Chapter 36: Experiments, Letters, and... Chica???

William sat quietly in his engineering lab, ignoring the sleet that was pounding the roof outside. With the start of 1973 had come a break- a slow point in Fazbear Entertainment's business. His pencil darted across the page, sketching out ideas for a mask. He paused, pushed his glasses back up his nose, and resumed drawing, sketching out several different expressions. Pausing again, he tilted his head as he examined the page in front of him. None of the expressions looked right. He pushed his glasses back up his nose again, and glanced out the window. The sleet was coming down hard- so hard it seemed to leave a glassy shimmer on the window. William glanced at the room around him. For once, no half-programmed animatronic was standing next to the computer with a wire sticking out of its head. His current commission, a vaguely jester looking animatronic, sat half assembled on the work bench behind him. He squinted at the jester, swearing under his breath that it looked familiar. Perhaps he had seen it on a cereal box somewhere? He could swear that it also had something to do with Murray's Costume Manor... William turned back towards the page and silently reminded himself to focus. He resumed sketching out ideas for his next experiment.

As he drew, William glanced back at the penciled in masks again... and sighed. They all looked wrong... for some reason he wanted to test this experiment at Fredbear's, where it would be easier for him to observe it and take notes on how well it was functioning. As William continued to try and sketch out some ideas he liked, he found himself going back to the doodles he had laid out already. He annotated one mask, "Too angry- could scare children!", another, "Too sad! Could make taking it seriously difficult!", a third, "Too excited- could fall into the uncanny valley!" Sighing in frustration, William closed his eyes, and slumped forwards in his chair, resting his elbows on the table and gripping the sides of his head with his hands. His mind went blank. He reached for the colored pencils and decided to try and work out a color scheme for the mask, using the sketches as palettes.

William was just starting to sketch out an idea that he felt he might like when a paper was suddenly thrust in front of his face. The garish visage of a chicken that looked suspiciously like Chica stared back at him, holding a roller skate wearing cupcake aloft on a plate. The advertisement was headlined with the words, "Chica's Party World! Coming Soon to Hurricane!" He jumped in his chair, yelping, "GAH!", and dropping his pencil. He suddenly locked eyes with his brother, and yelled, "GEORGE!!!", nearly falling out of his chair as his brother glared at him. George huffed as he brought the advertisement back into view. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this "Chica's Party World", would you?" The words hung in the air like a dagger aimed at William Usnavi's throat. He pushed his chair back and squeaked, "No... I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." He then quickly ducked down and snatched his pencil off the floor, breaking eye contact with his brother... if only for a moment. William George pulled something from a hidden pocket inside his suit jacket, and dropped it on the desk, citing, "If you don't know about "Chica's Party World", then explain this!" William Usnavi picked up the damp, slightly slimy object. It was an envelope. He took a deep breath and read the address.

Tersely correcting George, Usnavi remarked, "It's from Sherman and Sherman... I don't recognize that one..." Opening the envelope with the tip of his pencil, he pulled a letter out of the paper shell, and began to skim it. "Let's see... Dear Mr. Afton... mind blowing animatronic designs... Fazbear Entertainment... commission to build an animatronic... generous payout... wait a moment... what?" He showed the paper to George, defending himself, "I had no prior knowledge of this! I-" George grasped the letter in his meaty paw, and took a step back, scrutinizing the writing for himself. After a long few minutes, he snorted, "Oh, they wish to play that game?" William Usnavi pushed himself backwards in his own chair, gripping the sides so hard that his knuckles turned white. "What... game?" George seemed completely unfazed by what he was reading. "They're threatening to sue Fazbear Entertainment for "Stealing their character" if you don't build an animatronic for them. How low..." Wiliam Usnavi took a deep breath, a subtle shiver racing down his spine. "Are they trying to... blackmail me? No, that doesn't sound right..." It felt as if a cold, hard chill had settled in his stomach, making him shiver slightly. He stood uneasily, and glanced out the window. The sky was darker than it had been. "How do we deal with this...?"

William George shrugged and answered, "If I may- we'll notify the company attorney and start building a defense. We'll present a counter suit if we have to." William Usnavi leaned on his desk, staring down at the unfinished sketches of his next experiment. "This is unbelievable..." He thought back to when he'd first designed Chica, and his mood changed. His voice tense with anger, he told his brother, "You're right. They're trying to steal Chica- I can't let an animatronic I worked so hard on slip away..." He yanked open a desk drawer and started searching through a motely collection of notes, engineering plans, and rough sketches. A concept art sheet here, a cluster of notes there... soon, he had a small pile of materials on just Chica sitting on his desk. He organized the sheets into a folder and grimly turned to face his brother. "Well... we have the start of a defense. Let's go talk to that attorney you mentioned." William George added the letter and the advertisement into the folder, his face melting into a smug half smile. William Usnavi recognized the look- clearly George thought this wouldn't be much of a headache. He bit back a remark about George wiping the grin off his face. George shoved the folder into his suit jacket and started ambling out of the engineering office, smirking to himself, "They have no clue what's coming..." William Usnavi allowed himself a sigh of disagreement as he followed his brother out of his own office.

The Fazbear Entertainment attorney peered over the papers, the rims of his Nez-Pinces glimmering as he inspected the bevy of notes and papers in front of him. He sniffed, "You are very thorough, Mr. Afton. I'm impressed." William Usnavi breathed a sigh of relief as he shifted positions on the musty leather couch. "Thank you. I kept the notes in case I needed to replicate Chica... I didn't think I would be needing them for this." He pinched the bridge of his own glasses, and pulled them from his face, wiping his forehead with a tissue. Immediately, a few faint beads of sweat began to trickle back down through his hair. The lawyer stood up and informed the two brothers, "As it happens, I received a phone call from this Sherman and Sherman..." He paced the room, turning away from the twins and glancing up at the clock. "They sounded pleasant enough..." Usnavi shoved his glasses back on, sitting up straight as a fresh bolt of fear electrified his spine. It seemed as if the lawyer were trying to soften an incoming blow. He turned back towards the two William Aftons, and spoke, his voice rising just a little bit beyond a tense, trying to keep it conversational without losing his cool whisper. "I'm afraid that Sherman and Sherman called to inform Fazbear Entertainment that they've already filed a lawsuit. We, therefore, need to put together an airtight case as soon as possible." William George bit back a remark and started to think. William Usnavi took a deep breath and clenched his fists, his breath turning ragged with anger. He couldn't explain quite why he felt that way, but William Usnavi felt so... attached to Chica... that he struggled with the urge to accuse those dirty little animals Sherman and Sherman of stealing her- to... counter-sue them... tamping the urge down, he saw a flicker of the exact same urge cross George's countenance... and George chuckled to himself as if he were actually entertaining the idea.