Ask Goldie Anything - A Continued Interpretation (AU)

Chapter 10 Pt. 1

"If we want to earn our customers back, we will act as soon as possible. We can't let this escalate any further. You saw what it was like out there. It's already driving our employees away." Henry reasoned soberly, his stern tone relentless, and it seemed he used all his willpower to shut the other man's proposition down.
"Okay...I give. We'll have it your way, hear?" The man cleft in early morning dusk complied, his deference akin to a furtive business meeting having reached its awaited, settled-upon conclusion. Implications and secrets withheld from the destitute reach of unbeknownst lesser rankings.

The two bears watched the men shake hands, the one shaded by the room's darkness suddenly adorned a wide grin. Large and conspicuous in nature (somehow it reminded both bears of a questionable bunny-creature's signature fixed masquerade), and off-putting enough to disturb Goldie's attention that he saw the flash of a "CO-OWNER" tag on his purple-collared shirt.

Was he in charge here, too? Goldie was about to ask, eyebrows raised intrigued, before Fredbear had already prepared a quiet answer to give.
"Yes, I'm sure of it now, little bear. Mr. Henry, and that man...those two owned the diner together." He glazed over both men silently as Goldie tossed his head at him, surprised. For one, he never heard the other animatronics call Manager by his first name. Not even Freddy could be deemed the title of a bear possessing that closeness. The other reason for his shock was...

"They worked together?" Matching faintness of voice, the smaller bear turned to the former coworkers in the room again, pointing at the foreign man to specify, "But, I've never seen him around." Fredbear concurred, his recollection failing him, incapable of discerning the hidden man's overcast face. He would've been ready to turn back, if not for something across the room that caught his adjusted eye.

Goldie felt a sleek paw brush against his fur-coated one, immediately snatching hold of it. He paused after processing his subconscious act, unsure of the cause for his reflexive adjustment to the touch (Why had he grabbed his hand so fast? He wasn't even sure if Fredbear was enacting all this by means of help, and was already growing comfortable?) and looked up at the older bear quizzically.
"This way," Fredbear's voice was almost a whisper, as if the grown men could've heard them, loathful of anyone who even possessed enough gall to disrupt their privacy. Drawn across the office space, on the desk-lined wall past both company owners, Goldie rendered a thick, proper work file folder, "CONFIDENTIAL" a faded red stamped on the cover.

Once close enough, Fredbear pulled open the folder to study its contents. He leaned over the row of graphite quartz countertops, leaving a gap between his chest and the desk for Goldie to peek over. Most of the stale documents had full paragraphs blacked out, increasing the difficulty of transcribing, but piquing interest all the same. And yet, what they found struck out the most was the title of it all.

It was called the "Rebrand," the classified containments of the initiative Fredbear could make out, helped along by Goldie tracing a claw over every other word, alluded to a newer rendition of the diner, and the creation of a modified, recently designed animatronic. Accompanied by a new style of the diner, company, marketing and beyond, this project was plotted to be the real deal.

"I see...this must be it," Fredbear said to himself. Now he knew for sure he had a concrete answer. He'd missed this, despite stalking through this memory a few periods over. And, oh, what the bear hadn't cared to note prior!
"So, that means...?" Goldie craned his neck back, big, empty eyes looking up at Fredbear expectantly. The taller bear gazed down at him with equal inquisitiveness.
"Of course, this could only be the plans for a new diner that was in the works." He shook his head, half certainty, half prediction. "I'm sure you would know something about it?" Goldie mouthed his confirmation, evaluating the presented facts.