dappledleaves | THE WORLD: PSL LIFE

[ Sinclair laughs nervously]

Um. Probably very soon. It's hard knowing what goes on in Ms. Faust's head sometimes.

[ Dante was friendly enough but...]

From what I saw of her demeanor, she doesn't seem like the kind of person I'd want to try and persuade of anything.

[ It sounds like a waste of time, but her type is also extremely satisfying to topple, but that's just Oria's problem. ]

I'll deal with it when it happens.

[ He looks up. This must be the exit. Time to leave this godforsaken place. ]

If nothing else...she likes to make fair deals.

[Sinclair's hands go tense around his baton as they shoulder the exit open. They're hit by blaring sirens, fire trucks lined up to douse flames from the other complex, and in the distance.

Sinclair exhales in relief]

Everyone made it out alright...

[Though judging by the way Dante was holding his head, he was having a conniption over...something. Sinclair decides he just doesn't want to know]

[ Oria's pretty sure that his dad regrets leaving him there, but this was of Oria's own choice. Sometimes things like this happen, and this isn't the first time. It's just that it's a first time when it happened that involved things that seemed to be out of this world.

But that can be addressed a different time. ]

Uh... Clockhead seems to be distraught. You wanna go check up on them? I'll be fine.

Okay. [Softly, he squeezes Oria's hand before he lets go.

...clock, head huh?] I'll see you later.

[He thinks with how battered everyone looks, and the ensuing mess, they'll get some down time for awhile. He jogs off to rejoin the group, responding to some distant rapid fire signs. Ah. This was a problem after all. Their contract was up in smoke, they had essentially been betrayed...

...Dante must have gotten stuck with Faust, Ryoshu and Heathcliff in the escape.]

[ Poor Dante... Oria watches Sinclair go to regroup with the others as he meets with his own bodyguards. He catches a glimpse of the signing, but he can't really see all of it clearly. Right now, he's been trying to hold back a raging headache. Perhaps it's from suddenly wearing contacts or perhaps there was some mental damage from the abnormality from its presence alone. It was like being face to face with a physical rendition of his trauma despite its form not being the actual trauma itself--at least one associated with Oria.

Either way, the monsters left a bad taste in his mouth as he's further taken away from the scene. Needless to say, Kayser will not have gotten funding from the Severines and Oria's mother will have cracked down on the Technology Liberation Alliance. Despite Oria's fear of being replaced, she is still the dangerous mama bear when her children are in danger. She loves them so much, even if her method is misplaced.

A few days later, Sinclair will be getting a phone call from Oria. ]

[The next few days are a blur. They had been lucky that day. The abnormalities that had escaped and been unleashed were low tier ones. Still capable of massive damage, but not ones that required the entire team to subdue. What they had to face later, a twitching writhing mass of flesh that rendered most people into madness, temporary or otherwise...

Sinclair's glad Oria didn't have to face that one directly. Sinclair is resting up in bed in his hotel room when he answers the call, a wave of relief washing over him. After everything that had happened, he had been worried]

Oria. How are you after everything?

Edited 2023-12-23 00:40 (UTC)

I feel like I'm recovering from getting hit by a truck that would take me to another world...

[ No isekais here. ]

But I'm finally well enough to have a phone call with you. How about you? How have you been doing, after all that? You got injured more than I did. Are you back in Seattle?

It's usually like that the first few times.

[Haaaah...Sinclair glances at his sleeping team, toes on his shoes, grabs a jacket and sneaks out to the lobby]

I'm fine. I'm still in the Valley. There were a few thing that popped up and...it delayed our return.

Like the plans with Kayser Corp falling through? They're the entire reason you're even here in the first place, isn't it?

[ And everything is expensive here, even the hotels... rip LC's funds, honestly. ]

No one from your company contacted me yet, so they probably went to my dad instead. Whatever they asked, I don't know of it.

[They tried to go with the cheapest ones too, limiting the rooms...Rip indeed.

Sinclair steps outside into the lobby garden, breathing in the fresh air. It was so peaceful now. It was hard to imagine anything...]

Mmm, I don't know either. It's all between Faust and the higher ups. Dante hasn't been allowed to know anything either. But everyone is still recovering. We had to go back to Kayser Corp to finish subduing everything. It's lucky their corporation was so far out on the outskirts.

Yeah. A real lucky break, huh?

[ There's a small hum while Oria thinks. ]

What do you actually use to fight those things anyway? I doubt shock batons are the limit.

Their skins. [There's no beating around the bush now] When they've been subdued, they'll usually shed a part of themselves that we can use in our clothing as armour or if we're lucky, a weapon. It takes some time before it stabilises but it's the only thing that works on the bigger ones. [He exhales softly, curling up on a bench]

My coat--you saw it, right? It managed to resist most of the damage from those claws because of how it's designed.

[Has Sinclair not been wearing it...well, he might have been more mangled afterwards]

I knew your coat was pretty special, but it really puts things into perspective. It's a little like what the talisman guys were using then, right?

[ Maybe a lot like them. ]

... Saying you wear a skin of a monster is pretty gross, not gonna lie. Just say that you craft the materials into something usable instead.

[ That surely takes away the grossness of the topic. Right? Right. ]

[Sinclair laughs, relaxing a little]

Yeah, it is gross, isn't it?

[Crafting it is. Well, it's not like they used it in its raw form anyway]

...hey, are you really okay?

[ If Sinclair can hear Oria verbally shrug, he's doing it right now. ]

Hey, if it works, then it works. It's ironic though, that you're using parts of them to subdue them as if the only thing that's effective are stuff that's made of themselves.

[ Honestly, it makes him wonder. Kromer was just a nutjob, right? He understands how she's still a source of trauma for him, but if she was backed by these monsters... he doesn't want to think about it. Good lord.

But Sinclair's question has him pause. He was answering honestly, but... ]

Does it not sound like I'm okay apart from what I said?

[ He's not offended, but genuinely curious. If someone could pick these up when he can't, it would probably be Sinclair. ]

[ Sinclair is quiet for a moment as he tries to put in words. It would be like Oria to just put everything off and not deal with it but...]

Yes. No. It's just... it's not something people are expected to just handle. I had nightmares for weeks after I first saw one...

Well, you know me. I'm not most people. In a different way from you too, I'm sure.

[ He doesn't think he has any genetics to protect him from the mental damage that abnormalities seem to give, but it's not like he can get tested for that... Right? He has no reason to join Limbus Company anyway. ]

I'm just jaded. Sometimes I can't help but to think "this might as well happen". When you see other rich people, the stuff they try to do is pretty out there. If I have to be honest, the regenerating thing that was mentioned back then--some other guy tried to fund something like that except it was with stem cells and forcing it with an accelerator. It was basically a stim pack.

[ Cliffnotes because the details aren't too important to this conversation. ]

It never got anywhere because the board of ethics got a hold of them. There are other people who want to try reviving a dinosaur from a fossil so that they can keep one as a pet. It's that sort of crazy thing.

[ Sinclair huffs quietly, half in amusement and alarm]

There really are all sorts of people in the world.

[ There's a dryness to those words. They've both seen the worst of humanity at its peak. This was another long line of people getting out of hand, because they had money and power. Nothing else]

...in this case, the rejuvenation would have been growing bone and flesh straight from the person themselves.

That sounds like the painful kind of way to heal if the nerves were also regrowing.

[ Something something painkillers and opioid limitations. ]

I didn't feel too great after facing off against those monsters. It felt like I was looking at something I wasn't supposed to and I was paying for it by feeling incredibly uncomfortable. But I'm fine now though. It's a feeling that passed.

[ He's not going to hang onto that feeling. It serves no purpose and he didn't like it. ]

[That was just like Oria too. He sighs softly and looks up at the skyline. Soon, they'd be separated by hours again]

It is that sort of feeling, isn't it...but I'm glad it passed for you.

[He's seen it eat away at too many people until it was all they could do to not claw at their skin and rip themselves to shreds. It took a level of resilience to move past it]

[ Sinclair admitted that he had nightmares for weeks, but honestly... he could see that. Well, at least when Oria thought Sinclair didn't face monsters but humans.

But still, having those nightmares while dealing with the aftermath of his family's death couldn't have been great. It makes him wonder... ]

Mm. Hey, Emil. In the process of training, did the company ever try to break you?

[There's a moment of silence as Sinclair turns that question over in his head. ]

...they didn't need to.

[There's a heavy weight to those words; Sinclair had already been broken before they picked him up]

I'm sure there would have been some higher ups who would have been satisfied with that style of training...but it was either we got back up or died. No one in my team has anything outside of the company after all.

[Genetic resistance. Compatibility with weapons. A certain degree of ruthlessness. Fighting ability could be taught, but it was a bonus.

And no one to miss them if they were gone]

[ No one to miss them if they're gone... Oria frowns as he thinks about that. ]

Well, now that you have someone outside the company, what are they gonna do about that?

They've been reminding me about NDAs and what I'm allowed to discuss, but...

[He had been alone for so long. He's sure when they put his name in for the draw for Fragment, they hadn't believed the connections he made there could sustain outside of it. But they had. He fiddles with his earring]

Well. They can't really do anything about it outside of that.

[There's an undercurrent of stubbornness to Sinclair's voice. He could be pushed and bent more than he should sometimes. But not for this.]

My executive manager doesn't see a problem with anything anyway.

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