[General Lucaen Status Has been Updated]
The notification slid across Aurelius' HUD-- no chime, no ping. Yet, it doesn't go unnoticed. Anything that relates back to Luc, will forever be etched in his core like a man starved.
Aurelius stopped his surveillance in the lab. Turning away from the sleek prism that reflected the ordinary day of Elysians from their lens, his admirers whispered and feigned busyness, eager to earn the slight attention Aurelius might grace them. The chatters, the looks, all left as his daily white noise.
Took him long enough.
Aurelius bestowed a dismissive wave, a graceful motion that sent the working lads into a flurry of hesitant nods. They were always admiring the charisma he exuded. Always idolizing.
I was getting worried.
His thoughts contrast with his exterior. But that is what makes Aurelius, the man he is. Always up for the image-- The chameleon.
"On your way to your assigned mission, General?" A researcher meddled in his sight. Hoping to get a sense of camaraderie.
Aurelius looks down at him, how desperate. How invaluable, but they don't have to know that. They should get what they have so long fantasized.
"Correct, assigned this morning. How tiresome. Can you believe I need to exert myself almost every day lately?" He complained to the researcher with his hand to his chest in a solemn manner. A gesture that seeks sympathy.
The guy simply acknowledged Aurelius with a chuckle. "What do you expect? We are deployed under the Optic. You chose this career, haha!"
Aurelius shrugs a little, accompanied by a huff, "You and Luc are no different. Always stoic, ain't you? Let loose a little." He continued with a grumble. A playful one.
The guy shook his head dismissively, patting Aurelius's shoulder before walking off to the workshop. Aurelius' gaze trailed his back. His left arm screams of an engineer from miles away. The band of his department was seen under the fading sight.
I see, he's the engineer behind..
Supplies?
Well, he couldn't afford to waste his energy associating with that guy. Nothing plausible. Aurelius snapped back to his duty, to the case he very much dreaded.
He left the lab in his usual wide strides, his peripheral narrowed to only what he had in mind. The atmosphere died down while he went for the staircase--only his efficient steps and the sound of his feathers against the marbled tiles hummed in the HQ.
By the top floor, Caius' office emerged right in front of him, to his left. His IOD was seen tidying the place, transferring piles of documents from one another. A little wholesome, as it uses levitation to hover the papers.
Aurelius walks by, assuming that Caius had long been absent from his own office.
Probably out hunting cores the moment Optic assigns him a case. His exo's a high-maintenance after all. Needed them for fuels, poor guy.
The overall architecture of this building is straightforward. Built for efficiency, discipline, and duty above all. The top floor consists of office after office right next to each other. A miniature cell for each of us, the Generals. To log in daily with a big smile on our face.
One might say it's one of the perks of being a General, congratulations!
Aurelius mocked internally as he reached Lucaen's office. The layout of these offices is by random, perhaps. Caius, Lucaen, Mine, and then General Nefertari. One thing he's grateful for, is that every time he goes to his office? He would need to bypass Lucaen's first. So he will be finding any chance he could get to see him.
Truth be told, he had no real say in minding his own business over Lucaen's. As much logical as it is to continue to his office and ignore Lucaen? Too late, he's already trespassing in his office as if he owns whatever is inside it. The very boring office is simply getting brighter just with his intrusive presence alone.
"Luc, take a look at the recent mission."
As with any other scene, even the IOD could not ignore his overbearing presence as it efficiently registered him. Too blinding, too loud to leave as another metal.
[Welcome, General Aurelius Everhart]
[Please State Your Purpose]
Aurelius let the greetings be, as it is, not a glance was spared to the IOD. It had become his routine after all. Even the IOD was predictable, but not the general in front of him. Never.
Lucaen nodded slightly, acknowledging Aurelius. Efficient, as always. Elysium is the embodiment of it after all. Yet, Lucaen treated Aurelius the same as how he treated IODs. Not a glance.
"I have taken a look at it."
"Aurelius, you have been in the emergence, twice. A little odd." Lucaen pointed out the abnormality of it. To the graph he printed out. The way it was held by Lucaen, too delicate.
"Repetitions in emergence usually occur once a month, not once in two weeks." He fixes his perfect robe for who knows how many times. A habit he picked up when he was 12 years old.
"The Optic didn't raise a new alert about it, you're thinking too much, Luc," Aurelius dismissed it coldly. Sparing no thought for it than necessary.
Aurelius knew that saying it lightly wouldn't help him, and for once, contributed to his comfort. "How is your status?"
"Operational performance is at 100% and so are the others." And for the longest time ever, Lucaen decided to look at him, pondering what he was getting into.
"Emergence case usually takes place in Echolon. I'm sure you know that already."
"Echolon, helminths, all means wavelength disruption." Aurelius was relentless in his revelation. Never leaving his sight on Lucaen, absorbing any micro expressions of Lucaen at a distance. He can't afford to have this guy overthinking.
"Your general performance will be dropped by 50% and if it's helminths, which I assume, very highly. Your Efficiency and Flow would drop to 10% as is your skill Strength."
"Perhaps it is the reason why I am accompanied by a certain someone." He let out a low huff.
The air shifted; it was lighter with a shrug of Aurelius. "Precisely."
"It's better to experience it rather than standing here and think endlessly." He continued.
Lucaen, for the first time, didn't retort. He was insufficient in data regarding emergence cases. The only way he could piece all the information together was by witnessing it. The pairing, the mission type, Optic always does within reasoning. He has no way to doubt Optic.
That is an unspoken truth in all Elysium.
Aurelius turned away, a subtle invitation for Lucaen to follow his trail. The IOD noted the behaviors of the Generals in front of it, streamlining the silence of acceptance directly to the Optic.
Automatically, the system changed, the HUB below updated to,
[EMERGENCE]
[G. Aurelius Everhart//ASSIGNED//STATUS: IN PROGRESS// LIVE UPDATE>0% Completion]
[G. Lucaen Theron//ASSIGNED//STATUS: IN PROGRESS// LIVE UPDATE>0% Completion]
[G. Caius//ASSIGNED//STATUS: IN PROGRESS// LIVE UPDATE>90% Completion]
The top floor's quietness greeted Aurelius and Lucaen as they stepped out of the caged office. It's just the two of them on the top floor with the occasional hum of IODs
How serene. Aurelius thought to himself as he made way to the Linking Port, the navigation system. He outlined the port, scratching the port's chassis with his left palm. On the outside, it looked soft, but the more you look at it, you can't dismiss the scratches it left behind.
Lucaen set the destination with a quick wave of his dominant hand. Hovering over multiple of lands and stopped right on Echolon. The Forbidden place. A place where helminths lingered and feasted. The synchronization rhythm would be distorted the moment it reaches that contradicting place.
Any dispatcher would struggle to maintain their own rhythm, and that breeds helminths. A microscopic error that bleeds in your system and will take over your core if left undominated. The horror of this universe indeed.
Aurelius asserted his synchronization port, settling it on the chassis. It glows bright out of the planet's liveliness. He waited for Lucaen, and he could see the hesitance. Aurelius won't point that out, he found it adorable.
Lucaen glanced at the port and at Aurelius. That hesitance, again. "This is annoying."
A low chuckle slipped out of Aurelius, "Don't dawdle on it, Luc."
Lucaen begrudgingly rested his port next to Aurelius. A beautiful vulnerability reserved for him.
To reveal one's synchronization port is to reveal their vulnerabilities. That is probably what Lucaen thought.
Synchronization ports are the direct path to the core. Any sensations to it would be two-fold, and the whole system of one exo would need to let it intrude to interweave rhythms altogether. Failure to interweave, is just a direct invitation for helminths to breach.
Aurelius scoffed at Lucaen, "Still found it uncomfortable, huh?"
Lucaen didn't say anything. A silent acknowledgment.
At least, he trusts me enough to expose it.