damned_institute | Night 61: Medical Library

It was nice that they hadn't been forced to break any doors down so far, although Sora realized that that probably wouldn't last forever. The further they got into the medical wing, the more doors were going to at least put up a fight when they wanted to get through. He was going to enjoy this while it lasted, then.

This library was far different from the one that they were usually allowed in. That one only had fiction, stories that were interesting but untrue. These books held information about diseases and how to set a bone and things like that.

"Some of this might be helpful to other patients," Sora remarked with a tilt of his head. "Do you think we should take a few with us? We have to choose carefully, though, since they look kind of heavy." And Kairi was carrying a sword on top of it all. It wouldn't be good if they were ambushed while weighed down, even if they did always have the option of dropping the books and leaving them behind.

Kairi continued to look over the book titles, nodding her head as Sora brought up perhaps bringing a few of them with us. "That sounds like a good idea," she nodded. "We might be able to give it to someone who knows about this kind of thing. I'm sure there must be a few healers left here. They should come in handy."

But .... how will the carry the books. Kairi looked down then, wishing she had brought a bag or something to use to carry, and she pursed her lips.

At least Sora had one hand free. And she could always turn off her flashlight, should it call for it. One light in the darkness was plenty.

"Let's see," Kairi whispered, pulling out a book at random. It was heavy. "Perhaps ... if we could find something about ... hm. Everyone goes through something different in this horrid place," she mumbled. "It's hard to pinpoint what could be the most useful."

Kairi brought up a good point. Between the experimentation and all the other sorts of monster attacks that happened here, they would have to cover a lot of different injuries. Sora realized that they were limited in what they could take, though, which meant going for the simplest options.

"The most common injuries are probably bites and scratches, right?" he asked as he searched another part of the room. "So we should probably try to find something that's about dealing with stuff like that."

After a bit more searching, he came across a book about treating wounds in the middle of battle. It was clearly meant for some sort of medic in the army or something, but that actually applied pretty well to them, didn't it? People here weren't going to have a whole infirmary at their disposal when treating wounds, after all.

"How about this?" he asked as he picked up the hefty book, moving over to Kairi to show it to her.

Kairi looked at the book Sora held out, frowning down at it as she took in the implications. It was a good book to pick, she knew, but the fact that it made it sound like they were in the middle of a battle ..

Well, she supposed it was true. They were fighting for their lives, after all.

"That sound work," she told him with a nod of her head. "And considering it's quite large, it should be enough ... unless you think we should get another?"

Kairi turned back towards the books then, frowning as she looked at them all. There were so many and she didn't even know where to start. She supposed it would be better to actually just pick one. She didn't want them to take more and the staff to notice something was amiss.

"I think ... that is good," she whispered, deciding with herself.

Considering what they were both already carrying and the fact that they still had other rooms to search, Sora was pretty sure that one book would be enough. Like Kairi said, it was pretty big one, so there was probably more than enough information in just this one.

Still, he waited patiently as Kairi gave the room one last look, nodding when she decided that what they had was enough. "Yeah. Besides, if we find anything interesting in the file room, we're going to have to carry that too."

He tucked the book into the crook of his free arm and then moved back toward the door. There wasn't much reason for them to stick around in this place now that they'd grabbed what they were looking for.

[To here.]

[From here]

When Kratos voice no objections, Loki covered the short distance to the door of the medical library, feet quiet and swift. He stopped and listened into the room before entering.

Oh, and there were books. While it was nothing close to the relief the return of his magic would be, just being around books unwound a small coil of stress from his heart.

Loki smiled, for a moment the expression almost boyish, and went to peruse the titles. There were of course more books in the library than would be all that useful, but he mostly require basic information and should be able to extrapolate the rest from there. He didn't want to make assumptions about the anatomy of mortals, other than knowing it was pathetically fragile.

"Even though you're thousand years removed?" Kratos asked as he entered the library himself, moving off to stand by the door rather than examine the shelves himself. While he had no aversion to books - reading had always been a habit of his - he had admittedly very little interest in the content of these books, which seemed more focused on medical particulars and required more time to examine than he was willing to give.

Plus, he had already been here before.

"I suppose you have your work cut out for you, then."

Loki shrugged as he plucked one book from the shelves and began to page through it. "I'm certain that things have changed a great deal in the last thousand years. One might hope for the better. The scientific and mathematical advancements alone... if necessary I could happily hole up in a cave with a stack of books and never emerge again if I find the company too dreadful."

After paging through the book a little, he shook his head and stuck it back on the shelves. Loki scanned the titles again and tried another, paging through until he found a few diagrams of knots being tied in sutures. He unzipped his coat and checked the suture kits, then nodded to himself and set the book aside to be kept. "Tell me a few of the names of those medicines you took, if you please." He began scanning he shelves again, looking of a pharmacopoeia.

"And yes, I hope that I do have my work cut out for me." He grinned, still looking at the book titles. "I relish the very prospect."

The man was certainly difficult to pin down, but one thing Kratos was starting to suspect more and more was that Lingormr had joined the club for its resources alone, not for the purpose of helping it achieve its goal, although he could see the man treating that as a sort of pleasant side-effect of his efforts. In describing his plans, he had made no indication of including anyone else; they all seemed to be rather singularly focused. It was also clear that he was picky about who he worked with, and was willing to be flexible and pragmatic in his choice of company.

Neither were bad traits necessarily, just...potentially problematic in an environment that demanded that people set aside personal reservations.

"So I assumed," Kratos said wryly as he retrieved one of the vials he had appropriated from his pocket. He directed his flashlight onto the label, squinting to read the neatly printed black letters. "'Ketamine'." The vial was replaced and another taken out. "'Propofol'." And then a third. "'Sevo...fluorane?'"

"Thank you." Loki paged through the index of one book, shook his head, and returned it to the shelf. He chose another and located the drugs Kratos had mentioned, turning to the appropriate page for one to check the usefulness of the information. "Hm. This will do." He set the book aside with the other he had already chosen, then regarded the shelves critically. "A general volume on anatomy might also be of use," he said, almost to himself, and began hunting through the shelves again.

As he searched through the titles, he said, "I am still working on methods by which we might transmit coded messages on the bulletin board for Soma. I hope when she finds them sufficiently well developed she will pass them along. I am also considering the equations for how we might have been brought here across space and time, though those are limited use since there is so much guess work involved at the moment. More a curiosity than anything else, really." Loki pulled a book from the shelf, flipped through it, then shook his head and put it back. "Are there any other projects I might undertake that would be of general use?"

He plucked another book from the shelves - Gray's Anatomy - and looked through it. "Ah, lovely." He glanced at Kratos. "Do you wish to return to your home, once your freedom's been won?"

Edited 2012-03-02 15:55 (UTC)

"I'm sure your work on any issue or phenomena in this place will be considered of general use. Not much is known, and few have spared the time or energy to truly think about such things." Scholars were a rare breed here; he could only think of Rita at the moment. Raine might have had a field day talking to Lingormr were she still around, but alas, the Professor had disappeared over a week ago and left him the only one.

And ah, the question that had haunted him through his early days in the Institute: did he want to return or not? At one time, Kratos might have actually hesitated in responding: his part had been played; he had been planning to leave anyway. Returning to the twin worlds wouldn't truly mean anything. But now...now that he'd had some time to think about it and to realize exactly what he would be abandoning...

"I do," he said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall as he waited. "It is not an uncommon desire."

"I suppose," Loki said. "I'm sure I'll come up with a useful direction for myself once I've collected enough data. But do let me know if you think of something. While I don't mind losing myself in books, I do like to feel useful." He smiled thinly at the book in his hands as he closed it. "It was not a thing I experienced often, in my home. I look at this as a second chance."

He set Gray's Anatomy with the other books and began to hunt through the shelves once more, though he paused and turned toward Kratos. "It isn't an uncommon desire at all," he agreed. "I admit to feeling a certain amount of envy. But it serves as a reminder that finding a means to send those who wish it home is an important task." There was no bitterness in his expression for a moment, only a certain amount of sadness. "What or whom awaits you, Kratos? If I'm not prying too much."

I do like to feel useful. That was an interesting thing to add to his report, although he wasn't sure if Lingormr was being sincere about it or not; it was difficult to tell.

"Familiar surroundings." As if that answered anything, but Kratos felt no need to elaborate upon the concept. There was a certain level of trust that needed to be achieved before he would start revealing those kinds of things, like the fact that he had a son to whom he owed nearly fifteen years' worth of overdue affection and time, and the only person who had ever been entrusted with that particular secret had disappeared from the institute weeks ago. Even then, Leon had not learned by his own choosing; Lloyd's existence had been revealed through circumstance.

It wasn't as if he was lying, either. He did feel more comfortable in the twin worlds, where his mana was unrestricted and where the technology, the customs, and culture were all those that he knew well.

Well, it seemed he'd run up against something that Kratos didn't want to talk about, but was apparently too polite to just tell him off. Interesting. "I suppose there's something to be said for the familiar."

And really, he'd gotten the distinct impression that Kratos likely had a certain amount of respect in his home, and a feeling of place. He supposed he could hardly begrudge someone that. Well, actually he could but it wouldn't be a constructive thing to do at the moment.

Loki pulled another book from the shelf and began to page through it, then shook his head and discarded it.

Since Kratos' answer made it clear that he would be prying if he asked further questions, for the moment Loki remained silent, reading across book titles and considering if any of them would be useful.

Ah, good, Lingormr had taken the hint, as unsubtle as it had been. He was sure the man understood, that it was a matter of privacy--and paranoia, to some extent, although that would remain unacknowledged.

The conversation had ground to a halt of sorts, and Kratos would have been content to let it remain thus, but unfortunately, someone had asked for a report, and that meant that he could not let any opportunity pass him by. What to ask, though...

"There is," he said with a slight nod. "Even if you are overly accustomed to it, you start to wish for it if you are away for too long." Kratos paused and then added, "Perhaps it is my turn to pry. Is there truly nothing left for you in your home?"

Ah, he was wondering when Kratos would get around to asking such questions. He'd been trying to build his own little trail of bread crumbs for the man, but it was really better this way. "Nothing," Loki said. "I have broken with my family. I found I was nothing but a pawn to be used for their political schemes. I--"

For a moment, he fell silent, leaning forward to rest his forehead against the books, his eyes half closed as he composed himself. Even spoken of in the abstract, it still hurt like an open, bleeding wound. And it still stirred the raging madness that left him lightheaded.

He pressed his lips against the feeling, face twisting with pain. After a brief struggle, he regained control of his expression and stepped back, once more looking at the book titles, even if the words didn't really reach his mind.

"All whom I once knew no doubt think me dead. I prefer it that way."

All at once, Kratos regretted ever asking this particular question. While it had certainly been enlightening (--he hoped; it could always be a ruse, as cynical and terrible as it was to think that), he felt as if he'd crossed some unseen boundary. It was the boundary of business, the invisible tract that stated that only those things crucial to maximizing efficiency needed to be known, and that personal details were to be saved for a more appropriate, later time.

Actually, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that this told him nothing. Sora would not be hearing a word about this because it could skew the entire report. The point was not to present Lingormr's life story and pitiable details that Arts and Crafts' young leader would no doubt be drawn to; the point was to present an unflinching, objective report regarding the man's conduct, personality, and potential within the club.

That didn't mean, however, that he couldn't offer any sympathy, as hideous as he was at it, as guarded and hesitant as he was with it. It seemed expected, and Kratos Aurion the slighted, banished knight of yore did actually relate to Lingormr's story, as distant and long ago as his memories were.

"That is regrettable." If Kratos had been affected in any way by what had just been revealed, his voice betrayed none of it, remaining as even and calm as it had been before. "My apologies for reminding you of unpleasant memories."

Loki laughed softly, still not turning to look at the man. "If only it were long enough ago to simply be memories."

He shook his head. "I... thank you." He had a feeling Kratos was not accustomed to saying words such as that. Whatever they were worth, he at least owed the man some acknowledgment.

Loki began to pull another book from the shelf, though he hesitated, tracing one finger down the spine. "I have made friends here, I hope. I... never thought to find others with which I have so much in common. That only makes brighter the truth that there is nothing for me any longer in my home." He smiled. "And though I know I will eventually be bereft when a way home for those who wish it is found, that fact also firms my desire to help."

It was a pretty speech, to be sure. Some small part of Loki wished it was something other than the artifice of a created personality. Perhaps it was. At this point in time, it didn't matter.

Yes, it was a pretty speech, but Kratos had heard his fill of those throughout his long, overextended life, and thus would have been highly unmoved by it even if Riku had not told him earlier to be wary around Lingormr.

"A noble conclusion," he said. It did certainly sound noble, regardless of his opinion of it, although he knew that if he had been the one to say that sort of thing, a certain person would be more likely to punch him in the face than applaud.

Loki snorted derisively at Kratos' comment; he knew when he was being patronized. Rather than say anything else, he simply shrugged and continued to look through the books. He pulled another volume from the shelves and began to page through it, scanning over the pictures and descriptions of procedures carefully. After some thought he discarded the book, but went hunting for a similar volume.

Night 61: Medical Library

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