dappledleaves | THE WORLD: PSL LIFE

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.

Good. They better not.

[ Oria sounds relieved, but also happy to hear the stubborn tone in Sinclair's voice. ]

If anything, even if coworkers, you guys have each other—or at least I'm assuming there was some sort of bonding that happens when you're all forced to live with each other.

[ When Sinclair made a decision, his mind couldn't be changed. And he had stared the other executives down without flinching. He understood his own value a little better these days.]

Mm. I guess we've all grown really used to each other. It wasn't like that at the beginning though.

Yeah, I can tell.

[ He saw the team interact, after all. ]

There were some pretty strong personalities. There's no way you guys wouldn't clash at least once.

You have no idea.

[Sinclair wrinkles his nose as he remembers his first meeting with everyone. Not fun]

But we can depend on each other now in those situations. [That's why Sinclair hadn't hesitated to split off. There was a strange sense of trust in that]

[ To see Sinclair confident in a decision really speaks volumes of how much faith he has in that decision alone, and Oria feels like he can understand. ]

To have dependable people like that as your coworkers in frequent situations that your job would bring up... sounds nice.

[ There are very few things Sinclair is confident in life. Oria is one. This is another]

Mm. We're not the kind of people who would have come together on our own... but it is nice.

Does Clockhead help with that?

[ Poor Dante... ]

Are they like... the glue to keep the group together? I found it interesting that most, if not everyone in the group seems to know sign language. Was it because of them?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject