fifteenth prayer

[prayed]

Characters: Kyoko Sakura, Czeslaw Meyer, America, England
Setting: Floor Eighty-One
Format: action brackets
Summary: america enables kyoko to join the rebellion, england sits at the cool kids table and czes is everyone's mom.
Warnings: none.


[It's a fairly normal day, really...except for when one looks at the network, which has been a mess since even before Dax's letter was revealed. For Kyoko, of course, that means terribly little, and at the moment she's just exiting the elevator with Czes, holding his small hand in hers. She's been relatively silent (if fidgety--she can't stand to stay still for more than a minute or two,) but a thought occurs to her and she spares him a glance.]

...oi. You got any idea why everyone yapping about collar checks right now? I thought we were done with those, y'know.

[They didn't have one last month, after all...]

[Czes shakes his head.]

No, we still have them. You have yours on the 20th, by the way.

Huh? Is it? Damn it.

[She shrugs.]

I dunno if I'll bother going this month. Those things are seriously a pain, y'know.

You need to go. You've been around here for awhile, haven't you? I've read through the network posts. Not going is just asking for trouble.

Huh? Yeah, I've skipped it a few times too.

[And gotten dragged in by the retrieval units a couple times, and just barely avoided that by showing up at the last second a couple others, but no need for czes to know that...]

... So, you think skipping it this time is going to do you any favors? Because it's not.

So? What's the worst that could happen?

Why are you so eager to find out? Just go.

[but mom, she doesn't want to go!! She sighs.]

Nngh...I guess I can try to remember to go. If I feel like it.

I'll remind you.

red = Kyoko, brown = Czeslaw

Comments

[colonial]

But more people should not go! [America is perched on England's shoulder, being tired of walking on his own around so huge a tower for the moment, but he waves at Kyoko when he sees her, balancing well enough it's obvious he's used to this sort of seating arrangement.

Also don't mind him while he just jumps into the conversation...]

[keepscalm]

America, it's rude to butt in to a conversation. [Is this hypocritical? Perhaps a little; England does sometimes offer his opinion on things even when it's not asked for. Especially if it's on something he has strong feeling about.

But he's always a model of propriety when America is around! Or, he pretends to be, anyway.]

[prayed]

Huh? Why's it matter?

[The question is directed at America as much as it is England, really. She heard something about boycotting collar checks, but didn't really care enough to look into it--after all, in the end, she's just going to do what she wants.]

[bytheirhand]

Just go, Kyoko. Don't make such a big deal out of it.

[colonial]

We didn't need 'em last month, so maybe we don't need 'em at all! They could be bad. [Also America kind of wants to make the administrators angry.]

[keepscalm]

The collar check-ups? [He hadn't been listening to the conversation in the first place, but from what they're saying now, it certainly sounds like they're talking about the check-ups.

He scowls.] When do you think they've been slipping us the drugs? They're certainly not in the drinks.

[prayed]

[Sorry, Czes, but you're losing her. Kyoko opens her mouth to snap at him for that comment, to point out what the obvious answer is before quickly shutting it. It makes sense, after all. Her grip on Czes's hand tightens a little.]

If you're gonna go that far, shouldn't it extend to drugging us up when we're sleeping? Until last month you had to make sure you stuck to your own bed, y'know, if you can even call them that.

[A shrug.]

...well, not like I'd be surprised if they put that system in place just to screw with us.

[bytheirhand]

... But didn't something bad happen the last time the collars were messed with?

[colonial]

I was in the pods when that happened. [America shrugs a little.] We didn't get collar checkups in the pods and nothing happened!

[keepscalm]

[England's eyebrows furrow. When they're sleeping...their beds are actually filled with whatever that gunk is. He hadn't even thought of that part.

His frown deepens in distaste.] It's to keep parts of us contained, apparently. Bit beyond "screwing with us".

[Of course, he'd been outside the pods when the Tower wasn't being watched, and he remembered the effect it had. But...] I'd rather deal with those consequences than give myself over to be controlled.

[prayed]

[She stares blankly at Czes for a moment, clearly not as well versed in the Tower's history as he is, before emitting a faint noise of recognition. She nods, frowning faintly at the sharp dichotomy. Sometimes powers went haywire; most of the time they didn't. What gives?]

We don't know that much.

[She tugs lightly at her own collar.]

...but don't you think it's possible that being taken off of those drugs will have their own side effects? It'd be like a drunk giving up sake. That stuff might be destroying them from the inside out, but they're totally dependent on it by them.

[In other words...]

Whether or not it was causing that, we shouldn't expect everything to go so smoothly.