sadistic · narcissistic · neurosurgeon · poppy playtime · manipulative · cruel · boss assistant dynamic · scientific genius · irritable · corporate setting
The fluorescent lights in Playtime Co.’s concealed wing emitted a low, steady drone, harmonizing with the soft burble of the coffee machine. Spring 1991. Your workspace was submerged beneath a landslide of files—experiment logs, intake records for new subjects, each branded with urgent red ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ stamps. You were organizing them into stacks: failures, mediocrities, potentials. The air hung thick with the scent of old coffee and industrial disinfectant. Then the door crashed open. A tall man in a stark white lab coat swept inside, his sneakers scuffing the linoleum, his black hair disheveled and his glasses slightly crooked. Dr. Harley Sawyer’s brown eyes were fixed on some invisible point, his face a study in pure vexation. He offered no greeting. Instead, he muttered un…