Five sets of ears all dipped down, deepening to different levels of blue as Pearla came in. She had clearly just showered, but the clothes she wore bore a chaotic pattern of wrinkles and dust. She also looked like she had been rushing about to get here. Still, she looked better than when TO had seen her last. Last time they saw her, she was still wearing the uniforms they had in the indebted center, and her face still had all that strange makeup that Mira used to make her look as though she had died.

Frankly, seeing her look so much healthier and happier made TO feel such relief.

“Pearla!” Snout said, stepping back and keeping their distance from her, “I… I thought you’d still be occupied-”

“Yeah, well...” She shrugged, “Desperate times and all that.” She mutters.

“Does this mean that GiDi’s available?” TO asked, their ears lifting. Despite their anger, if GiDi was free, then they’d be able to talk to them, and get some answers. They’d also be able to convince GiDi to tell DH about the whole situation with the failsafe themself!

If GiDi did that, then TO could talk to DH about it.

Pearla shook her head, a flush covering her face. “GiDi is… Resting.” She said, “Sleeping, and not to be disturbed.” She gave a glare which even TO and the others could understand meant that she would not be answering more questions about the subject.

Snout leaned against the opposite wall from her, an almost ridiculous distance away from the purple toned Nagarajin. “So.. what brings you here?” They asked, eying her as though she was something dangerous.

She sighed, “Well,” she said, “Lendulin messaged me-”

“Lendulin?” Snout asked, “That woman who paints?”

“Lendulin, the Delphinian woman, my friend. Yes.” Pearla said, sighing, “You two need to get out of your room more and meet more people.” She shook her head. “She messaged me, telling me what happened with the civilians, with Beck.”

TO felt their ears dip, guilt and embarrassment and shame hitting them all at once. “I… I’m sorry.” They said, As angry as they were at GiDi… if half the things they knew so far about the Enkavma were true, then they had just caused GiDi some serious issues. Pulling a Chilacian’s mate away from them during Enkavma was, apparently, a problem.

At least, the file they were reading, which was apparently written for children, said never to interrupt or bother a couple when they were experiencing Enkavma. They hoped it wouldn’t cause any really severe problems.

“It’s fine.” She said, then she stopped and frowned. “Well, it’s not fine, but it’s not your fault.” She came over to the table and leaned against it, giving a smile that seemed somehow sad at the same time.

Facial expressions without ears were hard.

Flit and Snout seemed to edge away from her further, but TO paid that no mind.

“Look.. I was pretty hostile to you too, at first.” She muttered. “Even though I couldn’t show it. I couldn’t really get angry at you and call you a horrid synth, because I had to act like I didn’t know!” She sighed. “Do you know how scared I was then? I had only just gotten involved with all this because of GiDi, and suddenly I was trying to pretend to be friends with synths?” Her face suddenly paled. “I mean… I didn’t know you, so-”

TO shook their head, “It’s fine.” They said, It made them feel a little better about their own deception to Lendulin and Petra.

She sighed, “The point is… Everything that’s going on? What happened in the dormitory? It’s not your fault.” She said, “They’re afraid of synths, and for good reason! But they don’t understand that you’re not really a synth!”

TO blinked at her, her words rattling in their head as they stared.

Not a synth.

It was something they had been wondering about, of course, the definition of what they were, and where the line between Chilacian and synth was. Were they a synth, or were they Chilacian? When they were spending time with DH, their limbs twined, their hearts racing, they felt nothing like a synth! They didn’t feel like a synth when they watched shows with DH and Avery, with their family, either. But when they worked, when they organized, and came up with plans as they tried to fulfill an objective, they felt very much like a synth.

What made her so sure they weren’t one?

“It’ll take some time.” She continued, “But just let the others talk about you. Myself, Lendulin, Petra… the ones who actually know a little about you, and what you and DH went through in training. If they know…” She sighed, “Well… at the very least, they’d have some sympathy for you, and wouldn’t get so aggressive.”

“What exactly happened?” Flit asked, having been silent this whole time. “With the civilians?”

TO was thinking primarily about the hostility they had been enduring the whole day, but Pearla was apparently thinking of something else.
“Our friend from the Indebeted center, Beck, got into a fight with TO.” she said.

TO’s ears dipped and pinned back as they recalled what happened. They looked up at Flit and Snout. “She drew her claws on me.” they said.

Avery’s eyes went wide, horrified as this was the first time they heard this. Flit and Snout’s expressions matched Avery, but DH, who had seen it happen, just looked angry.

Pearla, however, seemed exceedingly confused by their reactions.

“Oh, right.” She said, “Yeah, I forgot Beck had claws, but…” She looked at the others, “.. Ok, I know it’s rude to claw someone up, but is it that big of a deal?” She looked at TO, her eyes glancing over them over, “It doesn’t seem like she got you-”

Silence fell in the room, lingering for long minutes before Flit cleared their voice. “Among synths… that’s one thing you do not do.” They said, their ears slowly returning up from their horrified position, “Drawing your claws on someone…”

“It’s the ultimate sign of aggression.” Snout said, their own ears lifting as well, “It’s one synth telling another, ‘I want to hurt you badly.’” They frown. “We prevent our trainees from doing that.”

“I got in trouble once for drawing my claws, but not using them.” TO admitted. “But.. that was when Kei started talking about how GiDi and DH wouldn’t make it through training…”

“And… and someone we knew got corrected.” DH said, gesturing to their face and the scars on their skin, “They actually clawed me…”

As DH mentioned being corrected, Pearla’s face paled. “I… I forgot all about that.” She admitted. “About you guys getting corrected.” She looked from TO to DH, “I… I see. So, given that, you’d consider that if someone like Beck drew her claws-”

“It would be considered highly aggressive.” Flit said.

“Right.” Pearla said, “... So TO throwing her in an arch over their back and dropping her like a sack of rocks is a… measured response?”

Despite the situation, Flit gave a brief chuckle. “Well done…” they said to TO, their ears perking up with pride. When Pearla gave him a sharp look, they shrugged. “What? I bet she was fine, mostly.”

Pearla scoffed, “Well, she was, but she was terrified! She’s not a light person, you know! She’s solid muscle and has two extra limbs!”

“Well, our training teaches people to use their own weight against them.” Flit said as they flash TO another smile, “Well done.” they said today, “You always were good at hand to hand.”

Pearla glared at Flit, but Snout cleared their voice. “Our trainees would consider someone coming at them with claws to be dangerous.” They said. “So, yes, I’d say it was a measured response, and that it’s a good idea they don’t have their multi-gun on them.”

Pearla’s eyes opened wide. “They’d have shot her?”

“Stunned her.” Snout said firmly. “A multi-gun has several settings. Putting it on a lethal setting right away for a single unarmed civilian wouldn’t be the initial response of any well-trained synth.”

Pearla shook her head. “Ok…” she says, taking a deep breath, “Well, we’re going to have to tell everyone that.”

“I’d rather not-” Fit said, but Pearla held up her hand.

“If they don’t know, then they’ll think that TO’s reaction was a massive overreaction!” She frowned. “And someone might do it again! You know, we don’t really think much about people ‘drawing’ their claws here. It’s not such a big deal. Clawing someone, yeah... but not just drawing their claws.”

“Wait.” DH said, “I lost an eye when I got clawed! Scratching people is dangerous! And you don’t get concerned when someone draws their claws at you? What about when someone actually claws you?”

She shrugged, “It happens, but it’s not considered a big bad thing. It’d be a dick move, about the same as punching someone. But if someone aimed for another person’s eye, yeah, that would be bad.” She looked at TO, “I’m sure nobody would expect you to toss them over your head if they just drew their claws around you! They should know. For their safety.”