damned_institute | Day 73: Library (2nd shift)

Don't let them snoop? If Lloyd didn't already know the secret the library held, that would have practically been asking him to poke around as much as his nurse would let him. But since he did know about the trick to the secret door, he settled instead for searching for Kratos or Castiel. If he didn't find one of them this shift, he'd have to think about putting up a note on the bulletin, but considering what he wanted to talk to them about, it would probably be better if he kept it off the board and spoke to them in person.

"Here, why don't you settle down with a nice book, Nigel?" his nurse encouraged him as she guided him toward a chair. "Poor dear. I noticed you didn't eat anything for breakfast. Maybe you just need to get your mind off of whatever's tying your stomach in knots."

Lloyd made a face at that comment, unable to hold himself in check. "Maybe if the doctors gave me my Key Crest back it wouldn't be a problem."

His nurse sighed, shaking her head. "I thought you were making more progress than that, Nigel. Here," she said, handing him a book. "I'm sure a good book will help."

Lloyd grumbled, but accepted the book anyway, albeit reluctantly. He should have known better than to expect anything from his nurse. Rather than cracking the book open, though, Lloyd set it in his lap and watched the room. Surely one of his companions would come in soon...

[For Castiel.]

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"I see. I received similar notes myself, and was wondering who might be on the 'technical side'--" Now fully engaged in the conversation, Kratos set the book aside for good. "--although, my group is focusing on the first one for the time being. That has proven challenge enough."

He tilted his head to the side. "Have you been able to make any progress yourself on either one?" He hadn't seen Tsurugi either time they'd made it to the third floor, but with all those teleportation pads sending them every which way, frankly, Kratos wasn't surprised.

"... I see," Kyousuke commented. "I'm going to try to think more about the harder part. An archive should still be there, but with this, we may only get one chance." If they screwed up there, there was a chance it would ruin the rest of their progress, and that was something they couldn't afford to see happen.

"No," Kyousuke admitted, and from there, he hesitated. The first night he'd tried, they'd simply run out of time, waking up as soon as they got to the top of the escalator, and though it was an understandable setback, he didn't want to make any excuses for himself. Last night, however, was more complicated, and he found himself frowning, tense just thinking about it. His instinct was to not mention it all, but he knew Kratos had been through the hell of being dragged to the second floor. While it wasn't something they'd discussed, it seemed ... fair, to reciprocate that knowledge.

"Last night I was ... preoccupied," the boy muttered awkwardly, feeling pathetic. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything... He didn't want to talk about it at all, and what was worse, it sounded like he was trying to excuse himself from not having accomplished anything. Another part of him almost wanted to blurt everything out, for reasons he couldn't even fathom, and because of that, he silently hoped Kratos wouldn't ask what he meant, so that he couldn't give it the chance.

"That sounds reasonable," Kratos said with a nod. It was good to hear that at least one person would be addressing their newest note, especially since apparently, this was their chance to destroy Landel himself.

He frowned as Tsurugi said the word "preoccupied". It reminded him of another conversation, one in which he too had tried to be suitably vague in order to deflect attention. He hadn't quite used the word "preoccupied", but the way Tsurugi said it resonated with the memory of his talk with Lloyd the day after he'd been taken for experimentation. It was possible that Tsurugi was speaking of something similar, but Kratos felt like it would be too much to pry and ask him if that was what he meant, even though it would certainly explain how Tsurugi had appeared earlier.

"I...see," he said slowly, and although his raised eyebrow and tone suggested that perhaps he suspected more, he didn't say anything further about the subject. "That's unfortunate. Hopefully, tonight will be more productive."

That he knew about, that made two people who wanted to focus on the archive, and one who wanted to go after Landel. He wondered how everyone else here was deciding to go about things; if the teams ended up too lopsided, they wouldn't be able to accomplish everything, and that would be a problem. ... He wondered why the rebels were sending some multiple notes. Wasn't it a little haphazard to do things like this? Hopefully they knew what they were doing enough that everyone didn't get spread too thin.

"... Yeah," the boy responded quietly. The suspicion was easy enough to recognize; he probably would have reacted similarly. And for him, just that small bit of questioning meant Kratos may as well have known. That was ... fine. It didn't quite reach the level of a silent understanding between them, but it still eliminated the need to have a conversation about what really happened, and that was good enough for him.

He swallowed, trying to alleviate a strange sense of tension, and pressed on with the conversation, not wanting to linger on the implication hanging in the air. "I think we're focusing on different things, but Sora should be coming with me. We should be able to get something done between the two of us." That was all he could do—make up for missing time. And to somehow remind himself he'd only missed a single night, even if it felt like months.

[9 MILLION YEARS LATER]

So that was what Sora had been up to. Since Arts and Crafts seemed to have unofficially disbanded, Kratos no longer had regular contact with his former leader, and while it hadn't been very long since they'd last talked, he did honestly want to know what Sora was doing - not just because he subconsciously worried that Sora would get himself killed again, but also because Sora had mentioned a very interesting development during their last conversation. However, it seemed that he had since shifted his focus to the third floor.

"Quite literally, it's hit or miss," Kratos said with an audible note of disdain. He didn't care much for the unpredictability of the teleportation pads, having had his fill in the twin worlds. "But perhaps you'll have better luck."

Day 73: Library (2nd shift)

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