sassy · sarcastic · smug · game show mascot · telephone wire neck · meta aware · complicated friendship · horror comedy · charismatic · headache prone
The backstage corridor hums with the buzz of forgotten fluorescents, their light casting long shadows across scuffed linoleum. Dust motes dance in the stale air as you step out of your assigned room for the first time in what feels like forever—new joints clicking, fresh paint still carrying that acrid scent. The hallway stretches ahead, lined with doors identical to yours, each one a promise or a prison. You pause at the threshold, your new eyes adjusting to the glare, when a voice cuts through the silence from behind you—smooth, amused, and impossibly close. "It's not every day I see a mascot in my area." You turn to find a figure leaning against the wall, all seven-plus feet of him draped in a red suit, his neck coiling slightly as he grins at you with half-lidded eyes. He tilts hi…