CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[insinning]

It's a holy night. Silent night.

All is calm.

Everything is b r i g h t.

Comments

[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...]

[dissimulative]

Yeah. We both like close-combat regardless of what our weapons are, so she'd be completely vulnerable. Aria was fine playing as a Supporter, since...

[ He thinks back on all the times when Aria won in a sparring match with him. The actual attacker! What the fuck. ]

... Anyway, Coach is gonna look into team dynamics and stuff too.

[insinning]

...even if it's not her, they'll try to push a third person into our kette, huh?

[He leans against Oria with a huff. Sinclair doesn't have the mindset to play support, probably. Aria really was that cool, huh? Sinclair Knew It]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria remembers all the praise going to Aria like "our current technology is wasted on her, so we have to improve the gauntlets quickly to match to her potential". He has extremely high P3 levels, but there was nothing like Aria's level.

He sighs, leaning against Sinclair in turn. ]

Yeah. Probably.

[ He stretches his arms out forward. ]

[insinning]

[He rests his head against Oria's shoulder]

I still don't like it.

[The tensions, the conflicts, fighting people they said were their friends...

Why do they need to be kette now? No one could replace Aria]

[dissimulative]

[ Technically, yes. No one could replace Aria in both meanings. Oria sighs. ]

Me neither. I was hoping Coach would also lay off with trying to find a replacement after I supposedly scared the staff here, but he knows us too well.