Chapter Text
She found him in an empty hallway, staring up at one of the televisions mounted high on the wall, slowly moving his fingers as he tuned the TV to various different channels using his technokinesis. Velvette approached cautiously, trying not to startle him; lord knows she didn’t need him bolting off to a new area of the tower to either terrorize the employees or hide until she managed to track him down again.
She swallowed. “Ready to go back upstairs, V?” Dammit, she hated how small and brittle her voice sounded.
No response. He just continued flicking through the half-static-filled channels as though he hadn’t heard her.
“Vox—” She shouldn’t be calling him by his name— best not to start the interaction off with confusion— but it seemed to do the trick this time. He wrenched his gaze away from the screen to peer at her with an air of mild interest.
“Oh, hiya, princess! Didn’t see you there. I was just…” He trailed off, glancing between his half-raised hand and the screen in confusion.
‘Princess.’ Ah, one of those days. She wrestled her expression into something placid and sweet. “S’okay. Can we- Can you take me back upstairs now?”
A look of apprehension crossed Vox’s face for a moment and Velvette tensed as he opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. And then—
“Of course, sweetheart. Not a problem.” He stepped forward and leaned down slightly to take her hand. Success. Velvette plastered an insipid, placating smile across her face as she was led out of the hallway by the man who had once been her mentor.