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]

[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]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria remembers it so clearly, so he looks a bit exasperated at Sinclair for a moment. ]

I guess you're right. Then just help her more.

[ That's really all he can say about that now. ]

Be a little nicer to me tooooo.

[ He's just joking, since he doesn't like being spoiled in any way—especially affection. ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair isn't as good at social cues as Oria from being well...a prisoner. He does look a little concerned]

Ah...am I not? You can have my peeps.

[Sharing is caring etc]

[dissimulative]

[ Yeah!! More peeps for him! But he knows Sinclair needs them too. ]

You're so sweet. I love you.

[ Then their food arrives. ]

1/3

[insinning]

[ Ah???]

2/3

[insinning]

[ Is... this a Ciconia born thing? How does Oria say such things so easily...]

3/3

[insinning]

[ It's just Oria's nature so Sinclair lets it go as the food arrives. He'll offer some of his parfait to Oria in gratitude]

Mm...you too? [ Confused but sincere]

I'm glad we're friends.

[ even if...ah]

[dissimulative]

[ He more or less expected this sort of response, so he doesn't look crushed or anything. He just grins and takes the offered parfait. Yummy. ]

Yeah! Me too.

[ Oria would never say "love" so easily, but that's his personal problem and no one else's.

He starts eating his mountainous pile of pancakes drenched with syrup. Mmmmmm... ]

[insinning]

[ Oh, Oria accepted his offering. He's even happier now]

How are your pancakes?

[ He'll take back his parfait and work on his burger first. Sugar tastes even better after something salty]

[dissimulative]

Soooo good. Everything tastes good when I'm hungry.

[ Not like it hasn't already. He takes a giant piece of pancake and eats it. Nom. Kirby time. ]

[insinning]

[Even for a gauntlet knight, sometimes it seems like Oria can just vacuum up an entire restaurant. But Sinclair can understand]

That's good. I would have felt bad if the reviews were all lies.

[dissimulative]

[ Maybe the food he eats just disappears to the dimensioned container. ]

Oh? You looked up the reviews and everything?

[ He seems incredibly fond. ]

[insinning]

Yeah. It seemed like a nice place by the way people talked about it. I thought it'd be nice if we could go together.

[ Research for friends outings!! not that Sinclair can leave without strict restrictions being met but... sometimes he likes to imagine and prepare for that]