dappledleaves | CICONIA: WHEN THEY CRY

[ stop that

Oria lies down with his head near the foot of the bed, since that's where Sinclair is. Properly lying down in a proper position on the bed? Nah. Sinclair is here, and he wants to keep holding his hand. ]

'Kay... g'night...

[ He mumbles and quietly breathes out, relaxing.

We can have next event!! ]

[Oh, this is nice. Sinclair will sit with him until it's time to get up and go.

Neither of them are seriously injured, so they get sent back to the military base the next day. The attempted assassination of two gauntlet knights sends everyone into a frenzy, even though the perpetrator has been discovered and the higher ups use that as an excuse to hound the ABN and COU further, demanding reparations even though they had no proof as to who Shion had been working with, let alone another military group alone.

Tensions are ugly and Sinclair just wants to sink in his seat as the strategists go over their plans. He's been trying to make it less obvious he's avoiding hurting anyone but...

He wonders.

The one bright side is that for now, they've stopped trying to force a third member into their team to form a Kette]</small.

[ Oria also sits here as the strategists go over the plans, looking completely uninterested as they speak. He's called out several times with a "pop quiz" on the spot, in which he answers perfectly (reiterate what they just said five seconds ago) and he gets away scot-free.

When Oria told the doctors about the possible hacker, they confirmed that it was linked to Shion, and they're currently trying to get information out of the prisoner, to which... they're not really being successful. Oria sometimes visits Shion alone. They talk and Oria doesn't get anything out out of him. If Sinclair ever tries... just know that his failure rate is even higher. Sorry, dude.

The strategy meet finally finishes and Oria stretches his arms upwards. ]

Ugh, finally.

[ He doesn't want to know how bad Sinclair has with holding back when he's a defender!! Sinclair!! Pretending is so easy!! ]

Can we go now? Like equip the stuff and fly?

[ Sinclair doesn't do anything as obvious as grab his head. His mental tablet is perfect - diagrams, notes and nothing the military officials could find fault in him over, despite their attempts. But inside, he was definitely sharing a barrage of messages with different knights]

Ugh. Yeah. I think we have time now.

[ Sinclair hadn't visted Shion. He left that to the likes of Faust and Dante. He had been visiting Dr. Ushirono instead, trying to find something to confirm what Shion had told him.

Fragments are returning bit by bit of a childhood he didn't know he had. But it was like being an observer on his own life.]

[ fuyu: I think dying would be great. Need more samples in their near death state.
sinclair:

Oria gets close to Sinclair's side as if to whisper, but he's really just messaging him over Selcom. ]

holding back is soooo hard for me
being destructive is supposed to be my specialty???

[ help

Sinclair leans in too, as if to also whisper but he returns the message]

Maybe pretend your aim is really bad? Or ask them to duck when you tell them to and aim for the tanks and rockets?

[ Now it just looks like they're leaning into each other like a couple. Great job, kids. ]

my aimbot cred..................

[ Q_Q ]

[This is how rumors go crazy in the gauntlet knight chat room]

im sorry. i think all our records are going to look really weird

[ aah]

[ aou gk: Are you guys dating??
Sinclair: no
Oria pretending he doesn't see it: ]

our records are gonna be sooo bad
but also they're gonna dole out punishments when they can't take it any longer
they can't replace us but i bet they're gonna force us to comply
we can't really use the excuse like "i have stage fright" forever

[ Now he just rests his arm on Sinclair's shoulder as they keep walking. ]

i think we should b

[ Oria looks irritated all of a sudden. He's probably being censored by Keropoyo on his end... ]

[ Sinclair so confused by the rumours. people are weird.]

We should what?

[ froggy, stop this censorship!! Sinclair gets it though. It's a little easier for him to be subtle about sabotage but...]

[ Oria undos the arm rest on his shoulder to cup around Sinclair's ear to whisper. Sorry about your ear sensitivity if you have that here, Sinclair. ]

We should blow up the government and run away together.

[ WHY IS ORIA'S MOUTH SO CLOSE TO HIS EAR.

Sensitivity or not, help]

[And why does he need to whisper that of all things. Sinclair's hearing is better than most in this world (thanks scientists) and he glances around nervously for prying ears. He gives Oria a tiny elbow to the ribs and then links arms with him to keep him close while muttering in turn]

That's not something to joke about.

[ especially since it was unfortunately very tempting]

[ He needs to whisper so that no one else would hear it! He'd probably be jailed or killed for treason or something. Not that Oria does this in fear of said consequence, but it would be an annoyance and a hassle, and he values his freedom above many things in life. ]

You think I'm joking?

[ Hehe.

They link arms and go on their merry way. The AOU GK groupchat uploads a picture of Sinclair and Oria doing exactly that and goes "see?? dating material" in which Oria ignores the message, but looks around to see who caught that on photo and throws a blank notepad at the guy. ]

Don't take pictures without permission, you creepo.

[ They scurry away. Oria doesn't bother to get the notepad back. ]

If you're not, then...well. I don't want you trapped.

[Okay those pictures and comments get Sinclair to blush and he promptly goes about blocking them all. He doesn't even protest Oria throwing his notebook except]

--you're not going to get that back?

Why? I don't have anything written in it.

[ Nothing important, anyway. If someone considers his doodles important, then that's not his problem.

But also, that's littering. Oria should pick up after himself. ]

Littering is bad.

[ Sinclair will unlink their arms to go pick up the notebook...Oria, please]

Emil... you're never allowed to deny that you're a goody-two-shoes ever again.

[ He let go... :c

Well, since Oria is now off the leash, he speeds towards where the Gauntlets are. Bye!! ]

...ah! Oria, you cheater-!

[ Once he's got the notebook he's running after. Rude on both levels!!]

[ Oria laughs the entire way, despite knowing it would just land him in hot water faster. The hot water being the mission that they have to clear today. It feels heavy. What if he accidentally kills someone? Just like the practice missiles shot at Aria--

...

When he arrives, he quietly breathes out. Oria still has nightmares about it. ]

It feels like it's been forever since I used these! Hope I'm not too rusty.

[ Sinclair catches up with a huff. He's trying not to think about any of it at the moment but he makes a beeline for his gauntlet. On Dante's advice, he had changed his master key again]

I doubt you'd ever actually forget.

[Unlike...

It wasn't time to think about it. Dante had shown him the video records of what happened that day. While he may not have been directly involved...he knows why his memories had to be altered now.

The guilt was suffocating.

He returns the notebook to Oria pointedly. Rude]

[ Oria takes the notebook and promptly puts it on the bench because there's nowhere else to put it. ]

You really should have just thrown it away.

[ He laughs a little and fits the gauntlet over his shoulder and arm. Let's go. ]

But it seems wasteful.

[ He puts on his gauntlet too, securing in place. This is familiar]

Then you should keep it in my stead.

[ Problem solved! Or so Oria thinks. Well, he doesn't care about it anymore, so after setting up the Gauntlet, he sets off. Time to fly over to get onto positions. On the way there, he tries to think of ways to hold back and sabotage. ]

Huh? Oh, okay then--

[Sinclair takes off to the air too, getting set up. He's already going through some ideas that might work. But. Hmmm. How does he make it look real?]

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