The video call request froze Trusty007 mid sentence. He had been about to speak, already struggling to organize the chaos in his head, when everything stopped. His mouth hung slightly open, words lost before they could form. For a moment he simply stared ahead, unmoving, then lifted a hand and rubbed his eyes out of habit.
Only then did he remember he was inside Ethereal. Closing his eyes changed nothing. The translucent call window remained suspended in front of him, impossible to ignore.
"Well? Say something!"
"Stop pretending you didn't hear us. Give us an answer!"
The room had fallen quiet when they thought he was finally going to respond. Instead, he froze and started making strange motions, and the brief silence collapsed back into agitation. Voices rose again, sharper this time.
"You motherf, are you even listening?" A man even heavier than Trusty007 slammed his chair back and pointed straight at him.
That was when Trusty007 suddenly stood up.
