"Enjoy the little sideshow? Well, we'll keep your secret if you keep ours. Just about time to go back topside to the public part of the store, isn't it?" Neon's digital face and modulated voice were as impossible to read as they were at the start of the night. Occasionally the curve of the smile or the size of the eyes had varied to display varying emotion. There was none of that this time, and yet, something in the question made Holly pause.
Sideshow? Was that all this really had been. Looking back over the events that had led to this moment, Holly couldn't believe that. Taking Neon at face value was just illogical when placed next to reality. The hero, if she could even call him that Holly was fairly sure he shouldn't be called that, had felt like he'd been poking and prodding Holly's mind. At first it had been like he was trying to get a rise out of her, to push her beyond her limit so he'd have a reason to hand her over. But something stuck out, or the lack of it.
She had gotten close multiple times, but Neon never pushed her beyond her limit. It almost felt like there were moments Neon had pulled back. It was like he had already seen what he wanted to know. Like he was assessing her, testing. Holly blinked several times in stunned silence. It shouldn't bother her, but if it was a test then this result was.
"I failed?"
"Maybe, but you never know until it's graded. And the only way you can get your results back is if your name is on it," Neon held up a blank card, gesturing to a computer terminal off to the side. "Take this over to that machine and submit. Careful what name you enter, most people only get to choose one. You don't want to end up like Squire over there."
"You're literally the only person that calls me that, everyone else says Knight!" Holly couldn't see the origin of the voice, but the quick response combined with the subdued laughter implied it was whomever the nickname had been given to.
Holly reached out and took the card, the cool plastic felt heavy in her hand. What little dust was left on her fingers flared at the contact, her sense tripping on some sort of chip hidden in the plastic. She walked over to the terminal under the watchful gaze of everyone present, when had they started watching? She remembered most only gave the duo a passing glance when they entered the underground space.
The area around the terminal was noticeably empty given how many people crowded the tables and workstations scattered around. She placed the card into a marked slot, the weight moving into her chest. A mechanized voice read out the prompts on screen.
"Workshop registration. Classification: Hobbyist. Registered Name: Pixie."
Pixie blinked at the screen a few times. She hadn't entered that information in. There was only one person who could have.
"NEON!"
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