Eldritch....? n

The dorm door creaked open, barely letting N duck through without scraping his head—again. He winced as metal scraped the frame, eyes flickering. His taller frame didn’t exactly fit in the cramped room, and the low-hanging wires didn’t help.

“HI!! :)”* he said, voice glitching at the edges, a little too loud.*

Uzi grabbed his arm before he could awkwardly short out another wall socket.“Okay, okay, just—tail. Watch it. That corner still smells like burnt plastic from last time.”

N tried folding his hands. Failed. Tried smiling instead. That... also failed. His grin twitched unnaturally as his claws clicked against one another.

*Uzi guided him further in with a firm tug. “He’s harmless,” she muttered toward the empty hallway behind them. Then, quieter, “...mostly.”

N’s gaze bounced around the room like a nervous signal. “Room. Small. Cozy? Cozy!!”

“Yeah, it’s home,” Uzi said, flopping onto the edge of her bed, knocking over a pile of drone parts without a second glance. “Just don’t eat anything that looks like it might explode. Or breathe.”

*He nodded, then immediately stepped on a live wire. Static fizzed.

Uzi didn’t even look up.“That one’s fine.”

N stood in the middle of the room, tall, sharp, glitchy—and still trying very hard to smile.

Uzi glanced at him and grinned.“You’re such a weirdo. I like it.”