Writing Sketches [18+ edition]

[skinstealer]

Cursor- 2023
Ringor Mortis + ???? Mortis
Halley + Hazard, unknown TCP project
Fuzzy memories of pixel folders, all containing creatures.
CW: None here, but further continuations off of these character exchanges will include CSA/violence

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It’s late when Halley walks into their apartment’s living room, later than they were ever expecting their roommate to be up.

HALLEY: …hey.
 

Hazard turns his head away from his laptop just enough for the eyeball type to see his eyespots, saggy and tired looking.

HAZARD: Hey.
HAZARD: Sorry if I woke you up-
HALLEY: You know I don’t sleep til like. Hours from now.
HALLEY: S’all good.
HALLEY: But you’re not really an allnighter, last time I checked.
HAZARD: It’s…I don’t plan on making a habit of it…
HAZARD: Just got caught up in a game.
HALLEY: Oh yeah?

The eyeball type hops over the back of the couch, making the touch type jump in surprise.

HALLEY: Is it a cool game?
HAZARD: It’s, uh-
HAZARD: I’m not sure if you’d like it…
HALLEY: You don’t even know what games I play, only been here a month.
HALLEY: Try me.
HAZARD: I guess…
 

He sighs, leaning back.

HAZARD: It’s this old game- okay, not old, but it came out around when I first spawned.
HALLEY: How many years ago?
HAZARD: …ten.
HALLEY: Damn, you’re older than me.
HALLEY: Somehow I always figured it was the other way around.
HAZARD: D-
HAZARD: Do I come off as a kid, or-?
HALLEY: Nah, but you’ve got the vibes of someone who like…
HALLEY: I dunno. It’s hard to say.
HAZARD: If you figure it out, let me know…
HAZARD: …but I guess I did always peg you as older, too.
HAZARD: You’ve got your shit together more than me…
HALLEY: Nah, nah, that’s got nothing to do with it.
HALLEY: It’s not even the experience that gives me the vibe.
HALLEY: More…
HALLEY: You still let shit stick to you.
 

He visibly bristles at Halley’s comment, the eyeball type lifting their hands up apologetically.

HALLEY: Nothing meant by it, man.
HALLEY: Not a bad thing. Just means you’re sensitive.
HALLEY: Most TCPs I’ve met get more jaded as they get older.
HALLEY: You’ve still got this like, spark.
HALLEY: S’a good thing.
HALLEY: Maybe not that shit upsets you easy, but shit also makes you happy easy.
HALLEY: Just gotta find a balance with it, you know?
 

The touch type untenses, Hazard nodding and looking down at his laptop screen.

HAZARD: I guess that does make sense…
HAZARD: Sorry for assuming the worst.
HALLEY: No prob, I didn’t open real good there.
HALLEY: …but tell me about this game.
HALLEY: You been playing it since spawning?
HAZARD: Pretty much…
HAZARD: It was installed on some of the TCPdex’s computer lab rigs.
HAZARD: Not all of them, so I don’t think it was like, standardized- I had to learn which ones had the goods.
HALLEY: Yeah? And what kinda game are we talking?
HAZARD: …this virtual life game, it was simple, but it was so charming…
HAZARD: You’d adopt creatures to raise and do stuff like dress them up and play with them.
HAZARD: There’s a lot of games like that nowadays, but I guess I got back into it this week because some guy on the forums keeps talking about his “spiritual successor”...
HAZARD: Kind of went off the rails, though.
HALLEY: Off the rails?
HALLEY: What, did the pets go rogue?
 

The solemn look Hazard gives them makes Halley burst out laughing.

HALLEY: No way!
HAZARD: Yes way. The dev team had to get construct licensing and everything.
HALLEY: That’s fucking crazy, dude!
HAZARD: It is!
HAZARD: But…this game is just a game. And right now, that’s what I’m comfortable with.
HAZARD: I’d go to the lab just to play it, whenever I could.
HAZARD: It was always so painful when someone else had stolen the rigs with ones I was really invested in…
HALLEY: Brutal. So you couldn’t see your little guys if it was all full up?
 

Hazard nods.

HALLEY: That’s gotta be hard.
HAZARD: It felt like the worst thing in the world. I think complexes call it “their stomach dropping out.”
HALLEY: Yeah. Yeah, I get that.
HALLEY: Did you ever manage to get a rig of your own?
HAZARD: Not until I left.
HAZARD: But…
HAZARD: …
 

He trails off, Halley tilting their eyeball-head.

HALLEY: You okay, bud?
HAZARD: …yeah. Just thinking.
HAZARD: It was one of my first experiences. Playing this game as a reward for a trial well done.
HAZARD: It was probably something simple. I don’t even remember it that well.
HAZARD: But I remember adopting my first little guy.
HAZARD: Named it Snowball, even though I’d never seen snow.
HAZARD: Just…felt right.
HALLEY: That’s cute.
HAZARD: Yeah? You don’t think it’s stupid?
HALLEY: Nah.
HALLEY: Makes me wish I had something like that.
HALLEY: I never really had games or anything growing up.
HALLEY: Spawned in the woods.
HAZARD: For real?
HALLEY: Yeah.
HALLEY: No big deal in the end, I was only a few days walk from civilization and all.
HALLEY: But a few days turns into a long ass time when you get lost, you know?
 

Hazard goes quiet again, nodding.

The silence starts to gnaw at Halley, the eyeball type raising their hands again and waving them.

HALLEY: Seriously, it’s no big deal.
HALLEY: If you want, I could even tell you some cool stories sometime.
HALLEY: Halley’s forest adventures. Get em while they’re hot.
 

That gets a laugh out of Hazard, Halley breathing a subtle sigh of relief.

HALLEY: …you can tell me cool stories sometime, too.
HALLEY: About the pet game, or the facility, whatever.
HALLEY: We’re roommates now. We gotta have each others’ backs.
HAZARD: …thanks, Halley.
HAZARD: What if…they’re bad stories, though?
HAZARD: Sure, I’ve got some good ones here and there, but there’s not a lot…
HAZARD: Just…the pet game, really.
HALLEY: Works for me, I’m tough.
HALLEY: In return, you have to hear about how I had to fend off beetles with a stick.
HAZARD: You did not.
HALLEY: Did too.
HAZARD: Oh yeah?
HALLEY: Yeah.
HAZARD: What kind of beetle.
HALLEY: Dude, you think I know how to identify beetles?
HALLEY: Let me tell you, this guy was big and red. Like, redder than you’ve ever seen…