HOME - MEDIA - WORLD - CHARACTERS - ABOUT - RANDOM
A light rain patters against the wide window of the skyscraper's sixth floor break room. Through the weather's visual white noise can be seen a Stem City lit aglow by hundreds of neon signs. Many buzz and flicker due to years of poor maintenance, but they carry on all the same. Somewhere off in the distance, the bright green spec at the end of the Nexus' Stemrail system is seen bringing in off-worlder's precious cargo through the dark underbelly of the universe.
Teek sighs. She's swirling a plastic spoon in her cup of tea idly. The tea itself is extremely bitter and probably expired, but she doesn't care. Whatever puts enough energy in her system to get through the day. Her drooped antenna flickers every few seconds as discordant yelling leaks down from the office hallway outside.
The state of the breakroom is awful. Stains cover the cracked tiling and the unpainted walls. The tables can barely stand up straight and the chairs hurt the aging woman's back. Another sip of her drink causes her three digit fingers to curl from the bitterness. The radio above is playing some low energy piano music. All it's doing is making her mental state even more somber than it already was before she sat down.
The deep unrest in her soul can't seem to go away. It's been so many years since, why does it still hurt?
The door behind her swings open. She hears a familiar slimy texture make its way across the dirty floor. Glomby appears out from the side of her vision, the gentle giant shuffling his way over to the chair across from her. One of his four tendrils wrap around it and push it back. He struggles to fit into it for a second, managing to get comfortable after an embarrassingly long amount of time.
She stares up at him with disinterest. He isn't returning the apathetic look towards her cause he's too busy routing around in his bag for something.
Teek forces a weak smile and speaks in her usual monotone tone, "What you looking for in there, Glo?"
"Lunch. Managed to snag something from a street vendor for once, ha!" Even after being told by different staff several times, Glomby still didn't know how to use his inside voice.
He took out a wrapped sandwich, dropping it onto the table carelessly. She watched him unwrap the terrible paper covering before opening his goliath sized mouth. Green saliva dripped onto the table below as the giant slime devoured the meal in one bite.
Teek shivers uncomfortably. The thought of his extended jaw eating her whole scared her. Adding onto the bad thoughts, the woman could see how fast his body was dissolving the food. Within twenty seconds, it was nothing more than little crumbs in his hypothetical stomach.
She would die. Scary.
"Quite delicious!" Glomby laughed as he formed a peace sign with his tentacle. His laugh was unlike anything she had heard before. It sounded more like high pitched whooping than any sort of happy chuckle she had heard. "So, what are you having?"
Teek sighs. The truth was sad.
"Just this tea. Didn't have enough Marks to buy anything good today," She nervously chuckles, "I'm hoping Flea will have bought me something good when I get home."
Glomby's expression sours. "I could get you something if you like, ma'am?"
Teek shakes her head. She couldn't take that. Deep in her heart, she believed she didn’t deserve it.
"No, thank you. Flea's dinner usually fills me up well enough."
He keeps asking, "You sure? I got paid a few Marks bonus for the emergency scrubbing I did in the bathroom last night, so-"
She interrupts him sternly, "Yes, I'm sure. I'm fine."
He nods, knowing by now to not put up a fight.
The two sit there silently for some time. Teek drinks her disgusting tasting tea as Glomby's hyperactive nature caused his hands to tap on the table, his curious head to crane around the room, his alien eyes to stare at Teek every once and awhile for an awkwardly long time.
He was weird. There was no denying that. But, compared to the assholes she has to work with? Glomby was tolerable in her book.
"I really need to clean up this room..." He mutters. "It's a dump in here."
The woman rolls her eyes in mild annoyance. Every day felt the same. "You say that every time you eat in here, Glo."
The slime giant points two of his arms up in defense, "Hey! I get so busy, I..." Glomby couldn't come up with a good excuse. He went silent again.
Teek's tired eyes focus back on the city's horizon again. Teek worked herself down to the bones every day of every week to make sure they could keep their place in the eastern neighborhoods, but…
Somewhere down there, her teenage daughter worked hard to feed her mom. Teek worried for her baby's safety despite it all, though. It was dangerous down there. The noble class loved preying on everybody. It didn't matter how young, vulnerable, or inexperienced they were.
She felt awful that she didn't even know what her precious Flea was getting up to in her own time. Zero clue where she hung out, who she hung with. If something happened to her, Teek would…
Each day was a constant struggle of being yelled at by her peers and doing incomprehensibly slow and monotonous tasks. She hoped her daughter didn’t have to endure the same fate.
"You doing alright, TT?" Glomby asks.
She sighs and shakes her head, avoiding his intrusive question best she can. "I told you already to not call me that."
He let loose his freakishly chuckles again. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot!"
Teek let her mind go blank for the next couple of minutes. It would soon be time for them to be thrown back into the ringer of their companies' chaos, so she might as well get whatever peace she can manage.
"Hey, ma’am?" Glomby's tone has shifted back down. It was quiet, an edge of worry lacing it.
The unique voice brought Teek's previously empty attention to snap over to him almost instantly. "Yes?"
Glomby, instead of responding, digs into his stained and smelly bag. Its condition was disgusting to Teek, but perhaps she just didn't get it. She wasn't made out of goop, after all. Perhaps it was something he simply can’t help?
From inside his bag, two of his tendrils bring out a small trinket.
It was some character, probably from the off-world shows Teek overheard Glomby rambling to himself angrily about, posed on a stand. The woman gives him a confused, irritated look.
"Woah, woah, hey," He starts. "Look at this before you flash me such mean looks!"
Whoops. Her bad.
He taps it with one of his tentacles, and...
Its head begins moving back and forth.
Teek isn’t impressed at all by this. Not one bit. She’s purchased the same kind of toys for a childish Flea in toy stores, afterall.
Yet, there was something so charming, so innocent about it. Her, honestly, moron of a coworker found such a deep, primal joy in it. Glombo stifles some giggles as his gooey face curled into a smile.
Perhaps her pained heart finds some solace in it, too. It reminds her of a time where she wasn't stuck here. It reminds her of a time where she watched her daughter play with a watchful eye. It reminds her of a time where her husband hugged her tightly before bed every night.
"It's my lucky charm," He carries on with an edge of shyness and hesitation under his loud tone. "I-I..." It seems like he's struggling. Teek raises her eyebrow. "I want you to have it. You seem like you're not having a great time, miss. You should return it when you don’t need it anymore, obviously, but..." He gives a solemn nod. "It’s brought me happy times."
Her first instinct was to decline the gift. But, she wouldn't do that after his kind soul extended an olive branch.
Her second was to say thank you and then shove it in a cabinet while he wasn't looking. But, what if he found it? He would hate her. She couldn’t do that to him.
Her third was...
She reaches out. He places it in her palm carefully. With a little flick, he sends its loose head rocking back and forth again.
"Thank you, Glo," Teek mutters shyly. Her tired eyes stare down at it doing its little dance. "It's pretty funny."
Glomby laughs, nodding his head like a child. "It is, it is!"
The bell rings above them. It calls out for Teek Miroir.
Oh, great, her one 15 minute break for the 14 hour workday was now officially over.
She tosses the bobblehead into her purse. Going over and lazily tossing her half empty cup away, Teek finds herself impulsively giving a meek wave to Glomby as she leaves for the office warzone again.
The rest of the day was nothing short of hell, but that felt like every day working for the neon sign company. The ride home was bumpy. Flea's purchased meal was good as always, but the quiet dinner table didn't fill Teek with any tangible satisfaction. Leaving to her room for a quality five hours of sleep, Teek throws her purse onto her bed haphazardly.
Out rolled Glomby's gift.
It was quiet in the house that night.
She bends down, her three fingered hand carefully grasping it as if it was crime scene evidence. In the dim light of her bedroom, she can’t make out all the details of the cheap toy. At this point in the day, her mind is having trouble even remembering if Glomby said anything about what media franchise it's from.
Despite the fact that this unknown toy hold no meaning to her beyond being an undesired gift, the single mother holds it with as much care as her husband's hand or her freshly born daughter.
She actually can't remember the last time somebody gifted her something not out of necessity, but out of the kindness in their own pained heart.
For the next six hours, it stood gracelessly on her barred window sill. Its bouncing head didn't overlook the dark streets below, instead looking inward.
For no reason in particular, Teek sleeps a little more comfortably tonight.
Somewhere out there, there's somebody wishing her the best.