damned_institute | Day 62: Breakfast

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Day 62: Breakfast

A misplaced sense of familiarity met Barnaby the moment he opened his eyes, and the sight of the blank, white ceiling from yesterday morning greeted him. After rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, Barnaby sat up and felt around for his glasses. Had he blacked out again and wasted an entire night? Where was Kotetsu? And what had become of the man who had seemingly vanished before his very eyes at the end of dinner?

Once Barnaby slipped his frames onto his face, the world came into clearer focus, even if he didn’t get any answers out of it. He was in his room, and someone had apparently stripped him out of his street clothes in favor of the hideous hospital pajamas. Barnaby wasn't sure what he found more offensive -- that someone here had once again touched his things without his permission, or that he’d been undressed while unconscious for the second time since his arrival.

The thought made his skin crawl.

Just as he looked over to find a lump in the bed next to him, though, his assigned nurse came to retrieve him. He would have to confirm Klavier Gavin's whereabouts later. For now, he had no choice but to allow the nurse to escort him into the cafeteria. Strangely, she seemed to be under the impression that he and the other patients had slept soundly the whole night. While he might have assumed it was an act, Barnaby got the feeling that she genuinely believed what she was saying.

Regardless of her intentions, he knew she wasn't going to be any help. Instead of trying to ask her anymore questions, Barnaby left a note on the bulletin board concerning his roommate. If his observations from yesterday were any indication, he'd get some responses, at least. While he could have taken the time to leave something for Kotetsu, Barnaby didn't feel inclined to do so, especially when he knew he probably wouldn't check the board anyway.

He had no appetite this morning, but his nurse wouldn't leave him alone until she'd assembled a tray of fresh, fluffy pancakes for him. Honestly, Barnaby didn't see why some people felt the need to butt into his personal choices like this. At least there wasn't anyone forcing him to eat -- for now, at any rate. He sat down at an empty table close to the wall after setting his food down, privately hoping that she wouldn't try to find a "friend" for him to eat with this morning. He was tucked out of the way, so maybe she would forget about him for a few minutes as long as he didn't draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

Hands neatly clasped on the table, Barnaby didn't look at anyone in particular as patients filtered into the cafeteria for their morning meal. There were too many questions buzzing in his mind for him to focus on the names and faces of people he didn't care about. If Kotetsu wanted to find him, he could. It wasn't like Barnaby was going anywhere.

[For Kotetsu.]

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Loki was in a much better mood for this breakfast than he had been the previous one, though all things considered, that wasn't such an achievement. Still, the acquisition of books - even if they were rather primitive books and not precisely in his area of interest - was enough to put an extra little spring in his step. Not having something to read had started to prey upon his mind rather badly.

Notebook tucked under his arm, he followed the nurse to breakfast after bidding her a polite good morning that wasn't even too forced.

The pancakes looked interesting enough, though not on par with the waffles that had greeted him his first morning. He avoided the appallingly sticky syrup and covered the bready things with fruit, since that seemed reasonable enough. That and a cup of tea were enough to have him feeling downright cheerful.

Or as cheerful as Loki got when he wasn't yanking on the strings of some innocent puppet. But all in good time. Foundations, foundations, foundations.

He settled in at a table and started picking away at his pancakes while working on a new set of figures in his notebook. It would pass the time reasonably until Rita arrived. Hopefully the conversation with her would be like yet another well-deserved treat.

[Rita]

Rita awakened with a heavy mind, weighed down by all the new information received right at the end of the night. First was the Sphinx, warning them about a Coliseum of some kind, which hinted at what sort of trial awaited them at the end of the basement.

The second was the Head Doctor's ominous announcement. Putting together the pieces of what he said, Rita had a feeling she knew what he was getting at. And she didn't like it.

Fortunately, she was meeting Lingormr this morning, which would hopefully lead to a positive exchange of information. Rita entered the Cafeteria, acquired some pancakes, and was quick to find the man she was looking for. Pleased to see how punctual he was, she walked over and slipped into the chair across from him. Her tray and notebook were set down in front of her.

"Hey," was all she said at first, looking a bit tired. "You hear those announcements last night?"

Loki turned his notebook to a fresh page as Rita sat down, setting the pen on top of it. "Good morning," he said. He wasn't sure how he felt about the abbreviated greetings the mortals seemed to be using these days. But Rita seemed to be more to the point than most, which had its bonuses. "I did. Landel is sounding a bit dire, isn't he. Though I had hoped that someone with a bit more experience here might be able to tell me if that level of dire is at all unusual or not."

He began eating his breakfast in earnest since for the moment he wasn't trying to write at the same time. "But either way, he's making some clear and rather nasty implications, don't you think?"

If this was usual...? "It's hard to say. He's always made ridiculous rants and threats. But this time... it sounds like he's going farther than ever before." Rita was talking about it in a clinical, indifferent manner, but the truth was that she was scared. She jabbed at her pancakes with a fork idly as she considered the implications of the threats.

"That talk about animals, the 'antagonisms' of the night, becoming something more and something less... I don't like where it goes." As Rita thought, she recalled one particularly disturbing night that was possibly related to this new development. The drug trials the military performed... turning people into monsters... Did they perfect that technology, and were now prepared to inflict it on a greater number of people?

"Have you heard of anything to this effect while doing your research?" she asked, looking up from the pancakes to meet Lingormr's eyes. "Something like... a method of turning humans into something non-human?" It sounded like something that might fall into the field of 'manipulating biological matter.'

"Hm. So there may be more to it. I'd hoped he was just trying to play more head games." Loki nodded, eating a few more bites of his pancakes.

At Rita's next words, he set his knife and fork down with care. Automatically, he picked his pen back up, though he did not yet write. Rather, he tapped a light little rhythm on the page of his notebook as he looked at her intently.

The implications of her words were plain enough. And he'd wondered something similar, upon hearing Landel's words, but had dismissed that as a bit too paranoid of a direction to go when they were plainly being taunted, particularly when there were so many other possibilities. But with Rita bringing it up.

He cleared his throat, never looking away. "In our previous conversation, I told you that I had to... permanently see to a fellow practitioner of the arcane arts. What you speak of would be the reason why I felt required to do so." He allowed a slight frown to pull at his lips. "So yes, I'm afraid it is eminently possible."

Edited 2012-03-01 05:33 (UTC)

Rita took a few bites of her food as Lingormr spoke, but it was difficult to appreciate the sweet taste of her pancakes under such ominous circumstances.

So the mage Lingormr mentioned before had been performing human experiments. The thought made Rita's stomach churn, even if it wasn't such a big surprise. It was a fact that wherever there was dangerous potential within a field, there was sure to be someone tempted to exploit it. However, that wasn't the only thing she wanted to check with him about.

"What about doing the reverse? That is, if they really go through with this, would you know of any way to reverse the effects?" Rita would rather avoid such a thing in the first place, but if that was impossible, then perhaps it was wiser to prepare themselves for damage control.

Loki frowned slightly at that question, but he supposed it made sense. His previous conversation with Rita had certainly given him the impression that magic in her dimension of origin was a much more straightforward affair, very linear and results-oriented.

And well, to be honest, it was probably that was for most people in Midgard and even Asgard as well. But Loki was not most people.

"That's a more difficult question," he said, finally. "If you mean, is such a thing even possible, then yes. Very few things, having been done, are impossible to undo." He'd even read hints that death need not be permanent, that time need not proceed linearly, though those things were outside of his experience... as of yet. "However, at that point it becomes a question of if someone has the raw strength necessary, and if it comes at a cost they are willing to pay."

Loki continued to watch Rita intently, deciding on what his next words would be. He didn't particularly like having more than a few of his cards on the table, so to speak. It was normally best for him if people didn't know how strong he was, whether the strength in question was physical or magical. However, this was a moment for calculated risk. Rita was likely more worried about this possibility than she showed; if he offered a solution, however currently intangible, it might make her a stronger ally, and provide incentive for her and others to seek a way to rid him of the bonds on his powers.

Because really, if that happened, it certainly would change the game in general.

"And yes," he said, tone quiet and matter-of-fact. "If I had access to my native abilities, I would be able to do so."

Ugh. That was a pretty big if.

"So it's impossible with all our abilities weakened," Rita groaned. Regaining her magic abilities was a priority for Rita, but the chances of her succeeding before the Head Doctor carried out his plan were slim to none.

Was there really nothing else they could do? Maybe if they looked at it from another angle... "Do you know about the drug trials the military was performing on patients before?"

"I wish I had a more helpful answer," Loki said. "Unfortunately, unlike others I haven't even the barest whiff of my powers." His lips twitched. "Which I suppose is a smart move on the part of our captor."

He shook his head. "I know nothing of the military other than that they were here until the night before my arrival. No one's seen fit to furnish me with further details than that."

He didn't even have a little to work with? That was a serious roadblock, then. Rita had been considering the idea of finding ways to amplify their limited powers, or for multiple spellcasters to combine their power to allow for more effective spells... but without even a hint of magic power to start with, that wasn't going to work.

It looked like Lingormr was out of the loop when it came to the military, so Rita decided to fill him in on the relevant parts. "They wanted to test some experimental drugs, and offered rewards to patients who volunteered to be their lab rats. When they didn't get enough volunteers, they started grabbing people at random." Rita relayed the information with a bitter scowl. The methodology offended her both as an ethical researcher, and as one of the unlucky victims. "Many of the patients who underwent the trial experienced physical transformations, and some claimed they became monsters - temporarily, that is."

Which brought her to the point. "I was just thinking that Landel's scheme might be related to that research... or may even be the final product of it."

Loki's lips twisted. "Ah, the level of ethical thoughtfulness I'd expect from kidnappers..." he murmured.

He listened to what she said and remained silent for a few moments, staring at some point past Rita's left shoulder as his mind worked.

"I think your conclusion is well-supported," he finally said. "If the methods they will use are... chemistry-based... then we might be able to find a similar solution. Much more difficult than using magics, but not impossible. We have access to other drugs and presumably less therapeutic chemicals from supply rooms at night. I have liberated a pharmacopoeia from the medical library so we will know the formulae of what drugs we have access to. We can endeavor to craft our own antidotes, though a great deal of experimentation will be required."

He glanced down at his own hands. Turning people into monsters... he wondered what was to be done about those that already were monsters. He considered his own feelings of horror and denial; who else might soon be feeling the same thing? And it seemed somehow unfair, that this was a thing that could be done to others, and also a thing that could possibly be cured, when there would never be a cure for Loki.

Loki gave his head a little shake and pulled his attention back to the matter at hand, looking back up to meet Rita's eyes. "The methodology by that route will by necessity be crude, but I suppose it is better than no potential solution at all."

Edited 2012-03-03 16:31 (UTC)

Hm. So Lingormr had a foot in that field, as well. It wasn't surprising, since magic and chemistry crossed paths at many points. "There may still be samples of the experimental drug in the Medical Wing, too." She sighed then, not able to keep any sort of optimistic front. "Of course, with limited time and tools, our capacity for studying it and developing a cure is..." Basically nil.

They'd spent a lot of time on this topic, but there was something else Rita needed to touch on before they ran out of time. She always kept her word, after all.

"... Anyway, I told you I'd give you this," she said, abruptly changing the subject. Her utensils were set down for a moment, and Rita opened her notebook, tore out a page containing a detailed formula, and slid it across the table. "That's my spirit conversion formula. I included some definitions as footnotes, but you can ask me to clarify anything now, if you like." Since many parts of the formula were specific to Terca Lumireis, Rita didn't expect it to be fully understandable to an outsider.

When broken down, the formula described the process of converting aer into mana, using apatheia as a core in which the conversion took place. The variable representing Estelle, who had been vital in directing the flow of aer, was defined vaguely as 'a being or object that may directly influence aer'.

"Hm. That would be worth looking for," Loki said, making a mental note. He could go back to the medical wing this night, perhaps, now that he knew where it was. There was still quite a bit of it that he hadn't explored with Kratos the previous night. And if there were samples of that sort of strange drug there, they were definitely worth having for a variety of reasons.

He smiled. "Do your best to have faith in our ingenuity. Limited time and makeshift tools will simply make for a greater challenge." Really, he knew he could find the solution to any problem, given enough time. For the moment, he had no reason to feel particularly urgent. It was one more interesting solution to work on while the larger game unfolded.

Loki took the sheet of paper and began examining it closely. "Ah, thank you!" He scanned over the formula, checking the definitions in the footnotes. "Elegant," he commented after a minute, then began reading through the equations again. "This factor..." he tapped the variable for the 'being or object that may directly influence aer,' "how difficult is that to come by?"

It seemed Lingormr was much more optimistic than she was. Rita wasn't sure how much she could agree with his confidence, but... well, at least they had something to work with.

Lingormr was quick to identify the intentionally vague definition, which reaffirmed his competence to Rita. Her reasons for leaving it vague were twofold: firstly, to protect Estelle, who had already been exploited for her power before, and secondly, to allow for possible future inventions that could be used for that purpose.

"At the moment... it's extremely rare. I told you before that humans can't influence aer without blastia, but there's one exception to that." She paused to take another bite of her pancakes, considering her word choice. "There's a single bloodline of people who can manipulate aer. I was able to use this formula with the help of one of them."

Loki nodded. "I understand. Such a rare ability it not one that should be advertised." He re-read the sheet of equations again. "I wonder what in particular for that bloodline allows for that. In my own experience bloodlines have always proved somewhat hit or miss, but things may well be different between our worlds."

Though that wasn't quite true. Loki had been the odd mage among warriors, but he also had been adopted. Not that his blood relatives were great mages either. His lips twitched at that thought, the barest hint of a frown.

Looked like he caught on to one of Rita's motives, too. Rita gave a small shrug. "I don't know a lot of the specifics, myself. It's possible that there were more people with that ability in the past, and only one family survived into the present day." The historical record detailing the sacrifice of the 'Children of the Full Moon' left no specific description as to how many died and how many remained, after all.

Rita paused to think some more, but her thoughts were disrupted when the intercom buzzed to life once again. She gave the nearest speaker a frown, then looked back to Lingormr. "Looks like that's all the time we have. Let me know if you find out anything new."

Loki nodded. "Plausible."

He glanced up at the ceiling as the intercom turned on again. "So it seems. Thank you for this." He carefully folded the sheet of equations and tucked it in his notebook. "I will keep you informed."

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Day 62: Breakfast

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