Talloran was in the middle of finishing a report for the ethics board, his mind completely hyper fixated on making sure it was written correctly. His head was in one pile of papers, and he didn’t notice that he, quite literally, bumped into somebody as he left the office.

“Oh, excuse me,” Talloran said, still absorbed in the report. “I didn’t see where I… was… going…?”

They only stopped talking when they actually looked at who they had bumped into.

The stranger triggered an immediate anxiety response, Talloran’s eyes scanning and cataloguing every detail, taking in the way they looked and everything they were doing, trying to figure out if this was another illusion or if this was just an actual person.

Their mind whirred for a moment, and as the stranger still didn’t respond, Talloran slowly raised an eyebrow. “…You… you’re real, correct?”