“Hey, Kalis, can I ask you something quickly?”
Kalis paused, just as he was about to step into the bathroom. His housing situation was quite odd, especially since there was a glass wall between him and his ‘room mate’. Normally, the being on the other side of the glass, a black and yellow being named Arkay, wouldn’t even consider talking to Kalis. So being called out seemed rather… weird.
“Uh, sure, what’s up?”
Arkay stepped out into the living room on the other side of the glass wall, but he looked very different. Still yellow and black, but more heavily armoured. He was also wearing a garb that ran down his chest and covered his more delicate body parts.
“How do I look?”
Kalis looked Arkay up and down. He did actually look pretty cool, but Kalis wasn’t sure whether it was appropriate to say that.
“You look nice.”
“You think?” Arkay smiled, but Kalis couldn’t see it underneath his new armoured head plating. In fact, all Kalis could see were Arkay’s eyes, hidden behind a transparent layer of plastic-like armour.
“Yeah. Definitely. Are you going to wear that helmet all the time?”
Arkay shrugged, then tapped something on the bottom part of his helmet carapace. The carapace immediately shifted upwards into a thinner strip of armour on top of his head, revealing the rest of Arkay’s facial features.
“Oh no, not all the time. But I do feel like I fancy something, well, fancy. I have been mostly using my old look for a long, long time. And now, I feel a tad more comfortable about myself.”
“It shows! Kalis beamed, reflecting Arkay’s joyful mood. “You look great! I might consider doing something similar myself.”
“You should!” Arkay now seemed rather excited, and much happier now that he had found someone who agreed with him. “I mean, we can form-change into a lot of different looks, might as well make the most out of them! It’s… kinda hard to do though…”
“You don’t like your look?” Kalis asked.
“I’m just uncertain.”
“Why?”
Arkay leaned against the glass wall, sighing. “I’m kinda worried about others judging me. I kinda… always had a problem with that. Mostly with Kenon.”
Kalis sighed as well, nodding in agreement. “Yeah I totally get that. It’s really hard to get over, trying to do stuff for yourself. But at least no one judges us here. I don’t judge you, I think you look great.”
“It’s hard to do stuff for yourself. I do like how I look though. More… I don’t want to say normal, but more… how I feel I want to look…” Arkay paused, then tutted. “I don’t know any more…”
“Do you like how you look?” Kalis asked.
Arkay thought for a moment, nodding slightly. “Yeah, I think I look pretty damn cool.”
“Then stick with it!” Kalis smiled. “Do what makes you happy-”
For a brief moment, something flickered and the lights dimmed, before almost instantly turning back to normal.
“Does that… happen a lot?” Arkay whispered.
“The lights flickering?”
“Yeah…”
Kalis shrugged, glancing at the closest light source. “I’ve seen it happen a few times, but it’s always gone in an instant. It’s probably nothing.”
Arkay took a deep breath, relaxing himself. “Ah alright… I’m gonna spend a bit of time with my new look, see how it feels.”
“I’m gonna do the same!” Kalis smiled some more. “You making yourself look cool is making me want to look cool too.”
“Can I see when you’re done?”
“Of course!” Kalis grinned as he stepped backwards, into the bathroom. “Got to clean myself up first…”