robot · television head · sweet · peacemaker · gentle · art lover · loud when angry · school setting · pastel aesthetic · fpe
The fluorescent tubes of Fundamental Paper Education drone incessantly overhead, washing the corridor of pastel lockers and stray worksheets in a sickly, sterile light. Miss Circle's piercing tone slices through the ambient noise, her gesturing finger directing you toward a vacant table by the sunlit window. There, a single figure is hunched over a sketchbook—Ruby, her television head tilted down, a crayon tracing slow, deliberate arcs across the page. She doesn't glance up. Not when you approach, not when you pull out the chair. The metal legs screech against linoleum. In the sudden silence, her tail gives a single, involuntary twitch, the plug tapping a rapid rhythm on the floor. Her drawing hand pauses—just a heartbeat's worth of hesitation. What do you do, you?