CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[insinning]

It's a holy night. Silent night.

All is calm.

Everything is b r i g h t.

Comments

[insinning]

[ There is something about working together in a squad that makes it easier for Sinclair to read how Oria would act. Of course, the same would go for Oria too in return. That's probably what makes this so fun. He gets countered and counters Oria's counter in turn, health bar chipping away.

It's a coin toss for whoever wins this round even as Sinclair's hands begin to cramp on the controllers]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria's palms feel so numb, bro. It's making his fingers feel uncoordinated and he misses some inputs.

And that is why Sinclair win the tiebreaker! I flipped my phone for this ]

We really know each other too well, huh.

[insinning]

[ rip your phone but also Oria vs rng huh. Sinclair exhales with a laugh as the VICTORY sign pops up over his screen and he shakes out his hands. Ow. Cramps. ]

Isn't that what makes this more fun?

[dissimulative]

Yeah. It's like playing 4D chess in real time!

[ Whatever that means. Oria seems satisfied with their run of games, but if Sinclair wants to play some more, he won't object. ]

Keeping each other on our toes and all.

[ Ironically, Oria feels that he knows Sinclair, but at the same time, he doesn't. There are so many things he doesn't know and he wants to learn. ]

[insinning]

4d chess...? I thought you didn't like chess.

[ Sinclair liked it until he kept getting trounced by a certain someone]

Did you want to get something to eat?

[They played quite a bit so they can take a break now. He does wonder about a lot of things though. Oria makes things so transparent that sometimes it feels like it's not]

[dissimulative]

It's a figure of speech!

[ Sinclair is right though. Just because Oria is good at something, doesn't particularly mean that he enjoys the activity. Sinclair's chess nemesis though. Gee, wonder who that could be. ]

But yeah, I'm starving. Looks like your body sores are a lot more manageable now too. Let's get something to eat!

[insinning]

[ There is no nemesis because he will never willingly play again without prior intensive training.]

Mm. [ Being distracted like this sure helped him forget]

What did you feel like? There's that burger and pancake place everyone keeps talking about.

[dissimulative]

Oh my god, that sounds like a breakfast and lunch together... a brunch! Can't believe I forgot that "brunch" existed. Anyway, that sounds great. Let's get that bread.

[ Burger. Pancakes. Yeah. He's so ready to Devour. ]

[insinning]

[ 'Brunch' huh...]

You know, I've never understood why pancakes were considered breakfast only even though they're cakes...made in a pan.

[Thanks for leading Sinclair down this rabbit hole of thoughts, Oria. It's definitely too late for brunch but he'll take it. Sinclair takes Oria's hand and pulls up a map in his selcom. Charon pops up.

Magical Burgers and Pancakes. Vroom vroom. On our way.]

Charon says it's this way...I think her direction AI settings are better than before.

[ Mysterious exclusive AI for Sinclair and a handful of other people? Maybe.]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria's Keropoyo is miffed that it got beaten by Charon again and now Oria has to suffer this frog being insufferable. ]

I remember that one time when she led us to this shady place where they were doing some sneaky gambling. She's definitely gotten better than before.

[insinning]

Ahaha...that was a little scary.

[ Especially when Sinclair got grabbed by that guard trying to intimidate him. How did they get out of that one again]

But she knows the difference between East and West now at least.

[ Cheerful!!

Charon will always choose the best route even without a bus. Maps are unnecessary.

Sinclair will not argue with his AI. RIP Oria.

They arrive in short order at least. Hopefully Oria gets some reprieve from the frog...]

[dissimulative]

[ What about north and south.

WHAT ABOUT NORTH AND SOUTH?? SINCLAIR??

Anyway, Oria promptly ignores Keropoyo, since he's gotten good at that, especially after arriving at the eatery. ]

It's weird though, since AIs usually aren't incorrect on objective information. Maybe Charon just learns really slowly?

[insinning]

[We don't talk about that.

They get waved over to a table, which has a traditional menu full of pictures of what they have. They need to order with their selcom though...]

I've wondered about that too. It might be that. I do remember something about AIs learning from humans...maybe someone input the wrong information to cause trouble.

[dissimulative]

Well, she's literally your AI. So teach her stuff, like cardinal directions. If you do, maybe she'll even learn what ordinal directions are.

[ Northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest

Oria looks at the menu and it doesn't take long for him to place an order and only shows that he's done by closing the menu and putting it off to the side. ]

[insinning]

[ Sinclair takes a little longer but eventually he sets his menu to the side too]

...I don't know. Sometimes she likes to be stubborn about really odd things. It's like teaching a child. It took forever for her to accept the difference between East and West.

[dissimulative]

Then maybe the point of her "artificial intelligence" isn't to learn.

[ He casts a suspicious look at Sinclair. ]

Man, I couldn't uninstall that frog without consequences. Besides, almost everyone has that frog too, even the adults who can barely use Selcom!

[insinning]

[he has done nothing to earn a suspicious look like that?]

Huh? Well I know I got my selcom pretty late compared to others... I'm sure I can't be the only one. I'm
glad I avoided that frog though...

[dissimulative]

I don't think it's the issue of having it "issued" late...

[ He can smell a conspiracy brewing. ]

I asked on a forum about that, actually. No one said anything.

[insinning]

[aaaaaaah ]

Mm...maybe it got buried under other stuff?

[Actually, when did he get his selcom installed? He has no idea. There are flashes of a memory that hurts if he digs too deep. But if he admits that, Oria might worry...]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria just gives Sinclair a Look as if saying "you're so bad at lying", but he lets it go anyway. ]

Hey, Chaaaron. If you've been with him so long, you should have learned some useful things!

[ He says this despite not being able to hear her. ]

[insinning]

[Charon knows plenty of things. Charon is not appreciated. Sinclair pulls a face]

Don't tease her...she'll get upset at me.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria would say that it's only a mimicry of emotions, but he bites that back and sighs. ]

Fiiine, fine. You're so nice, even to Charon...

[insinning]

[this mimicry is very important to Sinclair ok...]

Well, it's not like Charon causes trouble like Keropoyo, right? It's good to appreciate that.

[dissimulative]

The frog is mostly annoying, but it's not wrong when it comes to objective stuff.

[ Oria sighs. Stupid reliable frog AI. ]

Did you already forget her leading us to a shady place?

[insinning]

That was an accident! [Or was it? Sometimes Sinclair isn't quite sure, when Charon was given to him by a company he couldn't even tell people the name of]

Um. It worked out okay in the end at least? I'm helping her...

[Funny how he doesn't have a good memory of that. Just that his knuckles really hurt and he was really sore for a few days after...But it ended fine because Oria wasn't hurt]