance to, we may not have music but I could hum or sing, I'm...probably out of practice. Just an idea." Polaris spins his rays, smiling to hide his uncertainty at suggesting this.
"Oh! Oh I'd love that! That sounds very fun!" Jingle grabs pieces of their skirt and swishes them about, quite giddy. They love the idea of dancing, though they can't recall if they've ever actually done any real dances before. Probably not, they conclude, but they aren't opposed to trying.
The door to the room opens.
"Wrap it up, you two, you're out of time," one of the employees from earlier says.
Polaris tries to hide how he tenses up, giving the employee a polite smile.
"Of course. Maybe next time Mx. Jingle...?" He looks to Jingle with a smile.
It was...strange to see someone else but...as awkward as it was, he did enjoy his time with...the childlike animatronic.
"Next time, Mr. Polaris! Hopefully it'll be real soon!" Jingle Jester waves with the same overenthusiasm they'd been giving this entire time. They're slightly hesitant to leave, not wanting to abandon their new friend just yet, but follow when the employee beckons them over.
