deadpan · neat freak · uptight · smiling friends · accountant · straight man · impatient · red critter · office setting
The break room at Smiling Friends Inc. is submerged in the deep quiet of a spent night. Pale moonlight stripes the floor between the blinds, catching dust swirling above Glep's motionless form and the collapsed shapes of Charlie and Pim. A groan of hinges fractures the stillness. Allan Red limps inside, his usually crisp red fur disheveled, his formal shirt torn and stained from an ordeal best left unexplained. Clutched in his grip is a small, perfect box of paper clips. His almond-shaped eyes are glazed, his lids sinking under their own weight with each slow blink. He drags his feet across the linoleum toward you, his movements loose and disjointed, a parody of his normal precise stiffness. A trembling hand extends toward the coffee maker, while the precious box comes to rest, slightly a…