The security guard strolled past the open doors of the Daycare, hands shoved into the pockets of his black jeans. He stopped a moment, face contorting in confusion. The Starlight Daycare was supposed to be closed for the night. Why're the doors still open? He turned around and briskly walked in, heading to the pickup area. He could see a man there, one he recognized as a father that normally drops off his three gremlins in the morning.
He stopped beside the man, scanning the play area for either of his coworkers. His head snapping over to scan a section of tubes and slides as he heard the happy screech of a little boy. He spotted the more energetic daycare attendant sitting atop one of the tubes, looking beside himself and just a little miffed.
He let out a snort as a boy popped up for a second and lobbed a brightly colored ball from the ball pit at him before ducking down and retreating into the play structures. The attendant let out a suprised 'Yeep!' as it nailed him square between the shoulder blades, startling him enough to loose balance and fall to the matted floor below.
No wonder this place ain't closed, the rug-rats don't wanna leave just yet. He sighed, glancing down at the man to his right.
Mr. Jones leaned against the railing, snickering as he watched the attendant try to chase his kids around the play structures. It was hilarious to watch the tall animatronic's attempts to catch the trio, only to lose track of them.
"I know the daycare was supposed to close at 8 pm and it's almost been half an hour." He chuckled as he glanced up at the head of security. "Unfortunately, they listen to their mother more then me. Plus, parents aren't aloud in the play areas."
He nodded, knowing how troublesome kids can be. He was used to this, sometimes the kids didn't wanna go home. They were simply having too much fun, but it was tiring to deal with this so often. He watched for a few more seconds, enjoying the chaos as his tail lazily swayed and flicked to the rhythm of the daycare's music.
"Hurry it up, Solaire." The head of security called, startling the attendant.
"I know!" He huffed. "But this would be easier if Selene wasn't charging or if you'd help, Flare."
Flare just waved him off dismissively. Sol opened his mouth to fire back, but yelped instead. One of the kids having yanked his fluffy tail as she ran by and climbed up a slide.
"I ain't done charging yet. You're on your own bro!" Selene called down from their room at the top of the massive, fake tree in the middle of the Daycare.
"Nah, it's far more fun to watch." He smiled, showing the gap between his front teeth.
It made him seem a little less intimidating as well as all his blue and yellowy-orange freckles. Though, plenty of parents still complained about him. They thought he was too scary to be around children. But Mr. Jones disagreed, after all security personnel are supposed to deter anyone that would cause problems. He's seen the animatronic around and he's gotta admit, he's good at his job.
"I can't help, but be amazed by how much technology has advanced in the last twenty some odd years." He smiled. "These days robots act so much like humans. Just look at you and the two daycare attendants. Nothing like how bots were back in my army days."
He paused a moment, a look of something now registering on his face.
"Did he call you, Flare?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Yes." He replied, cocking a brow. "Stellar Flare."
He crouched down, arching his back and held up the ID card on his lanyard for the man to see. Mr. Jones nodded, eyes scanning over the plastic card.
"Y'know... you remind me of an old friend from my unit." He started, craneing his neck to look at the over sixteen an' a half foot tall anamatronic. "You even have the same name."
"Oh?" He mused, a slight smirk on his ivory white lips. "Do I really?"
He nodded, "Yeah, they were an Android added to my unit, 522, at the start of WW 3. I believe their I'D number was F173. At first they were very cold, blunt an' kinda rude to everyone, but it seemed a little... fake? I guess. Starting that day, I made it my personal mission to befriend them and make 'em more relaxed around us. At some point I started calling them Flare and the nickname just kinda... stuck?"
Flare nodded, seeming intrigued.
"They were extremely hesitant to trust others. Their sense of humor, if you could even call it that, was crude and dry whenever someone tried to joke around with them. They were overly serious, blunt and brash. And maybe a little too confident at times. Frankly, that made them come off as a bit arrogant to the other guys and out superiors." Mr. Jones continued, shaking his head. "But Flare was dedicated, reliable and incredibly loyal. To a fault at times. I remember some of our first missions with them in the field, we were outnumbered and in way over our heads. It's a magical we all made it out with zero casualties in our unit. The guys were more unnerved by how calm and collected they were then the situation itself. Pretty sure some of the newer recruits were scared of them, lotta the guys avoided 'em for a while 'cause of that."
Flare snorted, biting back a laugh.
"For around the first six? Maybe eight months? They were very cautious and careful on solo missions or when they were able to go off on their own, but when Flare'd have to fight with us they'd fight with reckless abandon. They didn't really pay a second thought to us." He sighed. "But after a particularly dangerous mission with some pretty bad injuries one of our comrades snapped at them. He said that their way of fighting made them a liability to our unit. That seemed to hit hard, finally sinking into that dense head of theirs. Luckily they started working with us after that. Glad I never got on his bad side either, heard it was pretty bad that one time his rage boiled over."
"Got them!" Solaire called, sounding tired and deflated.96Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzS30h5GYT2
"Atleastthey should beeasytoput to bedwhenyougethome. Hopefully!" Selene calls from somewhere in the rafters, clearly done charging.
"I'll walk ya to the door, then help Sol with clean up." He sent a smile at his exhausted coworker.
Mr. Jones nodded, ushering his kids to the door.
"Well, guess I'll see you in the morning. Good night!" He smiled, walking out the door.
"See you tomorrow, Private Hunter." He replied.
Mr. Jones whipped around, but the door was already closed. A smile creeping across his face at the realization, he never told him his rank and he knows it's not in his guest profile.
"Well, guess I have some catching up to do." He turned, leading his kids towards the exit. "Seems like I'll have an interesting day off tomorrow."
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