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Hypno
“So, ya takin’ a gap year?”
He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting when he arrived at the Acclimation Programs main office, which was an offshoot of the near-surface Labs depot.
Hypno shrugged awkwardly, shoving his hands into his black canvas pants pockets. His tail was free to sway to and fro, and darts of electricity shimmered in electric yellow eyes.
“Enforced, I suppose.”
“Ha! Well, how ‘bout that…I do suspect they’ll be shutting down the university what with all this tipping and tumbling, so hopefully the Hyper Shack bein’ ‘under renovations’ won’t strike anyone as odd.”
Joe, for most of the time Hypno had known him, had been his quirky boss, a bit of a mentor figure, but that was all.
Now?
What now?
That was question a lot of people were asking, to be fair.
“I just…I dunno what to do with myself. Stayed home with my folks all week, and now that things are…I guess a little bit quieter? I decided to stop by.” He explained awkwardly, and Joe stood up from behind a cramped little desk overflowing with papers.
“Well, I do appreciate the excuse for a break.”
He was as cheerful as ever.
“I’m surprised you came back.” Hypno blurted out.
“Could say the same to you.” Joe fired, his eyes seemed almost foggy behind his half-moon spectacles, and Hypno was taken aback.
“…really?”
“University seemed like your kinda place, that’s all.” Joe replied, and the electric eel hybrid pressed his lips together a moment.
He considered to himself, just what kind of place ‘his place’ even was.
And what was it?
Was it the flooded tunnels of his family home?
Was it the Hyper Shack, with the garish green apron clashing against his emo grunge aesthetic?
Was it PhD seminars or capstone lectures?
“I…I…” Hypno grew stilted, and Joe raised an eyebrow at him. He came around the desk slowly, and his teasing grin turned to something softer.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m…”
He’d spent so much time looking down.
At his laptop, at his books, at his sketches, at an espresso machine or a cash register.
I stopped seeing blue.
Until he’d come down just last week, and stared into the open expanse for a few long seconds before stepping into the hidden station.
“…holding.”
Joe hummed softly. “And that’s a brave thing to do.”
Hypno looked up, without really thinking about it.
And how many times had he done that while he was up above?
Seen the sky for the sky? For it’s startling emptiness, for it’s breathless fullness, for it’s lovely light shows?
He stared at the plaster ceiling of the office with its yellowish lighting and let out a small, petulant sigh.
“You…looking for an extra set of hands?”
“For making my coffee or filing my papers?”
An electric yellow eyes sparked, and darted, and then, Hypno’s shoulders tried, tried, tried, to unwind.
Didn’t quite succeed…but they got close.
“At this point? I’ll take anything.”