Seikou is settled on a rooftop, looking rather annoyed as he polishes one of his armguardy things (which is off for it, of course). He can't believe Signas let someone like -that- be a Hunter...

Variance looks much less annoyed, though something still seems to be troubling him from within the deepest recesses of his conscience. He doesn't look like he's paying it much mind, though. In fact, he doesn't seem to be paying much mind to -anything- at the moment.

Seikou finally finishes and puts the armguard back on, finally looking down at Variance. "Hi, Vari-kun..."

Variance perks up momentarily and regards Seikou with a nod and short salutation(yes, that means he said something, it's just a cop-out as to what. >.>). He then idly looks to bits of his own armor, considering doing something of a cleaning job of his own.

Seikou sighs and drops off the roof, landing easily as usual. He walks over to Variance and settles on the bench besides him, letting a sigh escape him. "...I don't suppose you've met our new fellow Hunter yet."

Variance immediately stifles the quickly-rising urge to dig his glaive's blade completely into the ground at the half-question. "Oh yes, I've had the -pleasure- of meeting Fortissimo." Naturally, 'pleasure' alone is dripping with enough sarcasm to fill a small warehouse.^'

Seikou says '...At least he bothered to give you his -name-. He just called me a girlybot and said I couldn't fight. Until I succeeded in pinning him, of course.'

Variance tries to force himself to relax, a certain action on his behalf going almost wholly unnoticed... His left hand reaches to his neck, something no one has seen him do in quite a while...

Unfortunatley for you, Seikou decides to go back into "worried-mother" mode at this point. "...Vari-kun, are you OK?" he asks.

"Yes, fine," Variance quickly assures, forcing his hand back idle at his side. A sardonic little smirk crosses him, followed by an equally sarcastic laugh. "Though I don't think a reploid's ever had a hot flash before."

Seikou grins a little at the joke, but he still looks worried. "It's just that... I saw you touch your neck, and the last time you did that... was... well..."

Variance nods, trying to look reassuring. "I know, I know. It's not nearly as intense as it was back then, it's nothing to get worked up over."

Seikou nods. "...Alright. If you say so. But tell me if it gets worse, OK?"

"Of course." Variance again nods confirmingly, inwardly thankful that the miniscule strain of the Virus hadn't flared up again. Of course he was wondering why it had reacted to Forte's mention, but it was something he could contemplate later.

Seikou sighs and pulls out the music box again, staring at it in silence for a moment before speaking quietly. "...I wish Aura would come back... Especially since..." He trails off, still just staring at the box.

Variance averts his gaze momentarily, a flash of memory flickering to the forefront of his mind. Aura... Hoping, asking amethyst eyes turn to the endless horizon of the sky, his whisper barely affecting the air around him...

You say 'It's all up to her...'

Seikou says '...I know. And I know she needed to do this... but all the same...'

Variance hasn't honestly expected Seikou to hear him at all, but the fact that he didn't become hopelessly melancholic assured him that maybe he -has- truly recovered. There was no doubt in his mind that Seikou missed Aura immensely, but at least he'd held onto enough hope to not lose himself in the separation.

Seikou seems to want to say something else, but he can't bring himself to say it... He's not even sure yet, and it wouldn't do any good to scare Variance... But he does look even more worried.

Seikou looks over at Variance and finally decides it's worth mentioning. "...Anou... Vari-kun... I..."

Variance surfaces from his thoughts, perhaps slightly caught off-guard. "Hm?"

Seikou says '...Yesterday... I... thought I felt the Virus for a moment...'

Variance's look of off-guardness(bleh) increases three-fold at the confession, but is quickly and violently replaced with a sort of minor agony as he goes for his neck again. Despite the force of it all, he manages to recollect himself, though he still tries to subdue the burning pain around his neck.

You say '...I see. But it was only for a moment...'

Seikou nods, staring at the ground. "...Hai. I think the music box is mostly keeping it at bay... but..."

Seikou says 'If Aura stays away longer...'

You say 'You'll be fine, just try not to think too much of it. Worrying about its presence is only bound to make things worse.'

Seikou nods. "I... I guess you're right. I'm sorry to worry you..."

Variance offers a dismissive nod, being a little too annoyed over his strain's sudden re-emergence to offer much more than that. "It's alright, at least you got it out."

Seikou suddenly grins, but it's one of the bitter ones he sometimes adopts. "The Hunters consist of two infectees, two utter jerks, and Signas who never cares to show up. Isn't it great?"

Variance takes on a similar grin of his own, though his particular brand of distaste looks a little less apathetic. "Yes, it's just lovely."

Seikou says 'Ah well. It's not like there's any Mavericks anymore, as best I can tell...'

Variance idly goes for one of his water containers, starting to uncap it as he speaks. "They've been quiet lately, yes, but they can never truly be taken out of the picture."

Seikou shrugged. "I'm half-hoping one shows up soon. I'm getting bored..."

Variance pauses to consider the thought, then offers a resigning, somewhat sideways nod in reply. "I can't say I feel the same about dispensing death on Mavericks as a form of stress relief, but I know what you mean."

[ Free City, Truce - Fountain ]

All is without further incident since the last lightshow, no further sparks of color becoming plainly visible at all.

Seikou says '...Is it over...? Maybe Aura's not here...'

Seikou starts to collapse into depression again, one hand absently reaching for the music box of joy.

At the silent notion of the possibility of music, another green spark flashes in the air, mere inches in front of Seikou's face. Lasting, again, only for not even half a second.

Variance half-shuffles his way in from the western border, looking a -bit- brainfried(overclocked?) for one reason or another. He gathers enough sense to look out over the area around the fountain, still a bit too out of it to speak...

Seikou pauses for a moment then nods, flipping open the music box and letting the notes fill the air. He fails to notice Vari-kun, barely daring to breathe...

Variance keeps every word he was planning to articulate to himself upon noticing the momentary flash of light. He doesn't look half as expectant as he should, though considering his state of being, it's no wonder he thought he was seeing things.

Seikou just listens in silence, eyes closed...

Seikou opens his eyes again and half-falls backwards onto a luckily nearby bench. "...What was that all about...?"

SniperJoe limps into the center of Truce, his head twitching visibly. His single eye glows something fierce, though.

Seikou blinks and looks up, distracted from the events of before. "...Sir, are you OK?" He -still- hasn't noticed Vari.

Variance turns to regard the obviously damaged newcomer, starting to regain more of his lacking consciousness as he takes a step towards him. Naturally, he looks a -bit- concerned, and he'd say something if Seikou hadn't beaten him to the punch.

SniperJoe stops suddenly and snaps his head toward Seikou, staring fiercely but saying nothing.

Seikou subtly inches backwards on the bench. The entire cyclops thing -is- fairly creepy... "Uhm, sir?"

SniperJoe grabs the hilt of his sword, twitching more as he begins to speak in his raspy, metallic voice. "You.. will put it back!"

Seikou looks even more worried. "Put what back...?"

Variance immediately releases his glaive from its resting place on his back, running to stand between Seikou and the quite deranged Sniper Joe...

SniperJoe draws his sword, swinging it at Seikou in one smooth, powerful motion! "Do not feign ignorance!" He misses by several feet thanks to his lack of depth perception, though.

Seikou quickly climbs to his feet and kicks at Joe.

SniperJoe is knocked backwards, but throws his sword at Seikou as he is floored! (presumably hitting nonlethal hilt-to-head style)