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]

yes. maybe your room? or my room. rec room is kinda crowded...I don't feel like running into anyone else. it's awkward.

[and lol at Oria coming to the library]

[dissimulative]

ok gimme 30 min
lets meet in your room!

[insinning]

okay. I'll leave the door unlocked for you.

[His room isn't exactly messy, but he does want to make sure his clothes are put away. The round fluffy yellow bird plushie stays out though, even if it wasn't exactly a cool thing to have]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria knows Sinclair likes cute things, so it wouldn't be a crime to have them out, in his own room no less. He gets there in 30 minutes on the dot, knocking on the door as opposed to last time when he just used a spare key to get in.

Well, it doesn't matter since he just barges inside anyway, even though Sinclair hasn't responded yet. ]

The great Oria Severine has arrived!

[ Ta-da! ]

[insinning]

Gyaah-!

[Sinclair yelps in surprise as he tries not to drop the cups he had been trying to put away on a shelf]

Oria...you scared me.

[dissimulative]

I knocked this time!

[ He says that in a "you can't blame me" tone. ]

Whatcha doing?

[insinning]

[It doesn't count if Oria immediately shouts after???]

Ah. I was just putting away some stuff. Did you want something to drink?

[There's some soda in the mini fridge, water, tea...]

[dissimulative]

Water's fine.

[ He'd normally go for soda, but he doesn't feel like drinking soda right now. Oria seems fine though--no messy hair, no sign of rushing to get there... everything looks normal. ]

[insinning]

[Handing Oria a bottle of water from his mini fridge]

So, secret agent mission, huh?

[dissimulative]

[ He takes the bottled water with a small thanks. ]

Yup~ Just some fancy words for "slacking off while climbing Tetrio's leaderboard".

[ More freakin tetris. ]

Though there's this one guy named "Aster" that I can't beat. It's gotten so annoying...

[insinning]

Tetrio? [ Aster...hmmmm ] You're getting really into that, huh.

[dissimulative]

Yeah! It's sparking my competitive side and this guy keeps pulling the rug under my feet!

[ He shares a replay (Oria on the right, Aster on the left) with Sinclair. ]

0-7! I lost all of them!

[ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa ]

[insinning]

[Wow. Uh. They're both intense...puzzle games should be peaceful but ???]

...those are some really intense games.

[dissimulative]

[ Do you ever think Oria can be satisfied by a "peaceful" game... ]

Yeah, yeah! And I kept losing... Ughhhhh................

[ He hates this and just leans on Sinclair. Weh............. ]

I'm so glad you're back though...

[insinning]

[He feels dizzy looking at this. He pets Oria's hair gently, careful not to mess up his style. There there]

Me too. It was too quiet and lonely. I missed you.

[dissimulative]

Because I'm so loud and such good company?

[ Honestly, same. But that was the mindset he used with Puzzle Bobble. Now it makes sense. He will only accept pets from Sinclair and literally no one else. ]

[insinning]

Sure if you want to say it like that.

[ How is Oria's hair this nice even... Sinclair's lucky he can get away with this]

[dissimulative]

[ He takes such good care of it that it even endures anti-gravity gauntlet knight training. It's a miracle... ]

But it's so good to see you again in person. I missed you.

[insinning]

[He leans into Oria, shoulders bumping a little more.]

Hopefully I wont have to go anywhere for awhile.

[8ms implants monitoring not withstanding]

What did you get up to while I was gone?

[dissimulative]

The usual. Getting scolded, playing games... haven't touched the gauntlet since they put me on probation for a bit. It's kinda weird seeing like half the staff being scared of me whenever I just walk in the halls. I wasn't even doing anything...

[insinning]

What did you even do? Half the other AOU knights kept messaging me asking me, and the other half kept saying to give you a high five for it.

[So confused but Sinclair simply ignored all of it.]

...you were on probation too?

[dissimulative]

Of course I was! I talked shit to a someone of a higher standing and kidnapped a valuable person.

[ He shrugs. ]

No gauntlet equipping for a while for me... still on it too, but I was still ordered to come by during training so I could train Katja.

[ Katherine. ]

Regardless of her getting into Striking Badgers or not, she still needed to train.

[insinning]

[Well, when Oria puts it like that. It makes sense]

Katherine? How is it working with her?

[Sinclair may not like her, and he may not like the idea of her trying to join the Striking Badgers, he still has enough empathy to know she's been put in a very uncomfortable position]

[dissimulative]

She's pretty good. It looks like she'll fit best into a Sniper or Fire Support, but she would probably fit better in a team that's like Grave Mole.

[ More defense-oriented. ]

I can tell Coach thinks so too, but he's not saying it out loud.

[insinning]

[Sinclair nods, understanding. Striking Badger had always been more aggressive after all]

Mmm...I guess he doesn't really have a choice but if that's the case, she really is a bad fit with how we are.

[Considering Sinclair's record with getting up close and personal...]