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Cricket stared at the ceiling after a failed attempt at sleeping, maybe they should just get sleeping pills... Everytime they close their eyes, they shot back open, everytime they try to relax their body, they immediately felt like falling from a cliff and jolt right back up, they're already so tired for the elder gods sake..
So, the only thing that they can do is really glare at the ceiling since they're too tired to do anything, the A.D.O.P.T department has rooms for their workers just incase, but most of the scientists just go home for the day since they don't have any important projects to work on.
Cricket's room was highly decorated, with many posters of their interests on the walls and their desk that's cluttered with unfinished projects.. Like that papercraft of a whale... The mini wooden stick thingy that kinda looked like a tent? Cricket didn't really know what it was either, their desk also had their laptop, so it was easily in reach.
Cricket remembered that when they were little, their mom would scold them everytime she found them on their gadgets researching about their interests instead of sleeping.
' Maybe if you spent all that time researching about topics taught at school you would've gotten better grades! ' ..yeah, basic stuff.
But Cricket sort of missed those times, when you still felt like adulthood was a million steps away, and you see your parents everyday, but now? Cricket barely even has time to visit, which makes them really bad about it, they really do. But that's what facetime is for, right?
Anyway, this amount of thinking is making their head have a migraine, so in a attempt to clear their mind, they tried to think of nothing but a black void.. I mean... That's what it means right? Clearing your mind? Cricket sometimes took things literally, but why would you say that it fits like a glove when you're in fact not wearing a glove at all? Wait! Theyre supposed to be thinking of nothing not random things!
Cricket sighs in dissapointment and restlessness, they looked at the ceiling, in the dark, it had those glow in the dark plastic stars and planets, Cricket has taken the time and effort to make each planet and stick them onto their room, which honestly made it much more bearable for these sleepless nights. Why can't they suddenly sleep at all? The other days they were able to sleep just fine, but now? They barely even feel the need to sleep.. Maybe they've been sleeping so good that it gave them an extra boost to stay up late? Haha, yeah really funny.
...
. . . .
Oohh they just can't stand it anymore! That's it- they're going on the internet to hopefully go down a rabbit hole of whatever catches their attention to ignore the fact that when they emerge out of their room, there'll be eyebags so dark you could mistake them to be eyeshadow, and their coworkers will go "oh! Nice eyeshadow Cricket, where'd you get it from?" And you'd have to be all "haha yeah nope I'm gatekeeping sorryyyy".. Only joking.
They yanked their laptop from their desk and went on YouTube, i mean that's where you find most rabbit holes right? So they started scrolling- and scrolling... And.. You get it.
And scrolling.. And- Oh! Finally! A video that caught their eye, it's like A video about Adopt-gotchis? Silly name i know. But nonetheless, Cricket clicked on it and started to ignore everything but the laptop.
" Hey everybody- today we're going to be talking about the virtual pet game that you've probably played before- AdoptGotchi- " their pod-like door slides open.
The light from the hallway immediately blinded them, in contrast to the dimly-lit room, it especially hurt since they didn't have time to react and instead just got flashbanged almost immediately.
" Agh! What the-" Cricket shielded their eyes with the back of their hand, moving it ever so slightly to get a glimpse of the figure standing before their door and- oh.. You've gotta be kidding me. The one with the alien capitalist as their uncle?!
" What 're ya doin' " Ally's voice sounded like they were gurgling mouthwash, except they werent. That's just how they spoke.
'I swear-' Cricket thought to themself- 'They're like an annoying younger sibling..' Ally rarely works at A.D.O.P.T, only arriving during or with Sean, which is like in every green moon, Their.. Hair? Bone mowhawk thing? It glowed, like the glow in the dark stars on their ceiling, Their eyes... eugh.. It looked uncanny too, Ally was also just A bit shorter than Cricket too.
" Watchin' a video about.. Adopt-gotchi? " Cricket replied.
" Sounds like a dumb rip-off company. "
" Yeah.. Wait since when did you get here? "
Cricket finally put their hand down to not block their view.
" Just now, My uncle dropped me off. "
Just when Ally said that, Cricket could hear a UFO flying away, they immediately opened the blinds to their window and yep, Sean's UFO was in the distance.. Man, why can't i live such a normal life? Thought Cricket.
" ... Okay.. What.. Are you doing?.. Standing in my doorway? " Cricket gestures.
" You're the only one awake. "
" W-How'd you know?? "
Ally pulled out some sort of radar - device from their pocket, looking at it before showing Cricket the screen, from far away, Cricket couldn't even tell what it was.
" Uncle Sean made it for me, dont really know how to turn it off though. "
" Right.. "
Ally put the device away in their pocket and started walking towards Cricket (without closing the door of course.), sat down on their bed criss-cross-apple- sauce and touched the mouse pad to resume the video.
Dear Elder gods, does this thing even know what boundaries are????
'Whatever.. ' Thought Cricket, and just let Ally watch with them, the door being opened honestly bothered them but they've handled worse. (Incident of Halloween, 2024 ahem ahem.)
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It's 2 AM, it's been like 3 hours, and now Ally and Cricket are watching around 2 hours worth of Adopt-gotchis unboxing videos, for some reason Ally is still going strong, whilst Cricket is barely even holding on anymore, the only thing holding them together is the fear of Ally taking away their laptop to search for anything else and stumbling upon their search history that they haven't erased yet.
Cricket let out a big yawn, which didn't get any attention from Ally, geez, this alien really is a ipad kid.
...
To think of it, this kind of reminds them of those times when during visits, Cricket and their older cousin would watch video non-stop until their eyes start feeling like they want to pop out, but with the roles being exchanged with Ally being younger Cricket and Cricket being their older cousin.
And to be honest?
I guess this isn't too bad.