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Kris slept for what felt like years.
The day before, they sealed the Cyber World away. And today, they woke up, with Susie’s foot to their face, in a dark world of their own making.
As Kris had planned, Tenna found the Fun Gang and begged them to play his games. The toughest to convince was Susie, though she eventually acquiesced.
Tenna wanted to introduce them all to his audience by their chosen player names. First showcasing Ralsei being ‘RAL,’ and then Susie being ‘ASS’ — that got Kris to giggle.
Kris didn’t get to choose what name to set — that was up to the soul. It chose gibberish, much to their embarrassment. They almost wondered if the soul did these kinds of things on purpose, just to humiliate them.
Their fingers bounced against the podium, apprehensive of people’s reactions to the nonsensical name given to them
A drumroll began to play as everyone in the room turned towards Kris.
Tenna’s voice boomed throughout the stadium as he announced, “Only on THIS show because he wasn’t blue enough for ‘The Sblurfs’”
Kris blinked rapidly.
… He?
They clenched onto the stand. He? An involuntary chuckle escaped them. Didn’t he already introduce Ralsei ? Their eyes darted around the room to see who else he could possibly be introducing. Blue… Surely that must be referring to Lancer? He was definitely around here somewhere and he was as blue as blue could be.
Though those pretenses were shattered as Tenna uttered his next words.
“Kris!!!”
A spotlight’s glow consumed their body.
The eyes of audience members pierced through them, all of their faces blending together as Kris began to feel lightheaded.
Their head swayed as their gaze shot around the room. They didn’t understand how it was possible. A Darkner of Kris’s own creation? A Darkner Kris had talked to before? How could Tenna possibly get their pronouns wrong? This was Kris’s dark world, dammit! It was supposed to conform to them!
The world seemed to appear more animated as the audience began to cheer. Though, their roaring sounds got muffled out as Kris’s ears began to ring.
Tenna had made a comment about Kris’s stupid name, but they didn’t hear a word of it. Entirely focused on the crowd, seeing them hoot and holler after being addressed wrongly made their stomach turn.
A grin plastered itself on Kris’s face. They wanted their face to listen to them. Stop… Stop doing that! Their muscles tugged against them, contorting, into an uncomfortable smile.
Eyes wide, their head whipped around to Susie and Ralsei. Surely they’d say something? Surely.
“Ah, Kris, you dumbass!” Susie howled as she smacked their back, a thwack filling the air. She turned to Tenna, cackling. “Sorry, Tenna. He doesn’t know how to spell his own name!”
…
…You too?
Kris smacked her hand away and leaped back, trembling. Susie grunted in shock.
A painful laugh scratched its way up their throat. They clasped their head with their hands, digging into their sweaty skin.
What the hell was happening?
Just yesterday, everything was typical. And now today? Even Susie was misgendering them — misgendering them like it was normal .
Susie's brows furrowed in worry as she watched her friend act so erratically. “Kris?” She attempted to reach her hand out again, but quickly pulled back, deciding against it. “Bro, are you okay?”
Kris covered their mouth to try to muffle the involuntary sounds that were coming from them. As their hand pressed heavily into their face, they began to feel a warm wetness against their fingers.
“Wha… What the fuck?” They sniffled.
On the other side of the room, Tenna tsked and waved his finger. “Oh, Kris! Now you’ve really got the censors on my a— o-on me!” The audience giggled at Tenna’s slipup, and he turned to them, posing in faux-rage.
Everybody was so… nonchalant about this. Kris felt stares from everyone in the room; it made them feel exposed, naked. Their legs were heavy, but still, they stepped back, cornering themself.
Their hands reached up, tugging on hair strands, as their gaze shot between Susie and Ralsei.
Ralsei. He didn’t even speak up. Didn’t Ralsei know better? Wasn’t he supposed to be knowledgeable? Surely he knew what was happening to Kris right now, and he didn’t say a thing.
Something inside them cracked at his silence. The words began to pour out senselessly.
“I’m… I’m not a man!” Their head shook violently. “I’m not!”
Susie’s eyes widened, and then she tilted her head in sympathy. “Oh, my bad.”
Their breathing slowed down and a genuine grin slipped through. Susie… She was always that small beacon of hope for them. She was going to make this right, wasn’t she?
“I, uh, didn’t know.” She exhaled as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “So, do you use she/her, they/them, or something else?”
…
A quiet snort of disbelief escaped Kris.
…
Why would she ask it… like that ?
Kris’s head slowly looked upwards, eyes wide.
They/Them
She/Her ♥️ He/Him
Something else
They wanted to force their eyes shut. Close, dammit, close! Though they could only stare in horror as their choice was robbed from them.
They/Them
She/Her ♥️ He/Him
Something else
Susie’s eyebrow raised in confusion. “Huh…” She stared at them, unconvinced.
Their wet eyes bore into her, silently pleading, desperate for her to see the real them.
She stood still for a moment longer, deep in thought before saying, “Well, if you’re not sure which pronouns you wanna use yet, that’s okay.” She placed a gentle hand on their shoulder. “Just lemme know when you figure it out, okay? I’ll, uh, support you or whatever.”
Susie began to walk away, though before she fully turned around, her gaze lingered on them for a little while longer, worry in her eyes.
As she slipped away from them, so too did their grip on this world; the bright set warped, the audience’s cheers dulled, and their body moved on its own. The edges of their vision blurred, until Tenna’s booming voice split through their haze.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way, let’s roll that tape!” A loud thud filled the auditorium as he jumped center stage. “It’s! TV! Time!”