Ukusik

[Code Name] Ukusik

[Gender] Female

[Brawling Experience] 1 year

[Place of Birth] Ursus

[Date of Birth] Jun 1

[Race] Liberi

[Height] 147cm

[Infection Status]

Originium crystals distributed across surface of body, confirmed Infected by medical examination.

[Physical Strength] Normal

[Mobility] Standard

[Physical Resilience] Standard

[Tactical Acumen] Normal

[Combat Skill] Normal

[Originium Arts Assimilation] Standard

Ukusik, formerly of the Grypherburg underground society 'the Unbound'. She joined the Grypherburg branch of Rhodes Island at Operator Zima's recommendation, and works in intelligence gathering and first-aid. She receives regular Oripathy treatment and general education at Rhodes Island HQ at the request of Leto, who serves as her guardian.

Imaging tests show the indistinct outlines of internal organs, obscured by abnormal shadows. Originium granules detected in the circulatory system. The subject is confirmed to be infected with Oripathy.

[Cell-Originium Assimilation] 8%

Originium crystals are visible on Operator Ukusik's limbs and torso, along with chronic skin lesions. Imaging tests reveal presence of a small amount of Originium crystals in her upper respiratory tracts.

[Blood Originium-Crystal Density] 0.27u/L

Ukusik suffers from organ damage from untreated early-stage Oripathy, contracted from an extended period of manual labor in high-Originium environments without proper protection or treatment. She has been cooperative with treatment since arriving on Rhodes Island, which has improved her condition.

Her mother died on a dirty bed after giving birth to her. Her father died in a gambler's alley after abandoning her.

At the age of three, she was 'recruited' into the Grypherburg pipe cleaners with other children her age, crawling through pipelines filled with Originium crystals with nothing but a rope and a steel brush taller than her. Growing up in the cramped and hot pipes, she soon grew used to the darkness, but never her peers' unanimous silence. She saw far too many tiny creatures that died in the pipelines, and collected the hard, round shells of insects like wealthy children collected jewelry.

The 'Captain', an old man missing at least one tooth, collected the wages from their employer and gave them a few measly pieces of rye bread, drinking the rest of the money away—as old Ursines in Grypherburg are prone to doing. One day, he got drunk and forgot to lower the rope ladder for the children waiting in the pipes.

She saw her peers trample each other, fighting for breathable air higher up, most of them suffocating from inhaling an excess of poisonous fumes. She saw... that the lips of the dead children were ripe and red, and their faces a 'healthy' rosy color, forming what resembled a happy smile.

She survived by climbing over their corpses and breathing what little fresh air came in through the gap in the hole cover.

She was barely conscious by the time the old man woke up and remembered them, but she had to wait for him to haggle with the pipeline manager before he would open the cover.

The old man went down into the well himself, too cheap to hire cleaners. She awoke on the ground above, and gazed down coldly at the man's figure, the smell of alcohol still wafting from him...

She closed the cover, locking the old man in with the dead, then walked away—What? Don't ask me. How am I supposed to know where she went after that?

You thought I was talking about myself? No, 'she' is a friend of mine. Her name's Sveta Goreva. My name's Ukusik. It's not the same at all.

—Excerpt from 'My Best Friend', Operator Ukusik's impromptu presentation at her writing class's end-of-course party

The black fowlbeast that followed Ukusik to Rhodes Island caused a bit of commotion when she first arrived. She swore she had set it free outside Grypherburg, and had no idea how it followed her here.

The fowlbeast had no name. Ukusik insisted it was not her pet and denied any responsibility for taking care of it. She was also completely unaware of its rarity.

[Entry Name]: Rare Northern Black Fowlbeast

[Distribution]: Mostly seen in Ursus's Far North mining district and the edges of Sami's southern pine forests, occasionally appearing near the routes of nomadic plates.

[Rarity]: Very Rare

The Rare Northern Black Fowlbeast is a medium-sized sedentary fowlbeast, with adults reaching around 25-30cm in length. Its body is covered in dense, matte soot-black feathers. It has a short and strong beak, and its eyes are typically yellow in color. Tiny Originium fragments are often found on the edges of its flight feathers. It is unknown whether this is a symptom of Oripathy infection, or the result of its unique metabolism.

The Rare Northern Black Fowlbeast is able to mimic environmental sounds, particularly industrial noises. It is unclear what purpose this mimicry serves. Perhaps it is simply a form of play.

Due to its rarity and cautious nature, taking a clear photo of one has become a popular challenge for fowlbeast photographers.

—Encyclopedia Ursinia: Rare Flora and Fauna (4th Edition)

[Audio Log]

I'm recording this so people will stop asking me how I got it!

First, I didn't 'get' it. It just landed on my head when I was crying for Matvey! Maybe it wanted to drink the salt from my tears.

No, I don't know anything about its habits. I've never seen it eat or drink, and it never lets me know before it leaves to do whatever it does. I'm guessing it has a nest next to some factory furnace, because sometimes it feels hot to the touch, like charcoal, when it shows up.

Imitating sounds? Is that a thing it can do? All I remember is that one time I dreamed about two people talking about complicated things, saying stuff like 'this land is a glass sphere lying upon an opaque black velvet blanket'... When I woke up, it was sitting next to my bed staring at me, cocking its little head.

You want to take a photo of it? Suit yourself, just keep me out of it. As for the guys who fainted, better luck next time.

Shortly before Ukusik's arrival, some fowlbeast photography afficionados amongst the operators had learned that there were potentially Rare Northern Black Fowlbeasts nearby.

They quickly formed an expedition to conquer this highest peak of fowlwatching. After a week in the wilderness, Operator Scene was the first to get a photo of the beast. Though the quality of the photo was far from her usual standard, it was more than enough reason for the expedition to celebrate—that is, until they returned to the Rhodes Island living area and saw a dozen operators surrounding Ukusik with the fowl perched upon her shoulder, taking photos with anything from cameras, to personal terminals, to even security monitors. Several members of the expedition fainted from a combination of shock and fatigue. Scene managed to maintain her composure, though somehow forgot to remove the lens cover when someone invited her to take a photo of them next to the haughty Rare Northern Black Fowlbeast.

Something seems... different about the fowlbeast on Ukusik's shoulder. Did you notice how it doesn't have any Originium fragments on it?

—Member of photography expedition

[Registration Application Log]

Time: 1102-■-■ 13:21

Applicant: Leto

Request: Change Operator Ukusik's registered guardian from [None] to [Leto]

[Audio Log]

What d'you mean, 'respect the child's wishes'? Wait, wait, that's not what this is about—I'm not her mom, I just want to make sure she's taken care of, and that there'll be somebody to pick up after her when she gets in trouble at Rhodes Island.

What do you mean 'she hasn't gotten into trouble yet'? Hah, just you wait.

—Leto

[Audio Log]

No mediation! This has nothing to do with her not letting me eat candy before bed... This is a life and death matter! It looked like she almost punched Antosha's soul out of him! How could I not be mad at her? Yeah, I know she protected me, but that’s a different matter.

Anyway, I don't want her as my guardian!

—Ukusik

[Application Review]

Time: 1102-■-■ 09:01

Reviewer: HR

Decision: Operator Leto's application for guardianship of Operator Ukusik has been rejected due to opposition from Ukusik herself. Her guardianship will be decided at a later time.

[Communication from Operator Zima]

Stop humoring the girl, and stop letting Leto humor her either!

There's a lot of work to do at the Grypherburg office. If she doesn't want Leto as her guardian, you can put down my name. But tell her that if my name's on the form, she'll have to be my sparring partner too.

P.S. If you can get her to open up, ask her how Leto managed to get through the pipe... those two just wouldn't tell me!

[Registration Application Log]

Time: 1102-■-■ 23:33

Applicant: Ukusik

Request: Change Operator Ukusik's registered guardian from [None] to [Leto]

[Audio Log]

Like I said, she's not a bad girl. She just doesn't get the complicated stuff yet, like why friends might get into a fight with friends, or why a family member doesn't come back home... Me, when I was her age? Hah, I was so much more mature than she is!

Is this where I sign?

Wait, what do you mean by dormitory hygiene violations? Has she been hiding bugs in the sheets again?

Damaged goods at the Procurement Center... Teacher-Guardian meeting for missing her writing lesson homework... Get your butt over here, Ukusik!

—Leto

At the Doctor and Amiya's request, Medical arranged counseling for individuals involved in the Katorga Incident, but Ukusik steadfastly refused to talk, dodging questions with jokes, feigned crying, and acting cute, refusing to face her trauma—for which we could hardly fault her.

The turning point came on the second day of the new year, when Ukusik came to the counseling room of her own accord on her day off. She picked the lock, sat down on the sofa, and started talking to the furniture.

We are unsure whether she intentionally turned on the interview recorder, but the camera and microphone worked, and they recorded everything that happened.

[Audio Log]

...I didn't tell you about the house, did I?

I asked Yura and the others. No one knew how a poor kid like Matvey managed to build his own house. But the day they were released from jail, it was Matvey who told the expelled and... what's the word again... disenfranchised students to come with him. They built new floors and even a courtyard, and the place became the headquarter of the Unbound. They had other bases later, but eventually they went back to that house...

Matvey said there were rumors that the place was used to bury dead people, which was why it was left empty, but all he found when he was digging the foundation was a few Originium scraps—nothing to be scared about.

Oh, yeah, Originium. Antosha saw the rocks on me from the start, but no one said anything. I used to think that black rocks were the dirtiest, but after hearing them talk about all the amazing things the Infected have done, I began to feel like black rocks were the cleanest. Nothing to be afraid of.

I learned that Matvey died in the lockdown zone in 110■, and ■■ just told me the latest news about Antosha a couple of days ago. What would Matvey say if he were still alive and knew what Antosha is accomplishing? Maybe he'd say, 'Our friends are walking the right path.'

I think that's from a song. I heard Matvey hum it to himself when he was sharpening a knife in the kitchen in the sunlight, when I was sorting stolen coins by value on the table. Whenever Antosha came back, the first thing he did, whether he was hurt or not, was call out the names of everyone in the house. Matvey never answered back, only nodded—it was a strange feeling. I don't even know what to call it, because it all seemed so strange.

How long did I spend in that house?

Let me think, November, December... Wait, just forty days?

No, how could that be?

Just forty days...

But it felt like—

'Why are you staring at me like that?'

'You're hurt.'

'This? Nah, it's nothing, just a little cut on the finger. Nothing to get your feathers ruffled about.'

'Sounds like you've been through a lot.'

'I've seen lots of people die... Bet you didn't expect that, huh? Hehe.'

'There's no need to force yourself to smile when you're sad.'

'I feel weird, like there's something in my head—did you do that?'

'No need to be scared. I just helped you smooth over your emotions. You should feel something different now.'

'I feel like my cheeks are hot.'

'Anything else?'

'My nose is tingling.'

'Is it the smoke from the new year fireworks?'

'No, it's because... bad things happened last new year... Why am I telling you this?'

'There's nothing strange about it. We're both Liberi from Ursus, and we both happen to be sitting on the same bench at the new year's party.'

'It's so hard being a Liberi in Ursus...'

'Almost as hard as it is finding a quiet corner at the Rhodes Island new year's party. There's joy and excitement everywhere.'

'That doesn't sound like something you'd want to get away from.'

'Then why are you here?' The older Liberi gently stroked Ukusik's hair with her mechanical arm.

Ukusik pouted, saying, 'I keep feeling like I shouldn't be happy.'

'I see. You know, there's a saying that a heart has two rooms. Happiness lives in one of them, but she's always worried about being too loud and waking up Pain who lives next door.'

'Hm? That's not what they tell me in my general education courses... But keep going...'

'But in truth, when you feel happy, you don't know what's living next door. Maybe Pain has already moved out. Maybe it's just an empty room.'

'Maybe, but how can I know for sure?'

'Well, what we need is a key.' The older Liberi gives her a small badge with a big smile on the front, an antenna on top, and a word etched on it.

'Courage.' Ukusik reads it aloud.

'Courage is the key. Open the door to the next room and maybe you'll find that it's empty. That no one's there to scold you for laughing too loud, and that you can put all the words you wanted to say but never got to in there.'

The older Liberi looks up. 'Oh, my teammates are looking for me. I should head over.'

'Wait! How do I find you again if I want to talk?'

'Don't worry, I'll find you first,' the older Liberi smiles. 'Besides, do you see that antenna on the badge I gave you? You can talk to it any time you want.'

Ukusik ran her finger over the 'Courage' badge, and suddenly got the urge to talk to the tables and chairs in the counseling room.