redcladidealist (
redcladidealist) wrote in
damned_institute2013-05-11 08:07 am
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Night 70: Main Hallway 2-West
[From here.]
"My Exsphere's different from Kratos's," he began. "Mine's... newer. A lot newer, and it was made differently. I'm not sure exactly how it was supposed to be better. Nobody ever stopped to explain that to me. But my Exsphere's supposed to be special. They probably took mine to study it."
They were on the second floor now. Lloyd was pretty sure that was the floor he'd been taken to last night. That meant they were closer to the room where he'd been locked up, strapped down, hurt... He swallowed, trying to steady his breath, and swung the flashlight left to right. Did anything look familiar?
"Exspheres... It's kind of hard to explain if you don't know what mana is, but Exspheres can make people stronger and... and other things. It's... complicated." He didn't even know how to bring up the topic of Cruxis Crystals and angels.
An angel. He had Kratos's Exsphere, and Kratos was an angel. Did that mean Lloyd might turn into an angel, too, if he didn't get his Exsphere back? The question sat hollowly inside his stomach. And on top of it...
My father's an angel. What does that make me?
"My Exsphere's different from Kratos's," he began. "Mine's... newer. A lot newer, and it was made differently. I'm not sure exactly how it was supposed to be better. Nobody ever stopped to explain that to me. But my Exsphere's supposed to be special. They probably took mine to study it."
They were on the second floor now. Lloyd was pretty sure that was the floor he'd been taken to last night. That meant they were closer to the room where he'd been locked up, strapped down, hurt... He swallowed, trying to steady his breath, and swung the flashlight left to right. Did anything look familiar?
"Exspheres... It's kind of hard to explain if you don't know what mana is, but Exspheres can make people stronger and... and other things. It's... complicated." He didn't even know how to bring up the topic of Cruxis Crystals and angels.
An angel. He had Kratos's Exsphere, and Kratos was an angel. Did that mean Lloyd might turn into an angel, too, if he didn't get his Exsphere back? The question sat hollowly inside his stomach. And on top of it...
My father's an angel. What does that make me?
no subject
Now that they were on the second floor, he kept a closer eye on how Lloyd might be reacting to his surroundings, but if unsettled, he still seemed to be up for things enough that he wouldn't need any pushes, which was good. Whether that would continue was another question, but Kyousuke would just have to continue quietly watching out for him.
The word mana in his explanation of the Exshperes definitely caught Kyousuke by surprise. He actually had heard of it, but purely as fiction, never as a real concept the way Lloyd seemed to be suggesting. The force behind magic, or something like that? That was how it worked in games, but he obviously couldn't assume it worked like that in Lloyd's world, so he couldn't pretend to understand. But making people stronger, he understood perfectly well.
"It's fine, I think I get it. Basically, you're saying it has some kind of special power, and they're interested in that," he surmised. It sounded like Lloyd didn't know where to start explaining what that power was, so they could just leave it at that. It wasn't information that was going to help them anyway.
From there, he paused, and pulled out the little plastic radio he received in Doyleton. "I know this isn't the best time," he began, "but I promised someone I'd test this out. It should only take a second." It was an awkward point in the conversation, and helping out Kratos and Lloyd obviously took priority, but a promise was a promise.
no subject
He was in the middle of making another scan of the hallway, trying to figure out which direction to go, when Tsurugi drew his attention back to him - and to the thing he held in his hand. His eyebrows shot up. "You know how to get it to work?" He edged closer, now interested in seeing what the other boy did. "Sure, go ahead and test it. You don't mind if I listen, do you?" The woman who'd given them to him and Kratos had tried to explain how they worked, but either Lloyd hadn't been paying attention well enough, or it was just different when you were actually doing it yourself. Maybe watching someone else would help.
Distracted, he only gave an occasional nervous glance to the dark, his flashlight still trained down the hall.
no subject
From the clarity of the signal, the little radio worked a lot better than expected, but with Lloyd excitedly commenting on everything in the background, the conversation quickly turned odd. Between Lloyd's enthusiasm to keep talking, and Ishida's apparent enthusiasm to avoid talking to Lloyd, Kyousuke felt like he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. .... Looked like his new roommate was one of those types. He stared at the device with a frown, and ended up pocketing it again—it would probably be best not bother Ishida for a little while after that.
"... Sounds like he likes you," the boy commented dryly.
no subject
"So, I know you have to turn that knob thing. If I wanted to call him back, how would I do it on my radio? I mean, he said there's no point, but what if I need to call someone for help? Or to let someone know if we find something important?" All of which he considered very valid reasons to learn how to do this now, and why not with Ishida, who Lloyd already trusted?
no subject
"Yeah, it's pretty easy. You just set it to the other person's number and hold the button when you want to talk." Which, he realized wasn't quite what Lloyd was asking, but there wasn't much Kyousuke could do about it. He didn't see any problems personally, but Ishida seemed to be trying a little too hard not to talk to Lloyd, and even explicitly told him not give away his number. The whole thing seemed a little silly and tiring if you asked Kyousuke, but he didn't really have any desire to put himself in the middle of it either. "If you want his number, you'll have to take it up with him. He might give in eventually." Which was about as far as he could go.
"What's yours, by the way? It might come in handy."
no subject
And why did he have the sneaking suspicion that Ishida was behind it?
"My number's pretty easy to remember." Lloyd grinned and flipped his radio so that Tsurugi could see the number engraved into the plastic. Seven eight nine. "See? It's got the scariest number in it!"
no subject
789... That was certainly easy to remember, but 'scariest number'? He wasn't aware there was such a thing, let alone in any of those numbers. He gave Lloyd a blank look, tying to figure out what he could mean. ... 789. Seven eight nine...?
....
Oh. That was—
"... We should probably get moving," Kyousuke muttered, soured by the terrible, elementary level joke. He wasn't even going to comment on it.
no subject
The blank look distracted him for a moment, though, and he waited, curious, for some kind of response. Nothing, though. Wait, maybe he didn't get the joke.
"You know seven's the scariest number, right?" he asked, hesitating only another moment before picking what he hoped was the right direction and heading forward. The joke was a good distraction from his own thoughts which, now that they were moving again, fluttered back to the events of the night before. What if they did find the room he was in? What if the doctor was still there...?
With someone else.
Something twisted in his stomach, and he tried to push it down. If that was the case, they'd just have to rescue whoever the doctor had this time.
"All the other numbers are afraid of seven," he pressed on, trying to push the disturbing thoughts aside. "Because seven eight nine! Get it? Seven ate nine!"
no subject
Why was he complaining to him about it, anyway? It wasn't like he was the one being stingy. Kyousuke shook his head.
Somehow, hearing that joke out loud had the effect of making it even worse, and Kyousuke grimaced. ... This was almost as bad as Kariya's naming sense. "... Don't you think we're a little old for that kind of joke?" he commented. He felt like that, at least, so he wasn't sure what that said about Lloyd. ... Well, whatever.
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