irl meetups & phone

[dissimulative]

Time to touch some grass.

There is nsfw in here. Shhh.

Comments

2/2

[insinning]

M-my family...

[ The phone drops to the ground.

and then from a distance, there's primal anguished scream and then a deeper voice in the background

"Fuck, is that--"]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria feels his blood run cold. Something happened. Something terrible. ]

Emil? Emil!! Hey!!

[ Oria knows yelling into the phone won't do anything, which is why he feels even more frustrated right now. Ugh, he'll book a quick flight to where Sinclair should be and--

--he's blocked by his mother. Fuck. ]

[insinning]

[ "Kid, don't look. Don't look. Hey, Gregor, call the cops--"

"Let me go, Rodya, let me--my mom, dad, Beatrice--"

There are more incoherent noises on the other end as they grow more and more distant.

Oria might be able to pick up in the sounds of distant screaming, broken sobs and then a deeper male voice saying

"What kind of messed up psychopath..."

Then the phone abruptly cuts off]

[dissimulative]

[ HE IS CALLING AGAIN

DAMN IT ]

[insinning]

[ And that gets cut off.

And after that it'll keep ringing out.

Again. And again.

Maybe it's half an hour. Maybe it's an hour.

But if Oria keeps trying, someone does pick up eventually]

[dissimulative]

[ He's been waiting... and waiting... If Oria wasn't allowed to go fly out to see Sinclair, he tore through websites on any news in Sinclair's hometown. Over and over. He uses a second phone to contact any news places to shut them down (thanks dad, for buying so many news networks) while the first phone keeps ringing... and ringing...

Then the call finally connects. Oria immediately grabs the phone and puts it off speakerphone. ]

Emil?!

[insinning]

[ There's a longer pause on the other end and:

"You're the boyfriend, aren't you?" The voice that speaks is decidedly feminine. Not Sinclair at all.

"It's Rodion, one of Sinclair's co-workers. Listen, it's probably best if you save your calls for tomorrow. The kid's not in a good state."]

[dissimulative]

[ Since Rodya answered his question about "how is Sinclair doing" without it ever being asked-- ]

Could you at least tell me what happened? Did something happen to his family's graves? Are there news stations flocking over there--anything. I just need to know something. Please.

[insinning]

[ "It's pretty bad out here," Rodion says. "No news stations yet, but a hell lot of people with their phones out. Some psycho dug up the graves."]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria can feel a migraine coming on. Great. Perfect. (no. everything sucks) ]

... I see.

[ goddddd. The thing is, he could proooobably point to Kromer, but he knows some people are just insane enough to do it when they're not even related to the case. ]

I'm Oria Severine.

[ He gets this out of the way so that they know who he is because-- ]

Please let me know if there are any developments or anything you need shut down regarding this event.

... And let me know when he's better enough to have a conversation on the phone.

[insinning]

["Severine?" There's a pause as Rodion processes that. Damn, kid. Rodion has enough tact to not say anything aloud though. "I'll text you my details. It's better I let you know what's happening directly."

And hanging up. Oria will get Rodion's number through Sinclair's number and then, once Oria confirms, he'll get another message in a few hours in Russian.

We're back home. Kid's still groggy from being sedated but he's awake now]

[dissimulative]

[ Sinclair had to be sedated.................. Man. Man. Oria holds back a sigh. ]

<Thank you. Is he restrained too?>

[ You know. Just in case Sinclair doesn't suddenly get into a raging fit. ]

[insinning]

[ Nope. It was just to calm him down. He was pretty upset. Never seen him like that before.

We had to restrain some of our other guys, actually.

Anyway, he'll probably need to hear from someone who actually knows what's going on. He's not talking to anyone else.]

[dissimulative]

[ Restrain OTHER people? Huh??? ]

<I'd like to go there in person, but I can't. I'll give his phone a call soon. Thank you for the updates.>

[ And now, he'll call Sinclair's phone for real. ]

[insinning]

[Two rings and then, groggy, disorientated]

Oria...? Is that you?

[dissimulative]

Emil! Yeah! It's me. How are you feeling?

[ Obviously, not well... but... ]

[insinning]

Sick. Told them I didn't want anything...

[He feels nauseous and fuzzy]

[dissimulative]

You should at least drink water...

[ Keep yourself hydrated? Oria has gone through so much water while he's been sick. ]

I'm sorry I can't see you in person... you probably understand why.

[ gestures at recent two assassination attempts ]

[insinning]

[Mumbling, a rustle of blankets]

Mmm...you should keep yourself safe...

[There's a sound of a thunk - like a bottle bouncing off the ground. Oops]

[dissimulative]

... Yeah. Can't go anywhere.

[ He laughs a little, but. Oh. ]

Did you drop your water?

[ That sounded like a bottle. ]

And... are you alone right now?

[insinning]

That sucks.

[It's telling how out of it Sinclair is when those words slip out without his usual politeness. There's a pause as Sinclair manages to grab his bottle]

Mm. Went rolling under my bed. I'm alone.

[dissimulative]

[ It really is telling... Though he likes Sinclair like this too. This isn't the time for that though. ]

Is there something you want to talk about, Emil?

[ He's asking, not because Oria doesn't know what to talk about, but rather if Sinclair has anything that he does want to talk about, even in his sedated state, who is Oria to deny him? ]

... I was worried about you.

[insinning]

I don't know...

[He's so lethargic right now. Calm. Eerily so]

'm sorry. Didn't mean to do that to you. [A pause] Is it all over the internet again? It was last time...

[dissimulative]

No.

[ Oria says firmly. He's using a combination of copyright laws, privacy laws, internet domain shutdowns, and just flat out libel suing to his advantage to take them all down. Get DMCA'd at the very least-- ]

I made sure of it.

[insinning]

Oh...

[It's not a surprise if he really thinks about it. Oria did have that power. It's just that last time, he had been alone. This time, he's not so alone. It makes his throat tight and he sniffles]

Thank you. I don't think--again...