thecapitol | Set a man to watch all night, My fair lady.

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Set a man to watch all night, My fair lady.

Who| Phillip Gray and YOU
What| Poor man got lost coming here after Night 4
Where| The Capitol streets then the Training grounds
When| After the Arena closed
Warnings/Notes| Possible graphic description of animatronic violence, spoilers for Night 4 of FNaF1

A. Arrival

Being able to move again was quite the surprise for a man who just a few minutes prior, had been staring into his makeshift coffin's soulless eyes. Phil swore he could still feel Bonnie and Chica's grip as they held him down while Freddy fetched the costume. He didn't struggle or fight, they could've made it even more difficult. They could've gone feet-first, break every bone in his body before finishing the job. Did they feel sorry? They must've if they let him keep his badge.

It didn't matter anymore, Phil wasn't in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria…hell, he wasn’t in the United States if the announcers were proof of that. The Capitol? The Arena? Was he in some futuristic Roman Colosseum? Like that Stargate movie he watched while flipping channels? Did this mean aliens existed? If so, he owed Jeremy $5, a beer, and a supreme pizza. And what the hell was he wearing? It wasn't his FFP uniform (small blessings, no one needed to see the garish colors of a family restaurant security guard), but he never thought he'd wear what he thought was a dark, leather version of a superhero's uniform, sans mask. Taking pride in his former job, Gray put his head high and briefly polished his badge as he looked around, like a tourist.

"As long as there's no robo-" Spotting a peacekeeper shut that dream down instantly, and Gray sighed, "Never mind."

Robots in a giant colosseum, with weapons…it was both fascinating and terribly familiar to Gray, it reminded him of a certain fox bot. Actually, both fox bots. Maybe Toy Chica if she wielded that cupcake right.

Speaking of toys, all these strange looking people looked like Cher raided Barbie and Ken's closet with a chainsaw and the local Muppet factory. Was this the Capitol itself? MTV on acid? As he wandered around town, looking at his map, Phil briefly surmised that if this place was like this, what would the Training Center looked like? Either way, he was going to enjoy himself before his time was up and he'd have to fight.

B. Training Center

Phil hummed "Groove is in the Heart" (good song to hear as he would fix the bots for the day's activities) as he walked into his assigned district area. According to his map, his District was Transportation, a weird selection in his opinion but he figured the people who rescued him from death, saw something he could help out in. Least he could do after all that, maybe he could help with repairs?

Any illusions Gray had of these games being friendly disappeared as soon as he saw the armory and the dummies. To see an array of weapons, most of these definitely not kid-friendly, Phil was glad he hadn't spotted any firearms.He figured firearms would make for very short games, and not everyone was meant to hold a gun properly. Lord knows what a child could do unsupervised, if Mangle was proof at that.

A terrible thought slipped into his mind and he suddenly tensed up: was he…was he going to hurt, no, kill children here? "I…" he tried to speak but immediately shut up; questioning authority could get him in quite a pickle. It was an unspoken reality as he saw past tributes and victors: these were cruel games. Gray unconsciously placed his hand on his badge, just as he and the Fredbear Diner staff did when they found the boy's lifeless body in the back of the restaurant. For years, he'd been tracking down the child killer and now…now he'd be forced to join his ranks.

"Panem et Circes…heh, coulda work where I came from…"

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Phil had to take a few breaths, and focused on Sandy's voice for the moment. This was a living child, she wasn't one in the pizzeria death count, this was not his town.

"M-Me neither...kinda want to live seventy if possible. But hey, you're here now, that's got to count for something right?" he tried to boost her morale again. He knew that the upcoming games would be a problem for him, too wet behind the ears to be a real contender...unless he learned.

"Wanna teach me how to fight? Let's make sure we do have a chance."

Watching him come back down to Earth was a good thing. He had issues just like the rest of them but at least he wasn't completely looney tunes yet.

She nodded and stood abandoning the ropes on the table. "What do you want to try? They've got just about every kind of basic weapon you can think of, spears, swords, bow and arrow. I mostly use the knives because those are easiest to get in the arena. Sometimes Sponsor's will just send them to you." She paused and added "If people from the Capitol like you they use their money to send you items in the arena."

Because he was probably going to ask about sponsors so she'd just get it out of the way.

"I'm...not really the best teacher. But I've learned alot from much better fighters so I can get you started. Just don't make me regret it."

The words were out before she could catch herself. They were bitter and she knew that it was unfair to assume he might betray her...but it wouldn't be the first time it had happened.

He had five years to wear his mind and his patience. It'd been so bad that he sometimes missed the sunlight for weeks straight. But he did it all just so some poor kid on retainer would cover for him. One night he took to have fun and fool around and the next day he had to mop up the blood and waste. He had to ask, "They can't send guns right? Kinda ends the games real fast, huh?" Bows and arrows were acceptable but he agreed with Sandy, "Knives sound efficient and easy, right? Right!"

The words were not missed and Phil had to assure her, "I won't."

Sandy nodded at his questions and led the way over to wear all the practice weapons were set up to choose from.

"Yeah they sent in guns once with very limited bullets. It was pretty dramatic. But usually it's just stuff you can throw or bows. Sometimes you gotta get creative like using ice skates or making spears outta branches."

Sandy had to this point never fired a gun, but being shot in the face was a pretty good indication to her of the power they held.

"We had squirt guns for the special kids mini arena. Some had water or paint or acid in them." That had been a rather painful discovery that she could still imagine vividly. Her hands had blistered and melted from the acid till the water washed it off.

Phil's smile dropped at the mention of "Kids' arena". "So it really is kids killing kids here..."

He took a knife and weighed it in his hand, but he did offer some advice, "If you ever run into acid again, wash it off with stomach medicine. Acids are neutralized by bases Lord knows how many kids got battery burns for me to know that."

Gray then realized, "I was a night security guard at a pizza place."

"Ah...well uh...yeah. That's pretty much how the whole thing got started. They didn't even tell you that much?"

It was ridiculous. How was this poor guy supposed to get anything done if he didn't even know the reason all this was happening to them?

...or...or maybe they were leaving people in the dark so they were forced to talk to others and create new drama for the cameras! Oh gosh sometimes Sandy felt smart for a few minutes before her own crushing self depreciation settled back in.

The advice about the acid was actually pretty useful and something she didn't know. it was enough to earn a soft smile. "What other sort of stuff are bases?"

A night guard at a Pizza place? Sandy loved Pizza but...well the Capitol had ways of ruining those too.

"Er, no, nor do I blame them because I probably would've told them to put me back to my death," Phil was quick to respond, "Rather just be eyes and teeth than be any part of that. But I said yes and now, here we are."

That and Phil has been running on five cups of black coffee and energy drinks since his last shift at Fazbear's. He might've forgotten the finer details and keeping his poor heart from exploding. The question made him think before answering,

"Milk. It's why you drink it when you eat spicy foods, water just makes the burn last longer. Milk of Magnesia or Pepto-Bismol help too. I had a kid swallow one of those button batteries during a fundraiser."

He examined the knife and tried to slash like in the movies. His stance was atrocious.

Despite not being a very good teacher...even Sandy could tell that was a terrible stance and she shook her head taking a knife and showing him her own stance. It was defensive and meant to give her an easier time dodging. Since she was small she wouldn't be able to deflect much with a dagger but if she could guide a blow away from her vitals and throw herself to the side then that was a good start.

"Uh...well then should i just...not tell you?" He was one of the first tributes she'd met who seemed like he might prefer ignorance.

Phil thought about it, and shook his head. "Might as well spill everything, Sandy," he answered as he imitated her stance and slide, "Can't cover the sun with your hands, you know?"

Ignorance was bliss when it wasn't life-threatening, he figured. "What's more, I would've found out the hard way in the arena, right?" He was being genuinely open to Sandy and to any child but let an adult in and he'd dial the charm up. He could see the cameras, he was aware they were always under surveillance.

I suddenly understand how Freddy and the gang feel...yeesh. he thought before he slide to the right.

It was almost funny when he said that she could spill everything. In a place where they were almost always being watched that was almost impossible without inviting total destruction upon her head.

Or worse the heads of everyone she liked.

Leading him over to a practice dummy she demonstrated a few basic stabbing motions as she explained.

"Well a long time ago in this world..." She made sure to add the last part to clarify that obviously things were different, "Mankind almost destroyed itself with war and selfishness."

As much as she would like to speak openly, most of this was coming from what Sandy had been told time and time again.

"When the dust settled, humanity pulled itself together and The Capitol rose tall and proud. And from the Capitol they created thirteen districts each in charge of an important thing, like electricity, fishing, harvest, our my district twelve. They take care of the coal."

Thrust, thrust, stab. His turn.

Oh Phil knew that tone anywhere. The same one he used to all the new recruits when he had to give them their first night's orientation speech. It was definitely Orwellian and if Sandy let slip anything about a Ministry of Love or something like that, he wouldn't be surprised.

"Capitol did good then, pulling everyone up from their wounds and getting them back to work. I'm District Six, transportation," he responded back, repeating the thrusts and the stab into the dummy. At first, he hesitated in that first attempt but Phil had an idea to further detach himself.

The second time around, Phil's stab was deeper and confident.

"Well, mostly yeah." Oh if only she had a few hours and no cameras. But leading Phil to one of the blind spots in the city would have to await.

"District 13 couldn't play nice though, so the Capitol destroyed it. And all the other Districts had to put up two kids each year chosen at random. A boy and a girl. Then they'd bring all the kids here to train, send em to the arena to fight and the last one standing would win extra rations for their district and basically be set for life with money."

Hence the hunger part of "Hunger games". Sandy watched his improved thrust and nodded gesturing for him to continue.

That small gesture made Phil pleased with himself as repeated the stabs again. What Sandy didn't see was who the former guard was replacing the dummy with in his mind. Not the bots, but a man with a grin and beady eyes wearing the Fazbear Guard Uniform. A man who eluded capture and stuffed more than just the five children. Gray stopped after a few tries, his arms started to hurt and he was sure he was doing a lot more damage than he thought he did.

"That sounds..." He couldn't outright say draconian because they could shoot him at will, "Victors are safe from ever fighting again?"

He remembered those deaths and imagined that all those who fought wanted to have that chance to finally rest. For now, this was their reality

"Well that was how it was back in the old days. Not anymore. If you are a victor and you step out of line they'll put you back in for a round. If they decide to bring you back after that then you're safe again." Now that his arm was tired Sandy took her own training knife and tried for a speed move, stabbing multiple times very quickly without getting the knife stuck. Her arm was a flurry of motion and she grunted as she continued.

"And sometimes they do "Special" arenas so I guess if they wanted they could make the victors do those too. They did it once before."

The skill and speed Sandy demonstrated awed Phil into silence, until he could muster a croaking, "It's a battle royal..." Any optimism he had starting out was wearing away by the second.

"Now we're all here fighting their fight and giving them a show, huh?" he sighed, and examined the knife again. It was dirty but he could still see himself in the blade. "I'd hate to be on those special runs. Mind teaching me that?"

"Oh yeah sure." She nodded and gestured again how she had pistoned her arm for speed.

"The Special arenas pop up every once in awhile. They're usually alot faster because normal arenas take weeks to get through but Mini arenas only take a day or two. They have special rules usually too like one where anyone who collected all the items and made it to the finish line could win or only tributes under the age of eighteen or my personal favorite: "Whoever kills Sandy Marko gets extra points in the next arena"

At the last part she thrust hard burying her knife all the way to the handle in the poor Dummies guts, clearly she was bitter about that one. She took a moment to compose herself.

"That's one of the biggest parts about living here. There's no such thing as unfair. We can be scooped up at any time and thrown into something dangerous. No warning or nothing."

That bitterness made Gray visibly cringe and feel sorry for both the dummy and Sandy for having been subjected to such cruelty. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "No kidding..." This place was worse than the pizzeria, ten times as worse. At least the robots had the decency to have rules an stick to them. By the way Sandy spoke, the games were as the Capitol deemed entertaining.

"Home sweet home," the man admitted, figuring that the universe was terribly unfair.

He then took to the same dummy and imitated her slashes and thrusts. He was definitely wet behind the ears but he did his damnedest to land kill strikes.

She tensed feeling his hand on her shoulder, but realizing the intent behind it relaxed a little more. It was always hard to let people get close enough to touch her till she knew them but this guy had slipped right under the radar. Maybe it was because he was so clearly helpless like she used to be.

But if he survived long enough, he wouldn't be helpless anymore. At least not in the arena.

"Come on, I'll show you how to throw them next." She waved for him to follow her. There were different knives for throwing, and about a million other tools that she had either used in the arena or prepared to use.

Tools like helpful adults who only wanted to protect the kids from danger.

Phil wasn't aware of the thought processes in Sandy's mind but she was right on one account: he'd do everything he could to make sure no child got hurt or killed under his watch. He deeply regretted the one time he failed to do so, and that fueled him more than the obscene amounts of caffeine in his system. As he fumbled with his own knife, Gray smiled at her,

"Hey you're the teacher, I'm here to learn." And he meant it. He knew that his inexperience would cost him the first arena but he would rather learn from Sandy than out in the field.

Phil would learn the hard way just how far people could go for a chance at survival. How far he would go.

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Set a man to watch all night, My fair lady.

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Shall we wind down now? Or is there more you wanted to do this go around? :)

lets wind down for this one!