Tok, tok, tok
Zero looked up from their book, their gray eyes swiveling towards the front door of the cabin she lived in with a couple of other proxies. Swinging their legs off the couch, the rest of her body followed them as she stood up and approached the door. As it swung open, it revealed one of their wife's friends.
"Yo, Jeff," Zero greeted him. "What's up?" Her black lips twisted into a polite smile, stretching the stitches etched into their cheeks.
Nineteen-year-old Jeff simply shrugged. His arms were crossed, and he didn't look to be in the best mood. This wasn't surprising, as normally, Zero's little community drifted between gloomy peacefulness and a state of chaos. After all, who would expect any different from a community of mentally ill people - both human and non-human - forced to commit murder for a faceless man?
"Clockwork around?" Jeff asked in his slightly raspy voice. "I'm in the mood for some sparring."
"Yeah, she's in the bathroom," Zero answered. "C'mon in."
Jeff stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind him, and Zero went back to reading their book. After he found the bathroom, Jeff knocked three times. Inside, he could hear the sound of scissors clipping away at something.
"Who's there?" Clockwork called from within.
"It's Jeff," Jeff answered. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Clockwork responded. "I'm just cutting my hair."
Jeff opened the door to find his twenty-one-year-old friend snipping at her long brown hair, large clumps of it falling to the wooden floor. Her one green eye was focused in on the cracked mirror before her. Like her spouse, she also had a stitched smile.
"Why're you cutting your hair?" Jeff asked curiously. He leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms once again.
"Y'know how your story of killing your abusive family inspired me to kill mine a year later?" Clockwork asked.
Jeff's jaw clenched slightly, but he nodded. He didn't like talking about the horrific night of his fourteenth birthday. If anything, it was a night he would rather forget.
"Well, when I saw your brother in the newspaper, I thought he was pretty hot." Clockwork explained. "Thought I had a crush on him."
"But you like women," Jeff argued.
"Didn't know it at the time," Clockwork went on. She moved her head side to side to check her progress. "Anywho, turns out the butch lesbian in me just wanted to look like him. So, lo and behold, I'm going short."
"Hmph," Jeff muttered. His ice blue eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't like it when his beloved older brother was mentioned in conversation.
"Sorry, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Clockwork apologized nonchalantly. "What're ya here for?"
"I'm pissed at random shit and I promised S. I wouldn't hurt myself," Jeff answered. S.O.S., or simply S., was the nickname his girlfriend went by. She also happened to be Zero's best friend.
Clockwork nodded in understanding. She seemed satisfied with her self-given haircut.
"I'll be in the backyard in a bit," she said. "Just gimme five minutes, I gotta get this stray hair off my neck."