dappledleaves | CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[ Meanwhile, Oria seems focused today and his eyes narrow at that. ]

He has a name. It's Emil Sinclair. If you can't treat him with basic respect, you won't have any of mine either.

[The military official looks at Oria coolly, a derisive look on his face.

"Quiet, Severine. You don't understand the nature of equipment."

Sinclair flinches, looking down as his bravado fades and wars with rising resentment.

"But you are all soldiers. Your arrogance, the recklessness...you work with who we tell you! You follow our orders not anyone else. The failure of the dead sea mission is your responsibility!"]

[ Well, he did warn him about the lack of respect. ]

Yeah, I get it. And you're a military dog. The sky is blue. So what? You're the one who's all arrogant, hiding behind the power of your superiors and depending on children to fight your wars for you. And what the hell are you doing in the meantime? Pushing papers? Waiting for your next order like a good dog? Shut the fuck up. You're fucking pathetic.

[ He glares while crossing his arms as if to hit him if he dares. ]

[It's instant, the way the man reddens. Oria has a way of getting under the skin of adults, particularly soldiers who looked at gauntlet knights as playing games with disdain.

"And you brats think you're actually heroes? Let me tell you something, you're nothing without that," he jabs a finger towards the gauntlet. "Think you're little hot shits until you're a smear on the floor just like that stupid bitch who--"]

Edited 2024-11-02 05:37 (UTC)

[There's a sicking crack as Sinclair's fist drives into the soldier's jaw.]

...shut up. [ The man groans, looking up and sees Sinclair standing there, shaking.

"You--"

Sinclair hits him again, hard. There's no gauntlet on his hand]

Shut your fucking mouth! Don't you dare talk about either of them like that--

[In a moment, Sinclair the soldier pinned to the floor, hitting him over and over again.

"Sinclair, stand down! This is insubordination," an older woman in military fatigues barks.

A man dark hair and glasses chuckles.

"We have a way to handle that." He motions to a helper, and they hand him a device. Someone shouts and then--]

[ It might be familiar to Oria. The button is pushed and then Sinclair is screaming for other reasons. Electrial shocks wrack his body, paralysing him over and over until Sinclair slumps to the side, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

"Make sure he didn't bite hjs tongue. It would be a shame Geroy's investment to go to waste because Limbus couldn't train its soldiers correctly.'

And what was simply going to be a standard disciplinary hearing has descended into something more dreadful.]

[ It's Sinclair who moves first before Oria can retaliate when he hears the painful crack of whatever bones are harmed, because Oria couldn't care less about those. However, Oria is still in shock that he forgets to pull Sinclair back like he said he would when Sinclair gets out of control.

Then Sinclair screams, bleeds, and collapses to the side. ]

Emil!!

[ He immediately rushes to his side. This is terrible. Awful. There's no shortage of words that can be used to describe this, but there's something that really builds up within Oria as he looks down at Sinclair. He remembers when something like this happened out of nowhere that one day when— ]

[ Oria gathers Sinclair into his arms and stands while doing the princess carry. He has to think fast, because he has an awful feeling of what would happen if they got their hands on Sinclair again. Things are finally lining up and the pieces start falling in place. ]

I won't let you.

[ Oria holds Sinclair tightly. It's not like Oria hasn't gone through experiments either—all gauntlet knights and their prospectives go through some variation of it. However, when he holds onto Sinclair like this, he knows the shock will affect him too if it activates again. He'll play like the adults and hide behind his mother's reputation. She may have been a former researcher, but that's not the important part. She's well known for being extremely attached to her children and now that she only has one left, people have realized the other thing that she's known for, and it's exacting vengeance that makes karma look like a joke in comparison. It's no mere rumor either, since she really tore into the military when Aria died, resulting in a tenth of the entire AOU military funds to be cut. In this day and age where all nations strive to have equal formidable military power, this was a huge blow. So Oria will use his mother without a second thought for Sinclair's sake. If anything, it will buy him some time at the very least, but it would be great if they don't end up chasing him at all.

Before Oria runs off with Sinclair, he gives a fierce kick to the fallen man's crotch. That's for his sister. Now that it's done, Oria flees with Sinclair in tow. ]

[ "Hey-" The smile slips right off the researcher's face and Outis protests too.

"Stop, this is a military disciplinary hearing, you--"

Sinclair limp in Oria's arms, is vaguely aware of the Limbus side coming into an argument with the Geroy scientists, and the military people who keep swearing about "this is why keeping a bunch of snot nosed kids is a bad idea, look at the mess they've made!"

Probably fearing Oria's mother, no one makes pursuit just yet but there are soldiers outside guarding the entrance anyway. One might be familiar to Oria - the one who gave Sinclair candy the other day]

[ This can have as much importance as a presidential hearing, and Oria would still walk out. Not many things take priority above Sinclair, and this disciplinary meeting is very far from it. He sticks out his tongue on his way out at the military people. Fuck you guys specifically!!

In the meantime, he figures there are guards at the entrance and tries to take another route. Even if it's out the window, that will be more than good enough. He knows that they can also be easily found, but he's not aiming to hide from them. Oria just wants to be alone with Sinclair and far away from them.

And of course, the AOU gauntlet knight group chat promptly explodes once word gets out, but Oria is doing a good job at ignoring all that and the private messages that he's being sent. Fuck it. He turns off his Selcom. ]

[ Moving away from the entrance is a good call because that's where the guards congregate, complaining about being pulled out of their posts for this. But there's a back entrance they only use for special, privileged people. No one seems to be there anymore. They may not get away, but they can at least regroup.

Sinclair slowly feels awareness coming back to his body through the lingering shocks wracking his body. The metallic taste of iron in his mouth, the twinges in his muscles, sharp and stabbing]

...Oria?

[ Oria knows that he's going to catch hell for this, but he wouldn't just sit back and watch Sinclair get hurt like that--especially now that he thinks he knows what's really going on for Sinclair at Geroy if shocks like this are considered "normal punishment". ]

Shh. Rest your voice. I'm trying to find a good place where we can rest.

[ Those shocks probably did a number on his vocal chords, is Oria's assumption. He passes the back entrance. Even though there's no one around, he doesn't have clearance to get through it. ]

...meeting room...

[There should be another meeting room. Or the entrance to the garage. Something. Sinclair feels his selcom go off, but he doesn't respond. Charon blocks out all calls for him]

Oh, right.

[ Oria nyooms on over to the meeting room. It doesn't take too long, since he knows where it is. Luckily, it seems to be empty and Oria finally lets Sinclair down on a cushy bench. ]

I'll get some water and napkins.

[Sinclair curls up on the bench, feeling relieved to be somewhere soft. Quiet. The sounds aren't rattling in his brain now]

Mmm...okay.

[ Oria returns with a bottle of water and some paper towels. He opens it first to dab some onto the paper towel so that he can help clean the blood coming from Sinclair's nose and mouth. Sorry, but it's a bit cold. ]

Do you think you can drink water or do you still need some time?

[ Being shocked is no fun at all. ]

Also, turn off your Selcom. I bet you're getting notifs like crazy.

Ugh. Charon keeps blocking calls but...[Sinclair closes his eyes, wincing a little at the touch to his skin. Cold...

Once the selcom is off, Sinclair sits up and nods]

I can drink now.

[ Oria tries to help Sinclair in sitting up, because drinking water in a lying down position is bad for anyone and everyone. Then he brings the water bottle to Sinclair's lips to help him drink. ]

How are you feeling now...? Does it still hurt?

Mm...it's kind of sore but.

[It hurts, but he's been through worse is the absolute worst thing to say right now.

And that worst...]

Ah...

[His gaze snaps upwards and his breath quickens as fear sinks in. Oh no. What had he done? Because of him, Oria too was in trouble.

He had lashed out even after trying to be better. He had gone too far, and now-]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm-

Edited 2024-11-02 22:30 (UTC)

[ Since Sinclair is done drinking the water, Oria puts a hand over Sinclair's mouth. His face is close to Sinclair's and he smiles. He speaks quietly: ]

What you did was really cool. Thanks for standing up for me for Aria.

[ And he hopes that doing and saying this will help Sinclair calm down a little. ]

[Sinclair goes quiet instantly when his mouth gets covered. He stares into Oria's eyes for a moment before he gives a tiny little nod and looks down, pulling away from Oria's hand so he can speak. His breathing is evening out again though]

...I really hate the way they speak about you and Aria.

[ He withdraws his hand and relaxes once he hears Sinclair's breathing evening out. At least his face isn't so close to his anymore. ]

Me too. It's really the only way they can vent out their frustrations because I'm related to someone who can threaten them.

[ Kaleria may be from AOU Russia, but she values her kids more than whatever nationalism people got here. But Sinclair would know that Oria is not really on best terms with his mother, or rather, it's like a one-sided love that Oria finds incredibly overbearing. This is why he always wanted to sleep in the gauntlet knight dorms instead of going home. Aria never had problems with their mother though. ]

It's a privilege to be able to think that way, you know, so I'll let them have it in their ignorance. Most adults don't think we know any better, but joke's on them. All they have are words, after all. It doesn't hurt me.

[Sinclair's brow furrows and he wonders briefly, before he met Oria...how many barbs did Oria have to put up with? He feels a tiny bit of relief when Oria's face moves back because that was its own kind of distracting despite the circumstances. He wiggles over a little to make room on the bench for Oria]

...because they're not worth acknowledging? [A dry smile tugs at Sinclair's lips, even as he fidgets, rubbing his hands together. The gloves have been very effective in curbing the worst of Sinclair's habits]

Yeah.

[ Oria grins at that. ]

I usually ignore them and they get all pouty because they don't get any attention. I guess they didn't get a lot of it when they were a kid.

[ But Oria didn't ignore them this time, because of the blatant disrespect towards Sinclair. ]

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