Pain Management

[srwuga_npc2]

[1]
[Locked to Felicita.]

White Chalice is close to the Orsini Industries lab. There's a call just for you, on the live video feed - and guess what, it's your mother!

[2]

White Chalice received a huge data packet, sent over a secure line.

Its contents: engineering data related to construction of PEX-001 Deva. No more blackboxes and information classified by the VIPs, now you have access to it all. Of interest is the description of the Putri System:

On itself, it does not cause the terrible side effects that Felicita suffers from each time she is piloting. No, this is because of the mixture of drugs and other chemicals she takes during combat. However, Putri System overloads the pilot's senses and may quickly cause long-term insanity and dementia. The drugs, unpleasant as they may be, are administered to prevent that.

As of the moment, they have run really low. And the only way to restock them goes up in flames...


Moments later, all communication with the Orsini Industries science facility is lost. It turns out there has been an explosion. Its causes - unknown, since the facility was not supposed to be operative at that moment.

There are few confirmed casualties. Colomba Arlotti, Felicita Arlotti's mother, is among them.

[3]

Confront Felicita about this? Needless to say, the girl is very distressed at the moment. Crying her heart out... the pretense of staying strong in the face of all hardships she had to endure, all gone.

Comments

1

[runners_low]

Mother...?

Mother! Is it really you? It has been so long...

[srwuga_npc2]

"Yes, Felicita."

The feed shows Colomba, at a computer, quickly typing something up.

"Orsini Industries received your combat data. It was enough to come to a decision."

"I have just finished sending over Deva's schematics to the White Chalice."

[runners_low]

Then... does that mean?

3

[alwaysmyturn]

[There are things Neptune is just bad at, and then there are things she's hopeless at too. This situation is the latter. It doesn't help that the mission she was on didn't go all that well either.]

Um...

[She's already got tears of her own welling up, but still tries to keep herself composed. That of course means she can't bring herself to say much. She does approach though...]

[runners_low]

Sniff...

[Felicita realizes someone is there.]

Go away.

[alwaysmyturn]

Even if you tell me that...there's no way I can just leave you like this.

[So she does exactly the opposite, and sits next to you.]

That's just -not- how it works.

2

[azure_savior]

[Josh is looking over all the information... and you know what? He's not even halfway through it when his fist hits a wall.]

What the hell?!?

And someone was intending to mass produce that deathtrap?!?

Re: 2

[lastfeather]

It wouldn't surprise me. To those in power, a weapon can be a weapon - regardless of any dangers.

[azure_savior]

And a weapon as dangerous to its user as the people on its business end? The Deva wasn't even that amazing a machine even compared to some of our mass produced models.

Who would want it made in the first place?

3

[gurrenbrigbonded]

Matthew has no idea what having a mother figure–much less one who killed herself in front of you–is like.

As a result, every comforting word and statement he comes up with sounds hollow in his head.

So he decides to come in, sit next to Felicita's bed, and simply be there, waiting for her to talk when she's ready.

[runners_low]

Why did it... why always me...

[Her words are interrupted by sobbing.]

[gurrenbrigbonded]

"I do not know." Matthew says honestly.

He pours out a glass of cool water from a pitcher and holds it out to her.

"It is not because you deserved it, Felicita Arlotti. Believe that, if nothing else. Our world would be a far different place, if the people in it received what they deserved."

3

[paladin_robot]

[...Richard stares blankly at Felicita a few seconds, standing at the door. This was not a good week, it seemed...]

Hey...

[And despite any protests she might have, Richard is gonna make his way inside and... lightly, gently, hug the poor girl.]

I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.

[runners_low]

It's... it's...

[Felicita feels so weak and vulnerable to the touch. This time more so than even before.]

Just... why...

[paladin_robot]

I don't know. I'm sorry, I just don't know.

[Richard had seen the blueprints... So that gives him some idea, but its suspicions more than anything else.]

Just... let it all out, okay?

3

[saikyocivrobo]

Do you... Want to talk to anyone?

[runners_low]

...

No.
Go away.

1/2

[saikyocivrobo]

Alright.

...I'm sorry. Nobody deserved that to happen to them, and especially you.

2/2

[saikyocivrobo]

[Werter leaves... But someone else stays. And is staring at Felicita now.]

3

[themomentoftherose]

Oenone puts her arms around her patient and offers her shoulder to cry on. She'll analyze the situation later. Right now, Felicita's just a girl who lost her mother.

[runners_low]

[If someone talked to her, Felicita would probably respond - negatively.

But since all Zero does is offer a comforting embrace, she will make the best use of this offer by crying to her heart's content.

Which is a lot.]

[themomentoftherose]

Zero rubs her shoulders until she's done. Orsini industries are scum, but they're ordinary scum. Banal evil. For Colomba Arlotti, a special hatred.

Already she's trying to think of what can be used to substitute for the drugs Felicita takes...

[3]

[lastfeather]

[The last person anyone would have expected to turn up was now standing by Felicita's bed. The look on his face betrayed no real emotion really...]

So this is it then.

[He's giving her a mild look.]

Your life is over. Just like that?

[There was something almost annoyed in his tone.]

[runners_low]

What... else can I do now?

Cue cries of 'WHAT THE FUCK RYOU!?'

[lastfeather]

Life is suffering. Every chance it can get it'll bite into you, tear your soul apart more and more until you feel you can't take it anymore.

And that's what you're feeling right now. Isn't it?

Like your whole world, any future you think you had, your hopes, your dreams. Everything was torn away from you and the whole world just watched from the sidelines.

[Well. That was very comforting. Good job Raven. Ryou's back is to Felicita as he leaned slightly against the bed.]

When you ask someone else this question instead of yourself. There's only one answer another person should give. The same answer life would give. Die and make room for someone else if you think you're so weak and can't go on.

[How cruel and completely callous. To be totally expected from someone like him.]

So let me ask you. What else can you do now?