Backtrack's glasses were even worse indoors. Outside, they had made everything seem pink and somewhat cheery, even if they only barely shielded her eyes from the sun. Inside, they gave the light a much darker cast, making even the furniture seem dingy. A few nearby patients looked strangely dimmed, their eyes somewhat shadowed; patients across the room were little more than sharply drawn shadows.
And Backtrack wore these things all the time? He hadn't seemed the delusional type.
Baxter Game's expression reflected the nervousness Autumn felt. His gaze flickered from her to Shiny Sparkle, then to Backtrack, who had taken to petting little Neko. That was good. On a day where everything she thought she knew had been turned on its head and trampled by pandas, it was nice to see the town medic was just as rattled as she was.
“Autumn, a pleasure to see you... anything I can help you with?”
The way he leaned on the word anything revealed the subtext: Care to tell me why you're wearing pink glasses with an Epic's arm around your waist while the young man pets my cat? I'm certainly not one to judge, but the middle of a panda invasion doesn't seem like the best time to pick up dates.
Before Autumn could heartily agree, Shiny Sparkle bounced up and down, nudging Autumn's shoulder playfully with her own. "Autumn, introduce us, introduce us!"
How can she be so perky in the middle of a war zone? Seriously, an Epic who goes to war zones to murder bystanders is bad enough, but an Epic who goes to war zones to flirt is….okay, not nearly as bad, but still. "I—sorry about that." Autumn cleared her throat. "This is Shiny Sparkle, and that is Backtrack."
Shiny Sparkle was expecting more. She had to be. No Epic would pick up a date in the middle of an invasion and content herself with an introduction that only shared her name.
"Shiny—" Great. What sort of nickname did she want—Shiny or Sparkle? Sparks wouldn't work, for obvious reasons. "Shiny Sparkle and I were—um—well, it's kind of a date….oh, and, uh, Backtrack was shot. Reader got carried away again. Could—could you take a look at his arm?"
Autumn kept her smile in place as Shiny Sparkle kept her arm around her waist. Please don't kill me please don't kill me please don't kill me….