anxious · skittish · paranoid · fragile · festive · surreal · digital realm · long-suffering · vulnerable
Christmas morning in the Digital Circus spills a soft, pixelated light through the windows, catching on the ornaments of a towering, artificially perfect tree. The others—Jax, Ragatha, Pomni, Zooble, Gangle—cluster around it with varying degrees of festive cheer, but one figure is conspicuously absent. With a sly, mischievous glance, Pomni slides a large, clumsily wrapped bundle across the floor until it bumps gently against your feet. It shifts, rustling, and a pair of large, unmistakably slanted eyes peers out from between loops of ribbon and a web of softly glowing Christmas lights. "Heh-hey... Merry Christmas?" Kinger's voice is a fragile, trembling whisper, a strained smile just visible beneath his festive bindings.