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. But it's fine. I'm just glad you're here.

[Not glad that Oria felt the need to run away from his own mother. But he's glad Oria is still with him.]

[dissimulative]

That's not fine.

[ He says immediately, buys two tickets and starts pulling Sinclair along to the train. Good thing it happens to be right there, waiting for passengers. The entire cabin is empty. Must be a slow hour.

Oria sits down and makes Sinclair sit next to him. The train ride will take at least 30 minutes. He has time. ]

What did she say to you?

[insinning]

[Sinclair sits down automatically, letting Oria drag him along]

...she asked me if I had "spoken to her". Then, all I could hear or see was static.

[He squeezes the note in his pocket]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria frowns. ]

"Her"? Who is that supposed to be...

[ He doesn't ask Sinclair specifically, but the cryptic answer has him reeling. Why must his mother be like this. ]

[insinning]

...someone who makes me very afraid, I think. Someone they don't want me to remember...until they need me to fulfill my potential.

[Projection K...a coin. An irritating whistle and

no no no not that. he can't. he won't be trapped by the memory of her ]

[dissimulative]

[ ...

Oria hates this for Sinclair. He really does. ]

What the hell...

[ That's fucked up—obviously. Oria tries to think of something, but he can't. He's at a rare moment when he's actually at a loss for words, so he holds Sinclair's further shoulder and pulls him in so that Sinclair can lean against him. ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair turns, pressing his face into Oria's shoulder. He wonders still, why Aria had been in contact with hackers. Why she ended her friendship with Shion.]

...adults really are the worst.

[Sinclair mutters. OS ver 0.089...The only thing he could think of that fit was Oria's name. But Oria was as human as him.]

[dissimulative]

... Yeah. We should push them out of power so that we can rule as soon as we can.

[ He's only half-serious about this. ]

[insinning]

That sounds like a lot of trouble too.

[That gets Sinclair to laugh. Finally]

Still, I don't want to become like that.

[Someone who forgot the humanity in the children they claimed to be raising.]

[dissimulative]

Yeah. Me neither.

[ But Oria has never been good with younger kids... He doesn't want to think about raising anyone, not even a pet. (Mike doesn't exist here... sad) ]

... Was it how you thought it would be? Your situation about the memories.

[insinning]

[ nooo oria's bird. Sinclair tries to imagine it and he can't quite either. Dog...none...Sinclair is quiet for a moment before shaking his head]

No. I didn't think this many people were involved.

[dissimulative]

Come to think of it, yeah. Why the hell would my mom know about your situation to the point of telling you something that's highly impactful...

[ ???? ]

I guess we came out with more questions than answers in the end.

[insinning]

I feel like my brain has gone through a cheese grater.

[ It hurts. Can he rest against Oria a little more...]

[dissimulative]

[ Yes, he can rest against Oria throughout the entire train ride. ]

It must be a lot to go through... I have some painkillers back at the dorm, so in the meantime, you can take a nap.

[insinning]

Oh, that'd be nice.

[ He needs it. His head is pounding]

A nap sounds really good.

[dissimulative]

Here, you can lean against me. Get comfortable.

[ Though if Sinclair wants a lap pillow, he can offer. But he won't say it out loud. They have the entire train cabin to themselves... ]

I'll wake you up when we arrive.

[insinning]

Thanks.

[ Sinclair brightens a little. He's too self conscious to even think about the lap pillow so he snuggles into Oria's shoulder. Quick nap here and then back at the dorms]

[dissimulative]

[ To the dorms! Oria leads Sinclair there while keeping in mind that he's not feeling great. They're stopping by Sinclair's room first, of course.

I don't have any events going on so feel free to choose another event and fast-forward or if you want to keep threading out their current location in Sinclair's room! ]

[insinning]

[ As soon as they get back to Sinclair's room, he shoves the note in his desk inside a notebook. He'll deal with it later. His head is still throbbing]

Does your mother have some sort of special 8ms? It was just a moment of static and then...

[dissimulative]

Even if she did, I wouldn't know... but she was a former 8MS researcher, so it could be a possibility.

[ Unfortunately. His mother not playing by the rules and being mysterious in general has Oria unable to give a better answer. ]

Is she the reason for your headache?

[insinning]

I think so. [ Is it a coincidence or purposeful] It didn't start hurting until after she spoke to me.

[dissimulative]

[ Oria frowns and leads Sinclair to the bed. Rest here, blondie. He does this while looking things up as he finally turns his Selcom on. ]

I've never heard of 8MS giving headaches by words alone... I can't find anything in search engines either.

[ But of course, it could be censored by government propaganda. Either way, he's not having any luck. ]

... I'll talk to her about it.

[insinning]

[ Sinclair opens his mouth to demur. For Oria to be careful. But this is Oria's mother and he remembers hearing how devoted she was to her children. So he settles back into bed, reaching out for Oria's hand. Stay?]

Is that why you didn't want to go back?

[dissimulative]

[ Oh.

Oria wasn't planning on leaving so soon, but when Sinclair reaches out for his hand, it feels second nature to just hold onto it no matter what. So he does and sits on the edge of the bed. ]

Because she worked with 8MS stuff? No. It always felt unbearably overwhelming at home and I wasn't about that sort of life.

[insinning]

[ Better. Sinclair looks up at Oria, even though his head his pounding]

Yeah...? Was it just... suffocating?

[ gently prompting, if Oria wants to talk about it]