Blood Thinner

Chapter 2: Thrombocytopenia

*Chapter 2*

"Veneer."

The owner of the name in question didn't move as much as he could see. His mindset warned him of the dark abyss he seemed to be in, but barely whispered about how the pitch midnight would pair up with an eerie silence. No breathing, no footsteps, not even the sound of his own heartbeat. But somehow, miraculously, his name broke through that thick barrier in the faintest sense.

"Veneer."

There it goes again — this time a tad clearer and more echoed. Veneer tried to defeat the darkness and move, but as predicted, he couldn't, and that wrecked his nerves the more he struggled to get in touch.

"Veneer!"

The first things he felt — the things letting him know that he was very much alive — were ponds of sweat caking up on him like a salty sweat doll. And his chest...his heart finally made his presence known.

"Veneer...!"

Veneer's eyes shot up along with his breath, his chest heaving and aching with the knife of anxiety gently stabbing him. Then and only then did the darkness brighten into his vanity and the makeup and accessories with it. His anxiety morphed into an oddly nostalgic perplexion as he got a better sight of his surroundings.

Vanity. Makeup kit. Posters of the Rage Dome. Various mini figures of him and Velvet and whatever other merch lay around — including but not limited to shirts, bracelets, and a book. The last piqued his interest most.

Veneer rose and at the same time found out that his prison attire had been replaced with a glamorous set-up (just his taste!) and platforms that went to the skies. Now that was definitely a pleasant surprise...and a much needed upgrade, to be honest. That did make him wonder about the whereabouts of those rags he had before.

With a pleased expression, he went to examine that book, and couldn't remember for the life of him why he and his sister were gorgeously posed on the cover — even more so why they were dressed in a dark thespian wardrobe with large, screaming letters: Watch Me Work - Making Sweet Dreams Become A Sweeter Reality.

...Then written by Velvet & Veneer? When? Who brought him this close to a book to where he thought of writing one?

"I see you're just gonna ignore me calling your name — that's okay, that's fine. Not like one of our biggest shows ever is about to happen. Nope. Thousands of our adoring fans out there, nope, no way."

That voice brought a spark in him.

This isn't real. It couldn't be—

"Did Crimp put some sort of Dumbass Potion in your coffee? Hello?!" The demanding voice of his sister snapped him out of his shock, and he'll be damned if he wasn't the happiest he's been. Green hair in the trendiest of styles, dark purple eyeshadow, and even darker purple lips twisted into an impatient pout...it really was her!

Shaking his inexplicable joy away, Veneer smiles shyly, albeit the relief behind it could hardly be contained. "Well if she did, we could always fire her." He says in an attempt to counter her sour attitude.

"Ughhhh! As true as that is, I might send you out the door with her if this show goes wrong in the slightest because you wanted to take a dumbass ticket for the dumbass train to get to Dumbasstown!" Without giving him the time to even process the triple insult, Velvet roughly grabbed his face, examined it, and let it go to pick up a dark purple lipstick tube. She takes it upon herself to apply it to him, which to him was the sweetest thing in the world. "Alright. Popularity has been booming since our memoir went out so you better be at your best."