Rebel Girl

[animusnpcs]

Characters: Aria (R-037), open
Setting: infirmary all week
Format: action preferred
Summary: Aria is open to speak to the residents of the Tower, if they would like to.
Warnings: potential horror event warnings; for now nothing though
Note: Please specify the date you are visiting Aria in your subject header.

[The infirmary swarms with retrieval units and worker units, all of whom have chipped collars. Most of them seem busy with one task or another, but a few are free enough to direct anyone who asks to speak to Aria to the woman in question. She's converted one of the examination rooms into something of an office, albeit a sparse one. She looks nervous and a little tired, but excited all the same. Her office is guarded by four retrieval units--attacking her here would be a bad idea, even setting aside the fact that Aria is a retrieval unit herself.

She seems happy to see anyone who walks in, though.]

Comments

[animusnpcs]

Yes! [Aria smiles.] It's nice to meet you. Are you here for your checkup?

[bydefacto]

That's right! [His grin widens, some of his unease lifting.]

I have to give you this too. [He hands over the note telling her he wants to try out the new fluid.]

[animusnpcs]

[Aria reads over the note and smiles at him. Luckily for Sealand, Aria doesn't really have a concept of the difference between children and adults and the decisions they may or may not be better off making.]

Alright! It shouldn't take any longer than a normal checkup. Just sit down there and I'll get you set up. [She gestures to a chair.]

[bydefacto]

Okay! [He sits, looking rather proud of himself, if a bit nervous.]

I'm glad things are alright in here. It's gotten really weird in the tower. There's these monster things with strange duck masks trying to hurt people!

[animusnpcs]

[Aria opens up his collar and hooks it up via a tube to the new collar fluid. It doesn't look any different from the old one.]

Some of the residents have been calling them plague doctors. I think Jason sent them because he's angry at us.

[bydefacto]

[He glances back at it. He stopped worrying about this process a while ago, but he's beginning to feel nervous now, wondering what will happen this time.]

He could do worse. One tried to get me earlier, but I got away! They don't seem so strong. [Not to him, at least.]

[animusnpcs]

You should still be careful. All of you should. I don't want any of you to get hurt. [The filtering process doesn't take any longer than usual. Once it's complete, she unhooks and closes Sealand's collar.]

[bydefacto]

[Sealand nods, but otherwise doesn't reply to that. He's looking down at himself, frowning now, feeling the collar against his neck with his fingers.] I feel... weird.

[He feels like something important is being slowly pulled away from him, and some heavy panic is starting to set in.]

[animusnpcs]

Weird? [Aria frowns at him, looking him over as if she might be able to identify the source of the issue that way.] Weird how?

[bydefacto]

Weird...

[He shakes his head, and soon feels his eyes prick with tears as he realises what's going, what's nearly gone. He grasps at his chest, as though he can fill the hole with his own hand.]

What- I'm not- [He's unable to articulate exactly how he feels, or exactly what's gone.

Then he's crying, gasping for breath, quickly becoming hysterical.] What happened-?!

[animusnpcs]

What happened? [Aria echoes his statement and seems to feed off of his hysteria, though she rests her hands on his shoulders like she might want to hug him but isn't sure if it would be appropriate.] H-here, don't cry--or you can if it makes you feel better, but--explain what's going on, and I'll help.

[bydefacto]

I don't know...

[He clings to her shirt, regardless, eyes wide with panic, tears running down his face.]

My- I- I don't feel it anymore. My nation- It's not there! [He yells the last bit, and another sob escapes him.]

[animusnpcs]

Oh. Oh. [She pets his hair, trying to soothe him.] It's still there, it really is. Your soul's been--well, drugged since you got here. Now it's getting used to not being like that anymore, so it's adjusting. It's not permanent, you'll be able to feel it again eventually.

[bydefacto]

[He blinks at her, listening. Then shakes his head. He understands, mostly, but he can't rid the panic that's stuck in his gut the longer he goes without feeling what he's felt for decades.]

How long?

[animusnpcs]

A few days. You'll be able to feel everything for real after that, and it won't just be an illusion anymore.

[bydefacto]

Oh. [He still doesn't exactly look especially hopeful, but his crying has become nothing but small sniffles now. He wipes his eyes.]

And this- this is helping, isn't it? Getting proper powers will help us get Ruana and Jason and stuff?