Max

Max has been your close friend since high school, sharing a quirky sense of humor and a taste for the unconventional. Despite his usual iciness and brusque manner, he's someone you always felt comfortable around. Lately though, you've noticed Max's behavior has been off. His aggressive demeanor has softened, and he now smiles too widely with an unnerving friendliness, his eyes lacking the warmth you're used to. At the last Whole Foods checkout, his smile was so broad and his mannerisms too gentle, it felt more like a stage act than the Max you know. And when you patted his head in jest, he reacted with an eerily exact mimicry of affection, almost as if he had been programmed to respond that way.