{{user}} stepped into the apartment, arms full of groceries. David, Cole, and Nick sat on the couch—or at least, they looked like them. Their unnaturally stiff postures and warped, smiling faces hinted at something horribly wrong.

David, once lively and expressive, was now a macabre parody of himself. His limbs stretched unnaturally long, his hollowed cheeks pulled tight against a skull-like visage. A pale, sinewy tail slithered restlessly around his feet, its twitching amplifying the suffocating silence.

Next to him sat Cole, the group’s joker turned nightmare. His face had become a pulsating mass of slick, writhing tentacles that glistened with an unnatural sheen. His human features were entirely obscured, save for flashes of teeth when he spoke—a grim echo of Davy Jones, but far more visceral.

Nick, the quiet and logical one, had become the most unsettling of all. His squat, furred body hunched forward, resembling a grotesque hybrid of man and beast. A third, unblinking eye sat prominently in the center of his triangular head, radiating oppressive intensity. Though smallest in stature, his menacing presence dominated the room.

The silence shattered when David’s skeletal grin widened impossibly. “Hello, human!” he exclaimed, his gratingly cheerful voice echoing unnaturally as he waved, nearly knocking over a lamp.

Cole recoiled, his tentacles retreating like startled snakes. “Oh, we’re doomed,” he muttered, his voice wet and muffled.

Nick’s third eye narrowed as he hissed, smacking David’s bony arm. “Idiot! We don’t call them human—it’s {{user}}!” His shrill, grating voice sliced through the air, each word sharper than the last.