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You stumble through the dark, sliding down the sides of the purple cliffs and weaving through the paved pathways. Your teary eyes still sting and your head is spinning; you'd forgotten how many glasses of champagne you tried to drown yourself in before jumping into the Dark World. Just keep moving forward, just a little bit further and surely...
"Dearest, what the HECK are you doing here??"
A booming, static-filled voice echoes in the dark, causing you to clutch your head and wince. But an exhausted smile begins to cross your face nonetheless. You use the last of your energy to quicken your steps, but you trip over your own feet and fall forward.
"You KNOW what day it is! You should be out—WOAH!!"
You hear heavy footsteps rushing towards you, and you promptly collapse into Tenna's waiting arms.
"You're ALONE on NEW YEAR'S EVE???"
You had woken up a few hours later on the Green Room couch terribly drained and hungover. Now you stare forlornly down at the half-eaten TV Dinner in your lap while Tenna paces around in front of you. You almost want to reach out and grab at Tenna's cord tail swishing back and forth in agitation as he paces, but you decide against it and finish eating silently instead. At least the TV Dinner brought your health back to normal before disappearing with a little chime.
There's so many things you could tell the pacing CRT who wouldn't stop fussing over you after you woke up. You aren't alone, per say. Technically, you tried to get along when you went home for the holidays, you really did. You sat politely during dinner and stayed complacent with a passive smile on your face. But still you spent the days sitting in front of the television with a dazed look on your face until you were pulled away for more festivities. How can you even begin to explain that despite being in a room full of people you were supposed to belong with, you had felt more out of place than ever? Yet there was one thing you were certain of.
"I...I wanted to see you," you mumble.
Tenna stops dead in his tracks. A light blush crosses his face, a smattering of color bars dusting his screen. He clears his throat. "You...you did?"
A laugh escapes you, the first genuine one in a long time since the holidays started, and you nod.
"Well, in THAT case..." Tenna twiddles his thumbs in hesitation as he speaks slowly. "I do have some BOARDS prepared for New Year's Eve..."
You look up at him and smile. "I'd like that."
“MARVELOUS!!” Tenna jumps up in elation, wagging his tail excitedly. “Let’s see…” He thinks for a moment, mentally flipping channels in his head, before snapping his fingers.
With a loud pop of static, the brightly lit Green Room around you switches to a warm and cozy living room. A fire crackles merrily in the fireplace beside a grand Christmas tree that you suspect Tenna would be leaving up for a long while. Outside, snow falls steadily down from a darkening sky and lightly coats a vast city skyline in a layer of powdery white. You sink back into the soft cushions of an old sofa, now dressed in your favorite pajamas and a bright red and yellow TV Time themed sweater decorated with rows of little Tenna heads. You wonder if Tenna had been selling them in his gift shop for the holidays while you were away, but your thoughts are interrupted when Tenna approaches you with two steaming mugs in hand.
“Thought you’d like a little pick-me-up before the SHOW starts!”
Tenna does a silly dance, careful to balance the drinks. “Oh, we GOT it!” he sings, handing one of the mugs to you before twirling around settling down in a nearby armchair. “HOT CHOCOLATE!!”
Holding the mug in both of your hands, you take a careful sip. As soon as the taste hits your tongue, you know it’s perfect, with just the right amount of tiny marshmallows and whipped cream. The hot beverage warms your chest and spreads outward until it feels as if your very soul was reinvigorated. Looking up, you see Tenna fiddling with a record player on the side table. It crackles to life, emitting a lively jazz tune. He turns around, bowing over and extending a hand towards you.
You hesitate, before tentatively taking his hand. “I don’t really dance—!”
Tenna pulls you to your feet, steadying you with a large hand. “Not a problem!” he laughs. “With a little TV MAGIC, we’ll have you DANCING WITH THE STARS!!”
He snaps his fingers and the music starts to grow louder, more present and alive. You find the two of you standing on the hardwood floors of an energetic jazz club. You’re dressed in a sleek black suit complete with a bright yellow tie and shiny dress shoes that click as you shift your feet. Multicolored spotlights move around the room, illuminating the TV Time employees chatting and dancing away while a live band of Shadowguys plays on stage. Some cast you a glance before returning back to their conversations. Tenna gives you a confident grin, and takes you in hand. Without skipping a beat, he leads you into a spirited foxtrot, guiding your steps and holding you steady whenever you stumble. You stare at your feet at first, trying to keep up with the steps, but as the music begins to pick up, you start to get the hang of the movements and look up. Tenna smiles back at you, the flashing overhead lights gleaming off his screen and blending with the color bars on his face.
Soon, the music starts to slow as the Shadowguys onstage pause to drink some water from a nearby Watercooler. Meanwhile, Tenna turns to you with a lopsided grin and leans in. “How about a quick SCENE CHANGE?”
You barely have time to nod when SNAP! The air crackles with energy, and you get a brief sense of vertigo as the ground underneath your feet switches to television static, and then grey pavement. Loud, booming music plays from the overhead speakers of a large city square. Tall skyscrapers glisten with lights, its sides covered in illuminated signs and advertisements. There’s so much to see, your eyes can barely keep up before Tenna gently cups your chin with a gloved hand and turns your head back towards him “Eyes on my SCREEN, darling.”
He takes your hands and picks up where he left off, dancing and spinning you around. Every few steps, your surroundings change again and again with the click of a channel. Different cities, different buildings, different vibrant billboards in all sorts of languages sweep past you in a dizzying sight. You feel your vertigo growing, and tap on Tenna’s arm. “Tenna? Tenna!”
All of a sudden, everything stops. The music halts with a loud record scratch. Tenna’s caught you in a low dip, his screen pressed close to your face. The two of you stay unmoving, and you see your flushed expression reflected in Tenna’s screen as you catch your breath.
Distantly, you hear the sound of crashing waves. You notice the crunch of sand beneath your feet. Casting your gaze up, you see sweeping swathes of stars filling the night sky above you, brighter than all the city lights you saw before. You let out a breathy laugh. In the end, he still defaults to that island paradise board when he’s with you.
“Whoops!” Tenna chuckles, shrinking a little. “Guess I got a little CARRIED AWAY…”
Tenna starts to pull you to your feet but you stop him, reaching up to clutch the side of his casing and turn his screen back towards you. His antennas shoot up and a surprised expression crosses his face. “Are…are you still having fun?” he asks timidly.
“What kind of quiz question is that?” You give an incredulous laugh and throw your arms around his neck, tugging him closer and whispering softly. “Of course I am, I love TV.”
You close the gap and crash your lips into his.
Click. Click. Clickclickclickclick. Channels pass by you in a blur of color. Tenna’s grip around your waist tightens, and as he pulls you closer to return the kiss, you hear clocktower bells tolling midnight, loud cheering, and fireworks popping in thunderous bursts in all the cities ringing in the new year. But all you can focus on are the warm lips against yours, the taste of hot chocolate and television static.
When you finally break away to catch your breath, you’re back in Tenna’s living room. The sky outside is still awash with sparkling lights, but it pales in comparison to the vivid color bars on Tenna’s flustered face. You smile fondly up at him and start to pull away, but you find yourself stuck in place. You look down and see that Tenna’s cord tail has wrapped around the two of you, ending in a heart-shaped loop.
Tenna glances at you with a sheepish grin. “Happy New Year’s?”
You start to giggle, then throw your head back in laughter. Tenna looks at you in surprise, and starts to laugh as well. The two of you laugh and laugh, hugging each other closely as fireworks continue to pop outside in bursts of dazzling colors.
You wake up in a soft bed to the smell of sizzling bacon and the sound of cheerful static-laced humming from the kitchen. And you smile.
It's a new year.