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]

Alright. I'll make a note about finding him. That guy has his Selcom perpetually off and never even bothered to learn how to use it.

[ Get with the times, bro. Oria pulls out a phone from Aria's bag and looks through it. Did it have a passcode? Doesn't seem to matter as Oria is already digging through it. ]

Selcom has all the stuff integrated, but we always kept these too, just in case.

[ So Oria has one as well... He frowns when he sees a text though. ]

"Leave him alone"...?

[insinning]

Ahaha. I'm surprised there are people closer to our age like that.

[ He understood the adults but people their age? Well it's not like he doesn't get it either. Glancing over]

Was she arguing with someone?

[dissimulative]

I dunno. It looks like it's the last message that she sent. I don't see the text history... so I guess she erased it.

[ He grumbles a bit. Make this a little easier on them, Aria. ]

[insinning]

...I heard there's no such thing as messages that are truly erased on these devices.

[But he has no skill in recovering messages and knows no one he'd entrust that phone to so]

Do you think that number might have belonged to 'Shion'?

[dissimulative]

One way to find out.

[ Oria memorizes the number and uses his Selcom to call with a burner number. Sinclair won't be able to hear anything from the other end, but he can certainly hear what Oria will be saying, and he tries to speak in a different voice than usual. ]

Hello? Is this Shion? [ ... ] Oh, yes. My name is Alex. Have you checked on your car's extended warranty? It may be expiring soon--

[ ................

Oria looks smug as he goes off the call. It's assumed that whoever's on the other line hung up on him. ]

Got him.

[insinning]

[...]

Maybe you should be a super secret agent after all.

[He's both appalled and impressed]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria laughs. ]

Anyone with a modicum of sense would hang up, but I got that his name was "Shion". That's really all I needed to know right now. The rest can come later.

[insinning]

[He'll gather up the military files, make copies with his selcom. The little note goes into his pocket though]

Is there anything else we should look into?

[dissimulative]

I think we looked at what we could... We can leave now.

[ Does Sinclair want to see Oria's room before he leaves... ]

[insinning]

Okay. Is there anything else you wanted to check on or grab?

[He gets up, putting things back where they found them. And yes, he really wants to see Oria's room]

[dissimulative]

... Nope! Not really. Why?

[ Oria looks at Sinclair, head slightly tilted. ]

[insinning]

I was just wondering if you wanted to get anything from your room.

[His curiosity is the worst sometimes]

[dissimulative]

I don't need anything from my room, since I already took it all to put it in the sleeping quarters.

[ After a short pause, he gives Sinclair almost a wry smile. ]

You wanna see it, huh? It's nothing big.

[insinning]

[Ah.]

Am I that obvious?

[He ducks his head sheepishly]

It's okay. You don't want to stay here for too long, do you?

[dissimulative]

[ Oria thinks it's cute, but he might as well. He doesn't foresee himself coming back, so Sinclair should satisfy his curiosity. ]

... Come on.

[ He holds Sinclair's hand and moved two doors down the hall. ]

This was my room. I dunno if they did anything with it, but this was the room that I used to stay in.

[ He opens the door and... it's so messy. One would think Oria just lives a messy life and while that is half true, even Oria looks surprised at the mess. ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair wasn't sure he was expecting this. Especially since Oria looks surprised too]

Um...is it meant to look like this?

[Sinclair isn't the tidiest person ever, but he does try to make sure things have their place and out of the way (he doesn't have much to begin with). But this is...]

[dissimulative]

No...? I don't think so? Damn, it looks like a hurricane ripped through the room.

[ Oria steps inside. Clothes are flung everywhere to the point that the floor is impossible to see, miscellaneous things stacked on the computer desk chair, the shelves with a lot of things knocked over inside them... it's a lot as if a burglar came.

Well, at least the bed is pristine and well made. ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair automatically picks up the clothes along the way]

Someone must have been looking for something here.

[dissimulative]

To the point they flung all my clothes out of the closet? What an inefficient burglar...

[ However, Oria is curious. There doesn't seem to be dust, which means his mother hired servants to do their job, but they just left it like this? Aria's room was much better and it was supposed to have been untouched. He's not dead, so his room should have been actively cleaned.

He frowns and looks up to see Sinclair picking up the clothes. ]

Emil, you don't need to do that...

[insinning]

Huh? Oh. Sorry.

[Instincts from countless cleaning punishments had kicked in. He sets the clothes aside carefully but there's so much...]

It really is weird though.

[dissimulative]

... Yeah.

[ Unfortunately, Oria can't think of a reason why it would be like this. ]

It's not much otherwise, but welcome to my room in this house, I guess.

[ It's just a mess. Nothing in particular stands out otherwise. ]

[insinning]

[ Sinclair frowns a tiny bit. It was strange seeing this mess here. Like... no one actually used this room, not even once. He takes Oria's hand]

Thanks for showing me. [ but now he has more questions] Is there really nothing you want to take back with you?

[dissimulative]

[ Well... Oria did use it when he was forced to live here. It can't be a guest room, but it doesn't feel like the room belongs to anyone either. ]

No, I already took everything I wanted a long time ago. If there's something you wanna say, just say it.

[ He can tell that Sinclair is brimming with curiosity. ]

[insinning]

It's just weird, what's happened to your room.

[An anomaly, glitch in the system etc]

It's like someone was searching for something...or was planning a big spring clean.

[dissimulative]

Weird to try looking in a room whose owner left years ago. What important thing would I have left behind? Nothing.

[ He's a little offended that they think he's that stupid. ]

Anyway, let's—

[ The sound of the door opens.

"Oria?"

Oria stays still. That sure is his mother. ]