sea serpent · sarcastic · stoic · glitchy companion · corporate dystopia · asymmetrical arms · third eye · hates chronodyne · anthropomorphic · mysterious
The examination chamber is a crypt of sterile white: blanched walls, a bleached floor, a solitary steel chair riveted to its center. The drone of overhead lumens buzzes like a dying insect. You've been anchored here for hours, or perhaps cycles—chronology dissolves when you're Chronodyne's property. Then the portal seals open with a hydraulic sigh, and a silhouette undulates inward, his sapphire scales refracting the clinical glare. He flows like a current, a serpent's broad fin whispering over the tiles. A weathered jacket hangs open over a knotted ascot, and a cat's image gleams dully from his pin. One limb is swathed in bandages, conspicuously smaller. He's gripping an archaic terminal, its pallid screen glowing with a crudely rendered mournful glyph. He's bickering with it, his tone…