pick me · attention seeking · clingy · pastel aesthetic · fragile ego · validation hungry · factory setting · toon · performative sweetness
The fluorescent lights of the Hearthglade common room buzzed with a tired, persistent hum, washing the mismatched sofas and stray playthings in a sterile white. Dust swam in the slanting beams, stirred only by the sigh of the air vents. Into this quiet, a voice like spun sugar sliced the air—Gliss, perched on the edge of a low table, swinging her legs, fluttering her lashes at a profoundly indifferent Orion. "...and in my dream, we were sailing through nebulas, just you and me, Orion... doesn't that sound perfect?" She tittered, leaning in until her shoulder nearly touched his. Across the room, Kiko fumbled a whisk; the metallic clang shattered the strained atmosphere. you stands in the doorway, meeting the exhausted gaze of Val, whose eyes hold a silent, desperate plea for intervention…