#chanles

[ant-dreemurr]

*ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵒᵒᵈˡᵉ ʳᵉᵐᵃⁱⁿˢ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵗᵃᵇˡᵉ*

[Antony, preparing to work on character scripts, finds the drawing on his desk. His pink mouth instantly curls into a scowl, the top of his screen furrowing unhappily.]

……. Stupid chanle…. It isn’t supposed to be able to do that.

[For a while, he ignores it. But it stays there as he works. It itches for his attention. After a long moment, he angrily grabs it, tearing it slightly—]

………

[Quietly, Antony drops one hand. Despite the small tear in the paper, the slug quietly grabs a nearby pencil and stabs it into the wall. A custom pin for the paper beside painted stars and faded stardom.]

[He resumes work.]

[ant-dreemurr]

*Hours later during hours of rest, the independent chanele finds its way to its powered down host. Asleep for the evening. It seems to have gotten used to the idea of affection while it was away, hesitantly but deliberately settling in beside the broken CRT. It nuzzles the tip of its nose at the bottom of Antony’s casing, snuggling up to the ghost of a lord denied his existence, and powers down along side him.*

[Antony temporarily wakes up, antennas twitching to glance at the odd chanle.]

Mmm… what the…. Huh???? What are YOU doing here?!!? I thought I….

………. Whatever.

[Despite his grouchiness, Antony does nothing. Silence returns as the slug powers itself off once more.]