Night 64: X-Ray Room

[damned_intercom]

As soon as the patients entered the dark room, the first thing they might have noticed were a couple of short bursts of static from the intercom. But no voices or cryptic messages greeted them.

Instead, their eyes would undoubtedly be drawn toward the strange picture of a human stomach carefully painted onto the southern wall, its paint casting an eerie green glow that cut into the darkness.

Although the artist had done their best to make the picture as clear as possible, they had apparently decided to leave a sharp kitchen knife perched on X-Ray table to compensate the patients for their troubles. Hopefully whoever picked it up would be able to make good use of it and the clue created for them.

Comments

[lighthearted]

If Sora hadn't already been paying attention to Link's ears, he probably wouldn't have noticed. But since he was, he caught the way that they twitched upward for a second and had to hold back laughter. It was just so neat, how they could convey Link's mood in a weird way. Sora definitely couldn't wiggle his ears like that!

"Only Hylians...?" Sora didn't know what these goddesses and sky people were all about it, but it sounded like the sort of stuff that would have a long explanation, which meant now wasn't the best time. (On the other hand, no one else had showed up yet and they'd been talking for a while...)

"So what other kinds of people live in Hyrule, then?" Sora would have thought it would only be Hylians, but maybe others had moved in from different lands or worlds. Every place worked differently, which was why he never hesitated to ask questions like this.

[his_legacy]

Link was more than willing to keep talking about his home, especially if it meant distracting Sora from the grim "solution" they had discovered on the wall.

"Well, there are other humans, as well. Descendants of the Gerudo Tribe, who are from the desert, as well as people from other places altogether. And there are Gorons, people who live on Death Mountain. They're miners. Big, friendly folk with sturdier bodies than humans. And the Zora live in the West, aquatic people who can live both on land and underwater. They guard Hyrule's water supply." To him, all of these things were completely commonplace, really.

"Oh! And I met a family of yeti, once!"

[lighthearted]

From the sounds of it, Link really did come from a very interesting place! There was definitely a range when it came to the worlds people were from, and Hyrule was already falling closer to the top of the scale, at least based on Sora's own preferences. He wanted to see all the things Link was describing, the Zora (were they like mermaids?) and the Gorons and everything else.

Unfortunately, Sora had been here long enough that he knew better than to say something about how he might get the chance to see it someday. At this point, he would be happy enough just to find his way home. Holding out hope that he could visit everyone in their home worlds seemed pretty unlikely. He was still going to keep it in mind, of course, but he didn't want to get Link's hopes up.

"Wow, that sounds really neat! And I guess you've been all over, huh?" They definitely had more in common than Sora would have guessed at first. "This place... probably doesn't seem like much in comparison, but there are some interesting people to meet, at least! That's the only good part. Well, that and the food." Everything else, though? Sora couldn't say a good word about it.

[his_legacy]

"More or less... I've never seen a place like this, though. The technology is completely different." Link took another glance around the room.

"I'm assuming it's common for people from various worlds to be pulled here, then?" He was never one to shy away from meeting different kinds of people. Even across Hyrule, (as was already clear to Sora) Link had had the chance to see all sorts of different cultures and species. Perhaps once morning came, he would get a better look at the other patients.

"Good food is always a plus, though. That was always scarce on the road." He smirked at Sora, ears discreetly twitching up again.

[lighthearted]

"Yeah, the technology is pretty new for some people, but for others this all seems pretty primitive." Sora glanced around the room. They hadn't had anything like this on Destiny Islands, that was for sure. Still, after all the traveling he'd done, he'd been forced to learn fast, and so something like an X-Ray machine didn't seem that strange to him. He was more comfortable with magic than science, but...

At Link's question, Sora looked back toward him and nodded. "Yeah! Practically everyone is from a different world, but there can also be multiple people taken from one." Plenty of people he knew from home, whether it was the islands or the large variety of worlds he'd visited before coming here, had ended up in this place at some point. "Not necessarily, though, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too much," he added with a slight frown. While it would be great if Link could be reunited with his friend here, Sora had met plenty of people who were never joined by people from home. Then again, maybe that was a good thing.

It was true about the food, too. Sora had never known when his next meal would be coming when he was out traveling, and while most people had been generous, there had definitely been times when he and his friends had been forced to get creative.

[his_legacy]

Link's mouth fell slightly open in thought when Sora mentioned people coming here from the same world. He hadn't thought of the possibility before this moment since he was so focused on the task at hand. What if they brought Midna here? Or Zelda, or Ilia or Rusl, or any of the people he loved? There were monsters and disease and a madman controlling it all, and Link wouldn't be able to protect them without his equipment...

"I would be getting my hopes up that they don't show up here... I don't want any of my friends dealing with something like this." Link glanced up at the writing on the wall. "Even if it meant seeing Midna again..." She needed to be in the Twilight Realm with her own people. She had earned that peace.

[lighthearted]

That sentiment was one that was easy enough for Sora to understand. While he'd spent plenty of time hoping to see friends here, he realized how selfish that was. It was just that for him, he functioned so much better and could be so much more with friends at his side.

But that was why he'd done what he could to make more friends here. People like Tsubaki -- and even Link, now. "Yeah, you're right. It's better that they're out of harm's way." If they ended up here, they'd only remain captured or get brainwashed, after all. There were worse fates on top of that, like what had happened to Renji and Daemon, but Sora was doing his best not to think too hard on that now.

Sora glanced at the door they'd come in through, wondering if anyone else was going to find this place. He let out a sigh and turned back to Link. "So, any other questions for me? You'll get a better idea of things when morning comes, but..."

[his_legacy]

Link nodded. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if one of his friends came here and got hurt, or worse, because he had failed to help.

"Well... Why don't you tell me about where you come from?" He offered Sora a mild smile. Despite the fact that he needed to know more about his present situation, Link didn't feel like talking about it right now. At least, not with Sora. It certainly wasn't anything against the younger boy. He just seemed like the type who would rather focus on the good than the bad, and with the jarring reality that faced them upon entering this room, Link figured lighter conversation would do the Keyblade Master some good.

[lighthearted]

It was an odd thing to ask, especially when Sora could only imagine that Link was filled to the brim with questions about this place and why they were here. He'd covered some of that during dinner, but he'd really only skimmed the surface.

Still, if this was what Link wanted to talk about, then Sora wasn't about to complain. It felt surreal to be hanging out in a random room chatting about their past lives, but it wasn't like he had the energy to do much else. They'd made it this far, and that had been his main goal for the night, even though he wasn't too happy with what he'd found.

"Well, where I'm originally from is a place called Destiny Islands. It's... about as relaxed as you can get!" he explained, smiling to himself as he continued to stare up at the ceiling. "It's a small group of islands, and really, people's lives there are pretty uncomplicated. For most of my life I was just living my life there, going to school and playing with my friends, but a lot's changed since then." A whole lot.

[his_legacy]

Link honestly wasn't particularly worried about being in the institute- not yet, anyway. He'd been thrown into his fair share of seemingly impossible situations before and come out victorious. He was determined to do it again.

"That certainly sounds familiar..." Link said with a smile. He had never been to school, but he had lived life as a simple ranch hand before the Twilight curtain nearly stretched into Ordon. Then, just like Sora said... a lot changed. Link liked to think that he had grown from it all, though.

"Do a lot of people go to school where you come from?"

[lighthearted]

Familiar? So it sounded like there was even more that the two of them could share. Sora smiled, lifting his head up for a moment so that he could make eye contact with Link.

The question that came soon after made it clear that their situations weren't exactly the same, though. Link sounded surprised that he'd been to school, whereas for Sora that had just been expected. Of course, his studies had been cut short due to having more important things to deal with, and he really had no complaints there.

"Yeah, I guess so! Every kid is supposed to go until they're old enough to start working," he explained. "Our parents needed to make sure we had something to do while they were working during the day." Of course, that precaution hadn't always stopped Sora and his friends from getting into trouble. It wasn't his fault that most of his classes had been boring!

"Why, did you not go to school?" he asked in return, sitting up so that he could fix Link with a curious look.

[his_legacy]

Interesting...

"I was taught to read and write properly, but other than that, the Ordon isn't big enough to warrant having a schoolhouse. Then we can learn a trade if we find a proper mentor, I suppose. I spent my time training in swordsmanship and working on the ranch." At least, until he had left for the rest of Hyrule.

"So I guess I didn't have a formal school like you seem to. But I learned what was necessary."

[lighthearted]

What Link was describing actually made a lot of sense to Sora, and he nodded along as the other boy explained. "I think that's better, actually! I dunno, I learned a lot of stuff that... I wasn't sure why I was even learning it, you know?" Like math. Being able to add and subtract stuff was important, maybe, but past that he just didn't see the point.

Still, it made sense that different places would handle it in different ways, and Sora had at least gotten to know his friends through his classes. Then again, he figured he probably would have come across them anyway, since Destiny Islands was so small.

"So Ordon is the place that you're from?" he asked. It had a ranch, at least, and Link had been able to learn how to use a sword there, so it couldn't be too small.

[his_legacy]

"Math is mostly reserved for architects, I think... I can add and subtract and such, but nothing special." It simply wasn't necessary. A traveling swordsman rarely had to stop and calculate equations. "You never know, though. Someday you might be thankful for knowing it. It certainly can't hurt." He wasn't about to jump at the opportunity to learn something like that, though. He may be intelligent, but mathematics... weren't exactly his area of expertise.

Link nodded. "Yes, Ordon is my village. It's in a province south of the main kingdom. It's about a day's trip to Castle Town and back for trading."

[lighthearted]

Sora couldn't really think of a situation in which he would be thankful he'd learned more than basic math, but then again, you never did know for sure. He shrugged and started to swing his legs back and forth where they were dangling off the edge of the X-Ray table.

So, Link lived near some kind of kingdom or castle or something. Sora had been exposed to worlds like that, so he was getting a slightly clearly picture of what Hyrule might be like.

"It sounds nice," he said after a pause, smiling slightly. "Uhh, but... I guess no one else is coming, huh?" He glanced toward the door they'd come through and let out a sigh. Was Lingormr making trouble for everyone else? If so, why had they been let off easy? "Should we try to go through there?" He nodded to the other door in the room. Chances were it wouldn't have anything that interesting, but at this point Sora was just getting bored.

[his_legacy]

"Yes, that would probably be better than sitting around here any longer." In Link's experience, checking every possible new area always led to something good .

Link glanced sideways at the door they had entered from.

"I do hope that Lingormr isn't giving our expected company more trouble than he gave us, though..." He considered checking outside for a moment, but Link realized that that would be a foolish risk to take- especially if the possessed man was reacting violently to potential newcomers.

[lighthearted]

"I guess... if we look around everywhere here and no one has shown up by then, we can go back out and see what's going on." Sora knew that it was a bad idea to toss himself into a dangerous situation again, but the idea that there were people out there who might need his help was hard to ignore.

First, though, would be exploration. Sora pushed off of the X-Ray table and moved to the mystery door, opening it up with a creak.

"We might get ambushed by monsters or something, so stay close, okay?" he said to Link over his shoulder before stepping through.

[To here.]