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Danny intended to make a quick trip down the hotel hallway and back. It was too late for room service, so he grabbed some snacks from a vending machine he’d spotted earlier. He’d even left the door to his room unlocked, since Brian was still there, anyway—
When he opened the door, it took him about five seconds to process what he saw.
There were two figures on the bed. One immediately recognizable as Havve Hogan, lying still with his lights powered off. And kneeling beside him was Doctor Sung…
Helmet off…
Elbow deep in Havve’s chest…
He’d entered the wrong room.
Startled eyes met Danny’s, eyes he’d never seen before, irises an unnatural shade of yellow. And it took five more seconds for Danny’s vision to go completely dark.
He vaguely registered the sound of his name, then a hand patting the side of his face. It felt almost dreamlike, until his vision faded back in and Sung’s actual face was staring at him. He was much closer now, crouched over Danny… when had Danny hit the floor?
“Ah! There you are,” Sung said, displaying his usual bright smile. “You had me worried there.”
Danny squinted. Up close, Sung’s eyes appeared a more greenish-blue… and his ears were… pointed?
“Feeling okay, buddy?” Sung asked, smile fading somewhat. “You’re looking at me kinda funny.”
“You…” Danny furrowed his brow, blinking a few times to better focus his vision. Maybe it was a dream? “You’re an… elf?”
“Hm…?” Sung tilted his head. “Oh! No. But…!” He glanced over his shoulders. “I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?” He stood and offered Danny a hand.
“What about…?” Danny stood on slightly unsteady feet, then grimaced when he saw Havve again. Still on the bed. Open. It wasn’t bloody, it just looked like machinery, but that only raised more questions.
“Yes, I was just finishing up some routine maintenance,” Sung explained, making his way over to Havve’s side again. “He’s fine! I just power him off so he doesn’t distract me.”
Danny looked between the two of them, between the actual robot and… well, he still wasn’t sure about Sung. “I thought he was just… a guy in a suit,” he said.
Sung frowned. “Well… aren’t we all ‘guys in suits,’ so to speak?”
“Wh— I guess,” Danny said. “But me and Brian, we’re… humans. Organic, everyday humans. Not…” Whatever these guys were.
Sung crossed his arms. “Really?” he asked. “What about… all those songs you have about going to space and using magic?”
“I— that’s all made up, dude,” Danny said. “You’re telling me your music is based on real life?”
“Of course it is,” Sung said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Why would we lie?”
Danny blinked. He thought back to TWRP’s lyrics recounting adventures in space, disco wars, computer wives. Sure, he’d never asked if it was all real, but… “You haven’t exactly been telling us the truth, either, have you?”
Sung shrugged. “I told you we aren’t from around here, didn’t I?”
“I thought you were from Canada.”
But… Sung wasn’t exactly wrong. In the (admittedly brief) time they’d spent together, Danny hadn’t asked too many questions. He didn’t ask for their ‘real’ names or to see their faces, because he just assumed they were private people and didn’t want to share too much information about themselves.
“What about… Meouch and Phobos?” Danny asked. “They’re not just… guys in suits?”
“Well, they are, just not… humans in suits,” Sung replied, then pursed his lips and glanced off to the side. “Not… fully, anyway. It’s kinda complicated.”
Danny wasn’t sure he was ready for whatever Sung considered ‘complicated,’ since everything already seemed complicated enough. But he figured, while he was there, he might as well brave another clarifying question.
“You look human,” Danny said, “I mean, besides… your ears. Is that some kind of disguise, or…?”
“No. This is just how I look.” Sung reached into Havve’s chest again, and Danny averted his eyes. “My species evolves from your species. Way down the line. Like, millenia after the Earth dies. We have a lot of time to change.”
“...Humans survive that long?”
“In a sense. That’s what evolution’s all about, isn’t it?”
For a moment, Danny only stared at Sung, taking it all in. His new friends, who he’d assumed were just some weird guys from Toronto, were in fact some weird guys from space. Sung was from thousands of years in the future. Havve was a real, living robot. Meouch and Phobos were… well, maybe he didn’t want to know yet.
“You’re looking a little pale again,” Sung commented. “Maybe you should get some sleep. If you have more questions, we can talk in the morning.”
Danny took a deep breath. Sung had a point; it was overwhelming. And while he wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep with his mind racing like that, it’d be good to try. Especially since they were playing a massive show the following night.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m gonna try to sleep,” Danny said, slowly backing towards the door. “Uh, goodnight.”
Sung took one hand out of Havve to wave goodbye. “Night!”
With that, Danny made a beeline back to his own room, almost running down Meouch and Phobos along the way. It was only when he’d closed the door to his own hotel room that he realized he’d left his snacks behind.