THE WORLD: PSL LIFE

[insinning]

[Here be all the psl threads]

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[insinning]

[ He will with some coaxing. Fae Lantern did help with the worst of it. He swallows a little and nods even though Oria can't see it. He cups Oria's face, rubbing his thumb over the curve of his cheek]

Mn. I'm fine. Just bruising mostly.

[ It was just like Oria to worry about Sinclair first.]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria looks relieved for the most part, relaxing as Sinclair cups his face and closing his eyes a little to really let the touch sink in. He stays like this for a while. ]

... What happened?

[ While he was out. Apart from the company taking a break. ]

[insinning]

[He'll keep his hand there, shifting just a little in his seat as if that much could bring him closer]

Everyone has been busy. My company's After Team has been working with your mother to keep everything out of the news. With that warehouse collapsed, they haven't been able to recover anything

[ Sinclair hesitates, but he knows he should tell Oria]

... it's going to be a hunt for Sarabi.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria closes his eyes again. That's just about what he expected. He tries to enjoy the warmth of Sinclair's hand as he listens. With how the Severines lost the head and how his mother's antagonist views against terrorists, Sarabi in particular, this seemed to be an inevitability. ]

Is your company involved?

[insinning]

[ Sinclair nods, just focusing on Oria right now]

Mm. Sarabi has access to Abnormalities and wants to create more. So our company will shift priorities now.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria remembered when the abnormality was formed with how his father's corpse was gone. Then it had some traits that resembled the appearance and--

--Oria feels nauseous, but he doesn't want to puke so he curls up on his side instead. ]

[insinning]

[ Sinclair sits on the edge of Oria's bed, reaching over to pet Oria's hair. Gentle, soft. He didn't want to remind Oria of what happened. He opens his mouth to apologise again but remembers Oria telling him to stop. So his mouth clicks shut and he resumes petting Oria's hair as he reaches for something]

... you don't need to hold back, you know.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria would remark how he doesn't want to projectile vomit onto Sinclair, but he just keeps his mouth shut instead. He's never really realized how comforting headpats could be until Sinclair starting touching his hair more often. He would refuse on the count of it feeling like he's being looked down upon, but he knows it's not like that with Sinclair. That's why he can enjoy the feeling to the fullest. ]

... 'm fine.

[insinning]

[ Sinclair's brow furrows but he keeps petting Oria's hair, carding his fingers through gently. ]

... alright.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria falls into silence a bit longer, before speaking up again, even though it's such a quiet voice. ]

How long was I out?

[insinning]

[ It's strange to hear Oria's voice so strained and quiet.]

A week.

[ He strokes Oria's hair. He doesn't say the obvious; that they were all terrified Oria wouldn't wake up]

[dissimulative]

[ A week.

Oria quietly breathes out. He wishes he could get well quickly so that he can start doing things. Oria is already starting to feel slightly restless. ]

Can you tell me... more about abnormalities? And... stuff surrounding it. I saw vines coiling around your arm...

[ The last part sounds as if he's asking a question, because he's not sure if he's remembering it right. ]

... I'm involved now. I think... I should know what we're up against.

[insinning]

Yeah. I can.

[ Sinclair bites his lip]

... Honestly there's so much about them that I don't know myself. But I can tell you what I know, which ones I've faced and how the weapons work.

[ He hesitates]

Do you want me to tell you now?

[dissimulative]

[ Oria gives Sinclair a small nod. He can't see, but he'll listen, and if this is the only way he can be productive, then he'll do it. ]

[insinning]

[ He's quiet for a moment as he looks for the best way to explain things as clearly as possible]

...I guess you can call Abnormalities 'cognitive monsters'. I told you before that an underground government funded lab was researching ways to push humanity past it's limits, right? Creating weapons. Super weapons. They discovered at the same time they could produce massive amounts of energy too that could be harnessed. Well...to do that, they needed subjects.

[ a quiet pause]

From what I could tell, they would put someone under an experiment. Many someones. And they would infuse their food, or air or something with a chemical. I don't have clearance to know the name of that chemical but...

Abnormalities are monsters born from the human mind, representing concepts - wishes and fears usually - brought into reality.

[He's quiet here]

... they're also born in situations of extreme trauma and distress. Because their existence is the antithesis to our own, most humans can't engage with them directly without losing their mind or being lured into their promises or threats. They don't have a reason to exist, but they know they must survive.

They'll do anything to survive.

[dissimulative]

[ If they're from wishes and fears, that sheds a different light on the abnormality that he saw that had traces of his father. He closes his eyes, shut tightly for a moment before tiredly opening them again. It also makes him wonder if abnormalities are only formed in certain areas. There has been mass tragedies and anything like an abnormality has never been reported, and that would be incredibly difficult to hide, considering many bad things happen around the world every day and how voyeuristic the world is becoming.

But what Sinclair says also explains the extreme discomfort he felt when encountering those abnormalities. Oria knows that he doesn't have to be The Special One for every scenario, but he hates being unable to do something because of how he was born. He's always resented that for various reasons.

He needs to hear more. ]

Super weapons?

[insinning]

Mm. They don't need to do damage directly. They can convince people to chop off their feet, fight in their defense...

[ He exhales softly ]

But the most powerful ones could level an entire city block if they're left unchecked.

[dissimulative]

[ Cool. He can imagine them using it for war and how countries would try to covet them like their nuclear bomb showboating.

He'll admit that it's a lot of power that people shouldn't have. ]

... What about your vine arm? Is that the "skin" crafted into a weapon thing you talked about?

[insinning]

[ It's too much power. It's a good thing they can't be controlled. ]

Yeah. There's two things an abnormality can give us. It can shed it's 'skin' when we defeat it, which can be crafted into weapons and a
or a suit. That armor is matched to a person. Fae Lantern resonates with me, but it's not completely compatible, so the vines take more energy than they should.

[ He rubs his shoulder ]

...it helps with regenerating my body faster at least. The other thing is the 'EGO gift'. We can wear those to act as charms or defenses against other abnormalities.

[dissimulative]

[ Moneter drops. Wow. He didn't miss real-life monster hunting— ]

Do they stop working if you "run out of energy"?

[insinning]

[That's something he doesn't really want to answer]

... they can consume us if we're not careful. The effects are reversible on us but...

[ Oria probably won't like the implications of that! But he saw the terrorists in Kayser Corp so]

[dissimulative]

[ Ah. He remembers those guys with robes at Kayser Corp. He seems to take the information in pretty calmly. If the company members can be "consumed" and have the effects reversed, Oria thinks it's more of a mental thing than a physical thing.

Still, not that he'd like to see it happen. ]

... Were you close, at the fight?

[insinning]

Yeah. I was corroding pretty far. [He was pushing himself much further than he had ever before, and then facing Kromer and trying to keep his cool...]

I probably would have been consumed if I had to keep going for even a minute longer.

[dissimulative]

[ The breath catches in his throat, making him cough. Sure he can return, but it doesn't mean the initial process won't hurt or anything. ]

... Do you have anything that you're better attuned with?

[insinning]

[Sinclair thinks for a moment and shakes his head] Not yet. I suppose they're still digging through the records of what they have to see what could be used. Or if we bring in enough abnormalities...they could test those.