dappledleaves | CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[ Oria's hand remains still for a while, but there is eventually a short squeeze. ]

Yeah, we are... whether we like it or not, with or without Aria.

[ His voice goes especially soft when he says her name. ]

That said, who knows how long the truce will take? They could be delaying it for all we know.

They said they were trying to get negotiations settled with all parties. They're nearly at the end, but...

[It's exhausting on all of them. His expression softens further at Oria's voice when he mentions Aria's name]

...I'm not good at this but...whatever you decide I'll support you.

Edited 2024-07-08 06:49 (UTC)

Yeah? And it's not because of your puppy crush on Aria, right?

[ A joke? Maybe. Oria looks aloof with whatever he's looking at into the distance. ]

These libraries have nothing good about P3 levels. Political propaganda is so annoying to deal with, because I can't find jack shit.

[ So Oria is probably in a library in reality, looking through so many books. He hates doing this in this world too, for the record.

Aria was killed during evasion training when practicing with the other two. Everything was going so smoothly until the rejection shield disappeared from Aria when it was still at full energy. The look of horror Oria saw on Aria's face before she blew up from the missile is something that he still can't shake off to this day.

Faulty equipment, they said despite doing a thorough check before training like they always do. When Oria dug in deeper, he found evidence of Aria's P3 levels plummet to 0. They say it was because she was getting old (she just reached 20 years of age back then), so it's expected.

It makes no sense to Oria despite everything, so of course he's looking into it. However, no dice. ]

[That gets a light punch to Oria's shoulder, half hearted]

Because we're friends. And you're important to me too.

['You jerk' goes implied. Sincere, even now.

He flinches a little as if reacting to some unseen stimuli, biting on the lollipop]

... children's brains are malleable, which means when it comes to p3 levels, only children have the potential to even develop it, let alone increase it. But once our p3 levels are fully developed, short of a traumatic injury...they don't plummet like that naturally.

[Sinclair's voice goes a little distant, strained]

That's why—

[ Oria stops and looks at Sinclair. ]

... Hey, what's wrong?

Nothing. Don't--[His voice changes and he snarls at someone unseen] Don't touch me.

[...there's a moment of silence and Sinclair's eyes go very wide. Ah. Oh no.]

I mean. I was just thinking...if our p3 levels fall suddenly...it'd have to be one of two things.

[ ... ]

First of all, nothing happened to Aria before the missiles collided. And second, turn on your location. What the hell is going on?

[ Sinclair looks down. His location is turned on, but his gps location seems to be odd. Very odd. As if he's in the middle of no where. Or no where at all.]

...nothing. Just a check up.

And you just hissed at a doctor to not touch you? That's kinda what they're supposed to do. You're literally in the middle of nowhere.

[ Oria squints at this. What the fuck. ]

... Do you need me?

I guess I never got used to them...[Sinclair mutters, fingers flexing against the sofa. It felt so real and smooth beneath his fingers. It was really impressive work. Not many people could build a room and make it feel this realistic]

I...[Yes. No. Yes. Is he allowed to ask for help? He pushes himself a little more, willing himself to stay logged in. No. no. no.] A little longer. Please.

You know it's not just one or the other for me, right?

[ The only thing holding Oria back is Sinclair's permission. He won't go unless Sinclair wants him there. Something about privacy. He could just go there without logging out. He can do both things at the same time. ]

[He doesn't want Oria to see this; what must be his body, strapped to a table as they hook up all these machines to him as they open up his head again, flesh and bone split open. What were they looking for? What were they trying to create? He doesn't know]

Mm. They wont let you go far. But it'd be nice if...[He could see a friendly face when he woke up in reality too.

And then Sinclair logs out. In. Out. Out out out. Error. Error. Reboot again.

He's offline now.]

Edited 2024-07-09 01:56 (UTC)

[ Welp. Oria is already on his way despite lounging in the bathhouse. But really, there's nothing to do here, so he eventually logs off as well as he's still going to the last location he saw on Sinclair. Will he get cockblocked? Is there really nothing as the map says? ]

[when Oria gets there, it's nothing but a lone building in the middle of no where, but the drones buzzing in the background and the heavily armed guards at the the entrance signal that it's a military compound. The machine gun turrets lock on automatically but don't fire as the soldiers bark at Oria.

"Identification and your clearance code!"]

[ There's a reason why gauntlets are locked away unless needed. Oria looks at the turrets and gets out his identification. Clearance code? He doesn't have any of that, but he'll bullshit one. ]

GL-017.

[ He's already bracing to get scolded. ]

["ID: Oria Severine. Confirming now." The guard motions for Oria to connect to the scanner. "Clearance level..N4". A pause. Then...

"Sir, your clearance level isn't high enough to enter. We need your clearance code."]

[ Oria sighs exaggeratedly and withdraws his identification after scanning it. ]

They really couldn't be bothered to put that with my identification, huh?

[ Oria is already debating whether he should push or not. It doesn't take long, but it seems as if he gives up. It would have been easy if it was just guards here, but the turrets and drones already make it difficult to sneak around. ]

Okay, well. Can you deliver a message then?

[The soldiers share a look. But after a moment, one nods.

"If it's to a member of this facility, we'll report it."]

[ "Member of the facility". He's pretty sure Sinclair isn't one, so he just... sighs. Him being here is already obvious enough, but he doesn't want to make it too obvious. ]

Never mind.

[ And he'll just leave the premises without a fight. It would be one thing for the turret to kill him and then the kette would be down to one, but this isn't worth dying over. He can just ask Sinclair the next time they meet.

...

Hopefully. ]

[Bright side, Sinclair gets returned the next day. Bad side...

Sinclair isn't leaving his room today. If Oria wants to let himself into Sinclair's dorm room, he'll find him curled up beneath the duvet, unmoving, even for training]

[ Since Sinclair didn't show up for training, Oria is tasked to look for him while their hopeful new recruit for the third member practices alone. Oria is pretty sure this will get Sinclair riled up again. Anyway, he will allow himself in whether it's locked or not. ]

Hey, it's practice time... you're still sleeping in?

[...Sinclair doesn't stir from his blanket mess]

...I'm not. And my door was locked. [Oria, please]

Just like how you're not sleeping, your door is also [ whips a keyring around with a key in it ] not locked.

[ The keyring is pocketed. ]

Is this about what happened yesterday? You should have given some sort of lousy excuse for not showing up instead of ghosting us. By the way, coach brought in a potential third again.

[Sinclair is quiet for a moment, but after a moment, he sticks his head from out under the blankets. He's paler than usual]

...I wasn't ghosting on purpose. I'm just...tired.

[He sits up, obligation compelling him to get ready, even when his expression twists a little]

They really want us to be a 'kette', huh.

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