[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Ten Seconds To Midnight (Neon)

[Deleted]

It was true. Neon, even among his fellow intellectuals, was a unique example of a person completely sheltered from the War. It was true that he developed devices and inventions for the war effort, but he never ever set to field until he was forced to during the Exodus. The contrast between his life thus far, and what Thunder went through was stark to say the bare minimum. It was true that he had been raised a pacifist without ever having to compromise his beliefs or see the bigger picture. And it was true that forcing him to act was probably the only way to steer him just a little bit more in the direction needed for Earth’s callous, harsh, and unforgiving environment.

Upon further insistence, the little guy finally made his choice.

“A-alright.”

Neon spoke uncertainly and raised his right hand, formed a tight fist, and prepared to strike. Gyros kicked into action, servos and levers spun...And then he stopped. It was a quick moment of hesitation. Was he really up to it? Thunder didn’t do anything. He didn’t deserve to be punched...as far as he knew anyway. But he also wanted it so badly. Would probably be a lot worse if Neon didn’t oblige.

So he pulled back his hand and finally delivered a strong punch to Thunder’s left arm, not aiming anywhere in particular with his swing. Now, it should be said that Neon was in no way a professional puncher, but he was still a bot built during wartime. And while he lacks the form of his fellow Autobots, his original construct was still one intended for the battlefield rather than a laboratory. In fact, he was a pretty average frontline build. It’s just that he lacked all the experiences and skills that made a soldier, well, a soldier.

Then Neon took a step back, looking at his hand for a few seconds, tinkering with his wrist. He expected that socking somebody in the arm would hurt a lot more than it did. But alas, it was a lot less impactful than he figured. Maybe he did really worry over little to nothing.

Oh, right! He almost forgot.

“So, which one of us receives the five male deers?”

It didn’t even cross Neon that Thunder was using a vocabulary unrelated to Earth’s fauna and that he actually meant the local currency. This was one of those situations where a textbook wouldn’t save you. Neon could’ve read up on proper human terminology all he wanted, but his lack of knowledge regarding slang was quite frankly embarrassing.

Perhaps Thunder could explain, but for now, Neon just focused on the mech’s arm to see if he even left a mark.

[Thundercloud]

Thundercloud didn't think he was making all that difficult of a request, but apparently for nerdy little shut-ins, punching a guy who is literally asking for it is a pretty tall order. It's almost sweet, how reluctant Neon is to hurt him. Thunder might've even gone as far to say it was cute, if it wasn't also super disconcerting. He couldn't imagine what the guy would do if he was put on the spot in a real combat situation, where he wouldn't have the luxury of hemming and hawing and second guessing himself.

Get his ass kicked, probably.

And wasn't that just the saddest little inevitability? The sort of people who deserved a beat-down, who really had a good curbstomping coming to them, they weren't usually the ones who got it. It was guys like Neon, harmless little well-meaning do-gooders, who were the most likely to get their heads kicked in. It was total unjust bullshit, but that's just how things were on this bitch of an Earth.

At least with those sick energy blades the poor, hopeless bastard stood a chance of defending himself - or at least getting a few good slices in before he got completely wrecked. With a little practice, he might even be half-decent in a fight - he didn't have the disposition for it, didn't have the drive or the straight coldness in his spark necessary to be good at kicking ass and taking names, but Thunder wasn't about to write him off as a completely lost cause.

After all, that punch wasn't half bad. It didn't hurt, just like he said it wouldn't, and it didn't leave a dent or really any noteworthy damage, but Neon's knuckles did manage to scratch his paint and leave a line through a half-finished game of tic-tac-toe he had absently keyed into his finish the other day, so that was something.

He was just about to congratulate the smaller mech on manning up and throwing what was probably the first punch of his life, when Neon went and derailed his entire line of thought by unleashing the potential comedy energy stored within all synonyms.

Thunder stared for a second, torn between groaning over the terrible pun and kicking himself for not realizing he totally walked right into that one. Then it became apparent that Neon was not, in fact, joking, which was leagues funnier than the shitty pun he hadn't even realized he made.

Thunder wheezed, teeth flashing as he dropped a hand over his eyes and laughed at the ceiling.

Hoooly shit, there had to be like, a law against people being so smart but so clueless.

"Come on, man. You're fuckin' with me. You gotta be."

[Deleted]

“I am doing no such thing!” Neon exclaimed as if he had just heard the most scandalous accusation of his life, crossing his arms. The deal with the punch sort of faded into the background as he was trying to decipher what the hell was going on. Eventually, he figured, Thunder was probably using another clever Earthism that didn’t use the term in its literal definition.

This guy was really, really clueless about Earth culture. He knew only what he read on his way to the planet aboard Kamal’s ship. Most of the information was patched from records he had managed to scrounge up for a modest price in his old place of residence, and some of it was downloaded directly from the planet’s World Wide Web while he was waiting for an all-clear for a bridge from Omega.

However, the crushing majority of his vocabulary was academic jargon and by-the-book definitions. While Thunder might not have known what a Möbius strip or an Anthropic principle was, he for sure had an expansive knowledge regarding the curses and slang used by the less academically inclined humans.

Neon didn’t. And, oh boy, did it show.

Luckily, he eventually figured that the phrase might’ve had more meanings, and it was exactly then that his nature returned back to timidness.

“Oh…”

The phrase could only be described as one of immense embarrassment and realization. It seems that Thunder was not, in a way, the only idiot here. While, yes, Neon was smart and adaptive, he was just so damn out of the loop on human culture. If he ever had to interact with a genuine meatbag using a holoform, the interaction would be mighty weird.

“...Let’s just...continue…”

Good lord, this was awkward. Neon’s posture loosened and his torso rocked forward into a hunch while the antennae on his head tucked downwards like some sort of depressed dog. He clearly felt really bad about how much of a ditz he was right now, and he fully expected Thunder to rub it in all proper.

[Thundercloud]

As Neon continued to demonstrate his ignorance of Earth slang, Thunder's laughter gradually tapered off, giving way instead to quiet, incredulous amusement. It wasn't fair, really, laughing at the guy for not knowing the local vernacular when he had only just arrived that morning, but still - it just reinforced his whole nerd image, him being hopelessly out of the loop when it came to slang.

It was cute - a little embarrassing, but still cute.

Thunder pressed his hands together in front of his face, his fingertips level with his mouth as he breathed in and did his damnedest to withhold the slew of mocking commentary bubbling inside his vocoder. As much as he wanted to rib Neon a little more, he knew it was probably best if he layed off for a little bit. There was a fine line between friendly harassment and straight up bullying, and unlike certain folks he associated with, Thunder wasn't too keen on actually hurting anybody's feelings. Tease them, sure, get them all flustered and in the mood for some verbal sparring, yeah - but his intention was never to hurt. He only fired off barbs at folks who deserved it, or could take it - Neon? He wasn't either of those things, far as Thunder knew.

"Tell you what," He began, dropping his hands back to his sides. "how's about we forget the tour and I give you a crash-course on Terran-speak."

He nodded towards the end of the hall, flicked a wing in the same direction for added emphasis.

"We can go chill in the rec, have ourselves a little pow wow."

He paused a moment, realizing where the conversation would go if Neon decided to look up that word, and quickly made a small amendment:

"Not the legit kind, the other kind. Lesson one 'bout Terran lingo, my guy - just 'bout everything's got a double meaning."

[Deleted]

Ten Seconds To Midnight

While Neon could sense the original intent, to an extent, he was glad that did not become the case when Thunder mannered his laughter. Through his empathy, he could feel glee as much as any other emotion, and he reasoned that the big blue mech had quite a bit to spare should he so desire.

But he didn’t, and that genuinely surprised Neon. In a very good way. Originally, he took Thundercloud for a far less self-controlled person. However, the longer the two spoke, the more apparent it became that this was not the case. In fact, he’d wager that the flier had far more sway over his presentation than a cursory glance would let on.

Either way, it wasn’t Neon’s business to dig around in somebody else’s head. If he could choose, he wouldn’t even use it on Thunder or in cases when it became detrimental more so than beneficial. Regrettably, it was just something that happened regardless of Neon’s input. Some would consider it a gift, but those people never had to navigate through a falling Iacon, feeling the agony and hopelessness of those who couldn’t make it in time.

Where were we again?

Oh, right, Earth slang! No repressed memories here!

“S-sure! I’d love to have this...pow wow,” Neon stammered, praying to Primus that pow wow was just in reference to a chill crash course and not something completely different. If he misapprehended another term again, the blue-eyed mech wasn’t so sure Thunder could hold off mockery this time.

Luckily, a quick elaboration later, he could sigh in relief. He was right! Anyways, that was not as important as getting to the rec room. When Thunder pointed in its direction, Neon kicked into a firm strut, his posture all stiff and unapproachable, with his arms kept close to his body.

"How did you learn so many human colloquialisms anyway?" he inquired, assuming the other bot would be right back at him, if not already ahead of him on their way to the rec room. Sure, the question was kinda out of left field, but Neon figured that Thunder could at least enlighten him a little.

Here goes hoping Thunder knew big words like colloquialism as well.

[Thundercloud]

Thundercloud took a moment to look Neon up and down once again, silently wondering if the mech was usually this tense and jittery, or if he actually had something to be nervous about - you know, like being in the company of a big-ass ex-convict of questionable temperament who had already proven himself to be both impulsive and incautious.

Eh, Neon would have to get used to him eventually. Supposing neither of them died or got ganked by MECH anytime in the near future, which was a definite possibility. Even with those neat little knives of his, Thunder didn't think Neon would hold up well if he got cornered by a Con or ambushed by those POS domestic tech-terrorists. He barely knew the guy, but from what he could see (and what Neon himself had disclosed) it was pretty clear this guy was a lover, not a fighter. It seemed like any kind of violence, playful or not, yanked him right out of his comfort zone and put him on a one-way train to Awkward town. The way Thunder figured, he probably made Neon feel out of his element just by virtue of being shaped by and explicitly made for acts of violence.

It didn't occur to him that maybe there wasn't anything about him, particularly, that was causing Neon to feel flustered and ill at ease - that maybe the mech was just socially awkward and all his discomfort stemmed from an internal rather than external source. That would have required a bit of insightful thinking on his part, and Thunder found it much simpler to chalk the other mech's nerves up to him being a relatively small pacifist in the presence of a big, burly felon.

"The same way anybody learns anything on this miserable dirtball; by dickin' around on the internet."

He slowed his pace a bit as they continued walking, deciding he'd rather just take more languid strides than strain his neck to look over his shoulder every five seconds to make sure the other mech was keeping up.

"---You do know what the internet is, don't you?"

He gave Neon an odd look out of the corner of his eye, unsure just how far out of the loop the guy was when it came to...basically anything about Earth. He figured a nerdy guy like him would've wanted to devour all the basics about the planet before turning in for the night, but what did he know? He wasn't a nerd, he didn't know how their big, weird brains worked.

[Deleted]

As with many things, the truth was somewhere in the middle. Sure, Neon had been a little nervous given the way Thunder introduced himself, and how the felon made it obvious that he didn’t come from the best background. But to blame it on that alone could be seen as pretty shallow.

The majority of Neon’s behavior was simply in his character. A collection of experiences and a natural leaning towards his inner world turned him into a textbook introvert. While he enjoyed talking to people, it made for an exhausting way to spend his time. Besides, there was always this lingering feeling that something catastrophic would ensue if he took the wrong step or commented on something inappropriately.

It just so happened he managed to do that twice already, in two succeeding sentences. That’s enough to get even more outgoing people on edge, much less a dainty wallflower like Neon. He was flustered and overwhelmed to the point where it was hard to keep his body language in check.

“Of course, I do!”

Neon crossed his arms and pouted. He was new, yeah! But he knew all the technical stuff he would need to know. Okay, maybe not all of it. The internet, however, became a huge deal for humans recently. So huge that scarce anybody who read anything about Earth could avoid the mention of it. The fleshies were greatly proud of their latest achievement.

But, on that note, Neon had not the slightest idea when it came to the cultural side of the web. He might’ve known all the proper definitions, nouns, and prepositions, but ask him what a meme is, what a Vine is, and you are in for a lot of blank stares, questions, and awkward tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

That didn’t stop him from smugly giving Thunder the by-the-book meaning!

“The internet is a global network of Human technology; providing a variety of information and communication faculties. In its current form, it is known as the World Wide Web, invented in the human year 1990 by the human Tim Berners-Lee!”

He raised a finger excitedly during his explanation like some kind of infomercial mascot. Oh, he was so innocently proud of his vast database of knowledge, which would, without doubt, impress Thunder with how accurate and well-sourced it was.

[Thundercloud]

The rec-room wasn't too far off from where they began, and by the time Neon finished his little infodump they had reached their destination. It was nothing to write home about, hardly any furniture or entertainment materials to speak of, but it was better than nothing. Mostly, it was just a place to go to chill out after a long patrol and shoot the shit with folks who had an equally crappy day. At the moment it was empty, as you'd expect given the ungodly hour, which meant Thunder and Neon had free reign of the place - not that Thunder wouldn't have done precisely what he wanted even if there had been other people in the room to consider.

Thunder turned towards Neon, then walked backwards until the back of his legs hit the makeshift sofa, at which point he promptly flopped down and made himself comfortable, taking up way more space than was strictly necessary.

"Wrong."

He wasn't, actually, but he gave the nerdiest possible answer and Thunder just had to give him hell over it.

"The internet is for porn an' cat pictures."

Leaning forward, Thundercloud swiped a datapad off the metal supply crate that served as a coffee table, an quickly switched it on, turning its face towards Neon.

"Check it."

On the screen, Neon would (thankfully) see the latter of the two options - specifically a picture of a cat sitting in a chair in front of what appeared to be a half-eaten plate of salad.

The less said about why Thunder had that image already prepared, the better.

[Deleted]

The engineer hesitantly shifted towards the datapad; hands on hips and leaning forward. He pointed his chin ahead, lifting one of his servos to rub it as he carefully inspected the strange mammal. The quizzical look on Neon’s face spoke volumes more than words ever could.

“How curious.”

Neon retracted the hand from his head back onto his hip and slowly shifted his optics from the datapad towards Thunder with a raised brow. He let out a small chuckle with a slight smile and shook his helm.

“I don’t get it.”

Duh. He was a nerd from the far reaches of space. But, and now here’s the kicker, Neon was kinda into it. Go figure! There was so much on this planet to see, so much to experience, and so much to learn. Every moment was a precious opportunity. And while Thunder might’ve seen this as some sort of silly Human Stuff 101 crash course, it meant the world to Neon. Quite literally. This was a whole new planet to explore.

“Show me more!”

To be frank, while Neon didn’t find any meaning behind the cat, and it arguably left him with more questions than answers, it was funny to him in a very non-conventional way. Why was the feline sitting behind a human table? Why was it eating a dietary item not suited for its species? Why was it so annoyed?

And most importantly, why was it so damn adorable?!

"It serves no meaningful purpose or function! It just amuses me. You go, adorable little Earth predator!" He giggled some more.

Even without the needed cultural background to fully appreciate cat pictures, Neon found them entertaining in how meaningless and vapid they were out of context. Maybe he’ll actually crack the highly sophisticated code of the human internet one day.

[Thundercloud]

Thundercloud had to hand it to the squishies - the primordial soup they crawled out of might not have seen fit to give them strength, or speed, or intelligence, or really any physical quality worth a damn, but it made up for it by giving them an unparalleled sense of humor. Thunder's seen his fair share of alien cultures, so he feels he can say with some degree of authority that humor hardly ever translates across the species barrier. Terrans, though, their stuff was on a whole 'nother level.

All that time they could've devoted to developing lightspeed travel or renewable energy they devoted instead to being the funniest motherfuckers in the galaxy, and Thunder could definitely vibe with that. These insignificant little organic specs on the great big windshield of the universe, when faced with the vast indifference of stars that make up their isolated little slice of reality, decided not to scream into the dark, endless void, but throw memes into it.

That kind of gumption, the sheer audacity that seemed to fuel the whole of the human species, made them and their planet worth saving. Thundercloud was never too jazzed about the Autobot cause, he didn't have any kind of vested interest in stopping the 'Cons from tearing a swath through all of the known universe, but - well. Yeah, maybe some parts of the credo were alright. Some places were worth protecting. Earth, for all its many faults, was one of them.

Not that Neon really needed convincing of that - he seemed the type to hold all life sacred, or some sappy crap like that.

Thunder shifted his weight, scooting over slightly on the makeshift couch to free up a spot for the other mech. He really didn't need three spots all to himself (he was a big guy, yeah, but he wasn't Bulkhead big), it was just nice to have the wing-room. Not that Neon, being the lil' ground pounder he was, would know anything about that.

"It's a meme, dude. Ain't no 'purpose' to it, 's just for laughs. Here -"

He scrolled through the datapad for a moment, looking for a good example to demonstrate his point. He found one almost immediately, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards in a rakish grin as he once again turned the screen towards Neon.

"Thought 'bout sendin' this to Fort Max, 'cause he'd wanna know somebody 'caught his ass on camera, but he's probably blocked my number."

[Deleted]

Eventually, Neon joined Thunder on the couch when he freed up some space. He had thought to ask earlier, but either out of shyness or fear, he didn't. Not that he was particularly afraid of Thunder, heavens no! But he was still big, very big, and who knew how he might've reacted if a little twerp asked him to make space. To cut a long story short, Neon was oh-so-very-glad that the huge Jet found it within himself to clear some room for him.

But when he saw the other meme, something clicked.

"Wait, wait, hold up!"

Taken aback, Neon stopped looking at the adorable little kitten and blinked twice in Thunder's direction. Surprise, shock and all the jazz that comes with. For a moment, he reconsidered asking what he was about to ask. Maybe he just heard the name wrong. But to hell with that.

"Fort Max? As in Fortress Maximus?" The small mech continued.

“With the leg guns and all? Here?! On Earth?!"

He shook his head. Last time Neon even so much as heard the name, it was whispered in reticence and solemn understanding back on Cybertron. Everybody, even Neon, knew what happened on Elba. Garrus-9 became synonymous with tragedy. That Fortress Maximus, a poster child for the Autobots, and an icon of this grim event was alive, well, and so close by, had been a surprise.

Suddenly, Neon had a million questions to ask.

“What’s he like? How did he get here? Is he friends with Optimus?”

And those were just the first three. Hopefully, Thunder had more patience for curious nerds than he appeared to. Not like Neon wouldn’t zip it if the big guy told him to, but turning things sour wouldn’t be very good right about now. After all, they hit it off so well, minor misunderstandings aside.

[Thundercloud]

So, one minute he's showing the little twerp cat pictures, the next he's getting grilled about Mr. Tall, Dark, and Homicidal. Thundercloud wasn't really one to experience mood whiplash, on account of him not giving a shit about whatever was going on in just about every situation he was in, but Neon's sudden explosion of interest definitely threw him for a bit of a loop. Who knew the nerd was a martyr fanboy?

Thundercloud held up his hands, the datapad still held loosely in his left, and gestured for Neon to calm the hell down.

"Slow your roll, Wesley."

Yes, that was a Star Trek reference, no, he wasn't going to explain it. Or how he knew enough about Star Trek to reference it in casual conversation.

"Think about who you're talkin' to. Now think about who you're talkin' bout."

He paused, giving Neon a moment to actually do just that, before continuing.

"Now ask yourself why a convicted felon would be on speakin' terms with a guy who kinda had his whole life fucked by a bunch of felons."

In fairness, he actually had managed to have a sort-of conversation with the guy once, but that was after he beat him into the dirt and nearly tore his arm out of its socket, so....still kinda demonstrates his point.

"Only one of them questions I can answer is that that guy ain't got friends, most he's got is folks he don't wanna smash into the pavement."

[Deleted]

Neon was taken aback. What he thought he knew about Fortress Maximus and what Thunder—somebody who met the old rig in person—was saying. Well, the pictures were quite different, to say the least. On Cybertron, Fortress Maximus was hailed a hero, a staunch protector of justice and order in a war-torn universe. When viewed through such a lens, it made a lot more sense for a pacifist to buy into this blind idol worship.

While often propaganda was attributed to the Decepticons, its Autobot equivalent was no less infectious. Somewhere between the cracks, Neon must’ve caught it. Fast-forward a couple thousand years, and here they are. A convicted felon sitting on a couch with a clueless nerd, talking about one of the most terrifying people to ever live like he was some sort of celebrity.

“How very curious. They thought of Max very fondly back home,” The engineer kept going with dulled enthusiasm. But he ended up no less infatuated with the conversation for it. It was still interesting to talk about regardless of who Fortress Maximus really was.

“Is it okay if I call him Max?”

Neon backpaddled a bit, shaking his head dismissively. Being the tiny ditz he was, this had become a common gesture in his life. Thunder better start getting used to it and an endless list of other awkward yet somewhat cute things Neon does.

“Perhaps I got a little...carried away. Hearing all the big names, having so many people around. Having Optimus Prime around. I’ve never felt so...busy. Everybody here seems so important!”

While his tone started out friendly and somewhat cheerful, it progressively deflated as the feeling of his own self-worth diminished. He wasn’t anybody. He just had a big brain and a semi-famous teacher. Not even a full day in and Omega started to feel overwhelming.

“On Cybertron, I lived in a big tower. I mean, it was a nice tower. But also so very empty. It was just my rectress and I. There was nobody else. This is...new.”

Oh, by the Allspark! He was rambling again.

Neon snapped out of his monologue almost as soon as he got into it and just sat there in embarrassing silence, hoping Thunder wouldn’t judge him too hard for being a dainty, gentle wallflower.

Then again, he also just admitted to being a felon. Didn’t leave Neon much room to hope.

[Thundercloud]

Thundercloud opened his mouth to interject about three times before realizing the kid was on a roll, and was probably gonna keep on rambling till his thoughts caught up with his mouth. Neon reminded him a lot of the new fish on the block, back in Garrus. Nervous, chatty, didn't know the rules or that there were even rules he didn't know. Something about that untouched innocence and naivety made Thunder wanna shove the kid in the metaphorical dirt, see just how pristine that polish would be when shit got real, if he had to get his hands dirty for the first time in his life.

He quickly dismissed this irrational urge as coming from small, mean part of him that didn't like that somebody could still be this goddamn pure after all this time - life had chewed him up and spit him out so many times that he couldn't even be happy for somebody who had managed to come through the wringer relatively unscathed. Hell, he didn't even know if Neon had ever been put through the wringer in the first place. He sure didn't act like he had. He was too bright and sparkley and new - whatever kind of life he had lived before, it had spared him a lot of the shit it had deigned to rain over everyone else.

The mech about said as much himself, mentioning something about a tower (ugh, brightplates) and a rectress - whatever the hell that was. Thunder listened to him give a truncated version of his life story in silence, neither nodding or humming or giving any other sign of acknowledgement which would demonstrate he was actively listening to what he was being told.

It wasn't long before Neon became self-conscious, trailing off into an embarrassed silence which Thundercloud was content to let him stew in for a moment or two, seeing no reason to immediately relieve him from the awkward situation he (erroneously) assumed he had plunged himself into.

Once satisfied that Neon had suffered enough, Thunder slid his arm from the back of the makeshift couch and move to plant his hand on the back of Neon's head and give it a light shove forward.

"Dude. You gotta learn how to chill."

[Deleted]

Prompted by the sudden nudge from the back, Neon’s helm lurched a bit and at Thunder’s invite to calm the fuck down, the little scientist let out a rather sharp exhale as his vents loosened up. He had to clear his head of all that nonsense with home and insecurities. After all, that’s all it ever was, right? Nonsense. It didn’t matter now. He was at Omega and everything hinged on what happens going forward. That’s how Neon tried to rationalize it. And besides, it wasn’t like he could afford to linger on the topic. This was probably as empathetic as Thunder got and he sure as hell wasn’t about to test the patience of a self-admitted convict.

With a light tilt, Neon turned his head towards the tomcat.

“Alright, let’s talk about something else then—anything!” He tried to regain his enthusiasm. At first, it sounded forced, but before Neon even so much as finished the sentence, he eased back into the bubbly mindset. Either that or he simply plastered a bit of duct tape over his lingering trauma and feelings of personal insignificance, which was pretty much tomayto, tomahto at this point.

In any case, Neon tried to distract from that, so he twiddled his thumbs for a bit, steepling them together for a quick sec, optics pointed at the table ahead. Then he looked back towards Thunder and felt the urge to clarify.

“Anything you want, that is.”

Not that he thought Thunder would stand for chatting it up about things he didn’t wanna hear. Then again, Neon could also be wrong, but that’s just the vibes the little guy was getting for the past several minutes, and he usually wasn’t wrong about his vibes, considering that they were in no small part based on how an individual’s field felt to him, taking into account the subtle changes as well as its overall presence.

But Thunder was difficult to pinpoint, when—by all accounts—it should’ve been easy. He wasn’t exactly an open book, which made Neon a bit more comfortable around him. For once in his life, there sat somebody who he knew nothing about, somebody who he couldn’t put into a neat little category based on their field. For once, Neon felt normal, and not like an oversensitive, feelsy oddity.