After 4 months of debating, a consensus has finally been reached by the Instruments
Half a year ago, the incident now dubbed "The Erasure of Pertice" sparked outrage throughout the Spinet continent.
Countless restless citizens took to the streets to spread awareness of the incident. Their goal... to pressure the instrument into adding preventative measures against situations related to the Slette
Finally, after months and months of outrage, the Instruments finally made an announcement today.
A new subsidiary of the department of disasters that goes by the name VANISH was established.
"Hey Ren, Rekka, how are you both doing?" A man with pitch-black and dark amethyst eyes asked softly as he entered the room.
"Wow, looks like they finally caved" the black-haired man said as he glanced at the television in the room, not looking too surprised by the news that was announced.
In front of this man were two technologically advanced hospital beds, and on them were two of their most recent and long-staying patients.
Both patients had the same red-orange hair and warm orange eyes, a pair of siblings, older brother and younger.
"We're doing well, Uncle!" A girly voice answered with enthusiasm.
Next to the window, the younger sister, Rekka, lay sideways on her own hospital bed, hugging an elephant plushie that was half her size in between her arm, her eyes instantly drifting away from the television to the entrance of their private hospital room as a voice they're familiar with sounded.
"Yes, we're doing alright, Uncle Kanum" a teenage male voice responded in a composed voice.
Next to her sister, closer to the entrance, the older brother, Ren, sat on his hospital bed with a blanket draped over his legs as he watched the television provided to their private hospital room, without looking away even as their uncle entered their room.
"Hey, Ren and Rekka! I brought you guys more presents." A young boy with sky blue hair and obsidian eyes no older than 8 squeezed in between his father and through the door to get into the room.
The boy's face was bright and cheery, and when he entered the room, it almost looked like the room was coated with another layer of light.
"Hey Shry!" Rekka answered cheerfully.
"Hey Rekka, I got you another plushie!" Shry stated before pulling out an odd-looking, penguin-like plushie from his marine blue bag.
Unexpectedly, without any warning, Shry tossed the plushie at Rekka; however, that didn't surprise her in the slightest, as she immediately caught it with ease, seemingly used to this kind of outcome, like it was a routine.
"This thing is amazing! Is it from a series?" Rekka said, astonished by the new plushie in her hand.
"I don't know, but I'll try to find related ones for you!" Shry responded happily, satisfied with the response he got.
Getting up from her hospital bed, with the plushie in hand, Rekka got off on the right side and walked in a U shape, looping to the left side of her hospital bed.
In the corner of the hospital room the siblings were currently occupying, specifically to the right of Rekka's hospital bed, lay a mountainous stack of plushies that reached halfway to the roof.
"Careful, careful... There we go!" Rekka mumbled as she slowly planted the plushie she just got, adjusting it until it finally stabilized.
However, contrary to her expectations, she planted down the plushie, the plushie mountain began to rumble, and incidentally some plushies moved from their places.
It was then that something hidden within the mountainous stack of plushies was revealed.
Lying within the creases of the pile was a dirty backpack with the head of a familiar cat plushie poking out of it, tucked away deeply in the pile like someone was desperately trying to conceal it.
*Badump*
For a moment, after seeing it, Rekka's eyes widened, but she quickly suppressed that feeling, regaining her composure, and began to frantically reorganize the stack of plushies, sealing it from the outside world once again.
...
After that, Shry turned his attention to the other sibling in the room and began rummaging through the same bag, trying to find something.
"Oh yeah, Ren... I didn't know what to get you, so I bought these." Shry said jovially as he finally pulled out the thing he was looking for.
In Shry's hand were two color-coded toy cars, one white and the other black with dozens of fiery patterns on it.
"Oh ho, you should know what I want, though," Ren responded teasingly.
"Hmph, I can't have you getting stronger, can I!?" Shry scoffed playfully, emphasizing his last words.
Shry had known Ren for all his life, so it is only natural that he knows what his cousin's interests were, even though they don't come across each other very often usually.
However, during the past 6 months, ever since his cousins were admitted to this hospital, meeting up with them became as easy as walking to a convenience store since the hospital they're staying in is near their home for obvious reasons.
(I'm glad they're feeling better now.) Shry thought as a soothing feeling ran through his heart.
Ever since the day Shry was first allowed to visit them, he had been coming almost every day. And oddly, every time Shry visits, he somehow always has gifts for them, which eventually stack up so much that it builds up and transforms into a mountain, a chimera of all the things he had brought at the corners beside Ren and Rekka's respective hospital beds.
"You're welcome to challenge me anytime." Ren said warmly, genuinely happy by Shry's presence.
Through Shry's efforts, Ren and Rekka's moods had significantly increased, as both of them made the conscious effort to at least act happy, as they didn't want Shry to be dragged down by their gloominess. Thanks to that, a bond had slowly formed between the three, intertwining their fates, sewing a string into place in the hyperbolic cloth of fate.
"Let's play next time. I'm busy today; these presents don't come without a price." Shry cheerfully stated.
"I actually got something for you too, Dad!" Shry cheerfully exclaimed,
Reaching his hand into his bag again, Shry pulled out a comically large spoon, not just a flimsy one, though. The spoon was clearly crafted with care, too much even, especially because it's more of a prop than something actually functional.
"Ooooo, not bad, we might be able to use this for the next theme." Kanum took the spoon from his son as he complimented
Hearing that, Shry's mood seemed to improve by 10 times, as a pang of excitement grew within him, reading in between the lines of what his dad said, coming to the conclusion that their bimonthly redecorating day will be coming soon.
"Oh yeah, we're going to have to leave soon; little Shry here has an appointment." Kanum suddenly announced
Hearing Kanum's announcement and putting it together with what Shry said earlier, a look of curiosity dawned on Rekka's face, seemingly ready to ask a very important question.
"I've kind of been wondering for a while, but... what kind of appointment does Shry have? It happens so often that... it's getting me worried." Rekka asked in concern.
"Oh! It's a bit hard to explain, but it's not anything bad—" Kanum said without ending his sentence, as he planned to elaborate.
"You should already know about Shry's resonance path situation, right?" Kanum asked Rekka
"Yeah... for some reason, the Resonance Hall didn't respond to Shry, so his resonance path is not determined yet. You and Auntie were the ones who told us about it," Rekka stated the information she knew.
"Yup, and the reason why Shry is always so busy is because the overseer of the Resonance Hall we went to constantly has him going back there so he can study what the problem is."
Kanum took a breath before he continued.
"Apparently, from what I know, the overseer, Hytile, also keeps Shry there because it somehow helps him study the resonance hall and Node itself."
"Isn't that a bit sketchy?" Ren asked, cautious of this Hytile person that he just heard about.
"It's fine, I don't really know how or why, but all he needs is for Shry to be there, and plus, he also gives Shry a generous allowance, which is where he keeps getting these gifts from," Kanum explained.
"Uncle Kanum..." Ren muttered, somewhat shyly.
"Ask me anything; you don't have to worry about a thing." Kanum stated, sensing Ren's incoming question.
"Where is Aunt Shelt? You guys always come together, and I never see you guys apart," Ren asked, slightly concerned.
"Oh... she's finishing the final touches of her job change, and I was sent out here so I can airdrop Shry to the Resonance Hall." Kanum answered and moved his hands like he was dropping a cat.
...
"Aren't you the new machine architect that transferred from the new science department?" A womanly voice sounded, trying to get the attention of a certain crimson-haired woman.
The room was made out of several cubicles lining the walls, each with their own assorted mess organized by their users to suit their individual taste and workflow.
In the middle of the room was a giant workbench with dozens of miscellaneous parts of a machine that seemed to be in the works, scattered around in an organized manner.
At one of these cubicles, specifically the only empty one in the room, stood the woman with crimson hair with a box in her hands.
After hearing someone's voice seemingly calling out to her, she turned around and faced the doorway, revealing her beautiful, lonely eyes as she scrutinized the only other person in the room.
"Yeah, I am... What's up?" Shelt looked around the room for a moment, but just like she expected, there was no one else in this room other than her and this mystery woman.
The woman's eyes were like a sunset, with it blending warmer colors, and her hair was short and straight, colored golden brown, only reaching down to her shoulder. Oddly, though, in the middle of her hair, behind her head, there was a small collection of hair that was far longer than the others, like she tried to cut her hair on her own but was never able to reach that part, so she decided to run with it instead.
The woman looked a bit out of place in this workshop because her outfit was more casual than something practical. She wore a beige coat over a black shirt and long grey pants, cascading around her body free-flowing, leaving a gap in the middle open, which gave a full view of the clothes she wore behind it.
"Don't you start tomorrow? Why are you here today?" The mysterious woman questioned with a neutral face mixed with a hint of curiosity.
"I just wanted to get my workstation set up early so I can start work immediately tomorrow." Shelt responded as she went back to getting her cubicle ready for her work without looking away from the mysterious woman who greeted her.
(I don't want to waste time), Shelt secretly thought.
"Oh, that's great! But why are you in such a rush?" The mysterious woman said in a genuine tone as she cupped her hands in delight.
"It's for my son; I'm willing to do practically anything for him... I would even kill God if I needed to," Shelt said in a monotone voice.
Shelt looked serious through and through without any signs that she was joking around, even though she looked pretty goofy while doing so, because her hands were moving frantically like a tornado, trying to organize everything as fast as possible.
"Ah... Are you serious?" The mysterious woman muttered in a strange way, her face twisting to express her confusion.
"Yeah, the part about me doing this for my son at least... The part about me killing a god, though, is a joke." Shelt answered in the same monotone voice, with the only identifiable difference being that she articulated her words with a barely noticeable sarcasm.
"So the part about killing a god was a joke... right?" The mysterious woman muttered to herself, accidentally glossing over the fact that Shelt is doing this for her son because of how jarring her statement about killing God was.
After that, Shelt turned away from the mysterious woman and began organizing the more intricate items that require her full attention, but there's still a clear indication that she's listening and paying attention to the mysterious woman.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Hesra Yourne, and I'm the supervisor of these facilities, but you can call me Hes." Finding herself at the dead end of their previous conversation, the mysterious woman decided to introduce herself and continue from there.
Hearing this, Shelt had a sudden realization.
(Oh, I forgot to introduce myself.)
"Uh, hello, Miss Yourne... Sorry for not introducing myself sooner."
As Shelt spoke, she gracefully put down a flathead screwdriver before respectfully turning her body back to Hesra, standing upright and slightly stiff.
"My name is Shelt Spark, and I'm looking forward to working with you." Shelt introduced herself formally.