Day 71: Cafeteria

[rebonding]

Korra's stomach was grumbling by the time that annoyingly friendly voice chimed over the speaker that they'd be going into the cafeteria to eat.

"About time..." she grumbled under her breath as her nurse marched her out of the sun room and into the caf. Pancakes seemed like a good idea; something at least a little similar to the food she'd eat in Republic City. She settled down with her food, the events of last night still lingering on her mind despite her best efforts to shut them out. Korra needed to get herself some closer allies, and needed to get in the know on all this talk of the basement and the third floor.

For now, though, food. The Avatar dug in like it was the first decent meal she'd eaten in months.

[Gabe!]

Comments

[armoredsoul]

Al laughed, grinning. "She must have a real passion for history! And she's a healer, too? Does she do surgeries, or does she use mana to heal her patients?" He had to admit the mana of Lloyd's world seemed to be an incredibly flexible power. It was a shame Lloyd only seemed to have a basic grasp of it, rather than any theoretical knowledge.

He grimaced and nodded. He couldn't blame Lloyd in the slightest for being worried over this--his life was literally on the line with what they had done to him. "If we can, Brother and I will go looking for the crests. I can't make any guarantees, but..." It's better than nothing, which was about all that Landel left any of them with.

"Damn." He bit his lip, looking at Lloyd's hand. There had to be some physical effect on the body, even if the mana disturbances were more connected to the soul. "...is the sickness more physical or mental? If it's physical, I...I might be able to tell how bad off you are." He gave Lloyd a weak smile. "I can tell what substances are composed of by touching them, including people, and I have a really good knowledge of the body's chemistry. So if the Exsphere is affecting your body, I might be able to tell something." Al just hoped Lloyd wouldn't ask him why he could do that. He wasn't sure he wanted to try to explain what the Gate had done to his minds--or if he even could.

[redcladidealist]

"She uses mana," Lloyd said. "She's really good at it, too. I know some other people who can use mana to heal, but she's better than all of them. She even used her magic once to heal someone who'd turned into a... who lost control of their mana." The smile he offered tried to be positive, reassuring, but it fell short of the mark because Raine wasn't here, and he wasn't sure he wanted her to come. He didn't want her to be trapped in this place because of him. Who knew if she'd even have enough of her power to heal him if it came down to that?

Little as it was, though, Al's offer drew a breath of relief and gratitude from him. "Two sets of eyes are better than one. Even if you guys just keep an eye out for them, that's better than me looking by myself."

Fortunately for Al, Lloyd had already gotten the idea that the details of how alchemy worked were probably way behind him. If you had to know chemistry to make anything work, he had a sinking feeling that asking Al to explain anything would quickly turn into the kind of lesson that made his eyes glaze over and left him feeling more lost than when they'd begun. Still, his eyes widened just a little. "You can do something like that?" It took a moment before he remembered that Al had asked a question. "It's more physical, I guess. I don't know all the symptoms, but my... my body will change if it gets bad enough." He swallowed. "Trust me, you'll know if it gets that bad."

[armoredsoul]

'Who'd turn into a...', huh? That didn't make Al feel any more at ease, but he didn't let that show on his face. No sense in aggravating something Lloyd was already worrying about. "That's amazing! She must be really skilled to be able to accomplish so much."

Al was better at trying to find a simple way to put things, especially since he was well aware that he processed things a lot faster than other people. (Something that Edward forgot far too often when he would actually get going on a subject.) "I bet. But I could sense changes that are too small or subtle for you to notice on your own, so you could at least know how fast things are progressing right now before it becomes obvious." Al shrugged. "I admit it wouldn't be for much more than peace of mind, so you're not wondering if you'll...whatever at the drop of a hat all the time."

[redcladidealist]

"Yeah, she is." Lloyd smiles, but beneath it, he was grateful Al was pressing the subject of what exactly happened when someone's mana went out of control. Maybe he should warn him, but...

Maybe he was being selfish, not wanting to see fear in Al's eyes yet. Fear or the level of worry that would come with knowing the details of what might occur.

Even so, the promise of forewarning was too appealing to pass up. "You can't do it now, can you?" Would that count as one of the powers they suppressed during the day? "Is it something you could do tonight?"

[armoredsoul]

"It's...kind of fuzzy right now. It would be better if I tried tonight. Did you get one of those toy radios in town yesterday? If you want to go get the metal first, it'd be easier for you to find me that way." Not that Al had any real idea what he and Edward would be doing tonight. Probably more exploring to find the third floor, or maybe check the patient records.

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd brightened at the question and what it implied. "Yeah, I did! And my friend Tsurugi explained how to use them last night. My number is seven-eight-nine! What's yours?" Then as an afterthought he added, "And what room are you in?" Knowing where Al would be would make it even easier to find him tonight. "I'll try to be as fast as I can. I think I've already got a plan." An idea had been forming in the back of his head as they'd talked. Those rusty door handles hadn't looked like it would be that hard to break them off...

[armoredsoul]

"It's zero-seven-four," Al said with a grin. "And my room is M1. Brother's radio is zero-seven-nine." The more points of contact they had with each other, the better. "Just let us know when you have everything, and we'll find a place to meet up."

[redcladidealist]

Zero-seven-four. Zero-seven-nine. M1. Lloyd repeated the numbers in his head, wishing he had something he could write them down on. As soon as the shift ended, he resolved to visit the bulletin and borrow a pencil and a piece of paper there. He also wanted to post a note to see if anyone had any better maps than the ones he had, especially of the second floor, or the third floor if he was lucky. For now, though...

"Got it. I'll call you when I'm ready." In retrospect, it was probably a better idea to call anyway, rather than just showing up at Al's room. Ed and Al probably had plans and wouldn't want to stick around just waiting for him. "If you need anything, you can call me, too, okay?" Just in case they ran into trouble like they had the other night.

Speaking of the shift change, though, it looked like the nurses were starting to move...

[armoredsoul]

Al caught their nurses coming over out of the corner of his eye, and shoveled another quick bite of his food in as he nodded. "I will! Just make sure you take care of yourself."

[redcladidealist]

"You too!" Lloyd shot back just as quickly, just before his nurse walked up. After that, there wasn't time to say anything else before she was already leading him off.