damned_institute | Day 27: Breakfast

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Day 27: Breakfast

Day came too soon.

Sora hadn't been able to find Rena, had instead been forced to crumple onto the grass of the recreational field and bleed all over himself, and hadn't even accomplished what he'd been sent out to do. What he'd been entrusted to do. He didn't know how he was going to be able to face Renji and the others, but he also knew he wasn't going to hide from them, either. That would just be low, after all, and he was ready to face up to the consequences.

He didn't try to make excuses for himself. Even though there had been a Special Counseling patient, they had managed to take her down by sheer numbers. The fact that he hadn't seen any sign of Rena was what had him the most worried. He hoped he could find her today.

The boy laid in his bed for a good while that morning before his nurse finally came in to collect him. She clucked over the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest and leg, and asked him if he was okay to walk.

Once Sora assured her he was fine (he didn't really want to use crutches, as that would just attract attention to himself, and he didn't need others worrying over him), they made their way to the cafeteria. Sora yawned and winced against the bright light of morning - it seemed even earlier than usual, and he realized why when they entered the cafeteria and found it empty.

The boy shuffled over to grab a chocolate chip pancake, a bowl of cereal, and a glass of milk (good for the bones, or so his mom had always told him) before settling at a table. He kept an eye on the door, hoping he would see Rena walking in soon.

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Seeing the tears, Max wrapped an arm about him, tugging him against her shoulder. "Hey now, it's not so bad as all that. Things could be worse. At least you've got each other, right? And he's not dead. War's a nasty business, and complicated in its own right."

She gave his shoulder a squeeze in comfort. "I know what you mean, though. I miss home, too. Even if things back there are just as complicated and confusing as they are here. At least there they were familiar ones," she added a bit wistfully.

Keman was glad for Max's hug. It was...comforting, almost like Shana's.

That realization made him miss home even more.

"He was dead," the dragon said suddenly. Talking was nice. It took his mind off of other things. "Or, at least, we all thought he was. The four of us--me, Valyn, my sister, and...Shadow (the real Shadow)--ended up inadvertently starting the war. Did you know how easy it is to start an honest to goodness war? I never did. None of the wars I'd ever read about had been like that. At any rate, we were suddenly right in the thick of it...and Valyn's father was leading the other side. Lord Dyran was...just...evil, I guess. He enjoyed causing others pain. Valyn snuck out of the Citadel and went to confront his father. Dyran...tried to kill him, so Valyn had to act in self-defense. He killed his father. The explosion took out the entire hilltop, even, and we thought Valyn had been caught in it. But he won the war for us. Without Dyran, the other side agreed to terms.

"And then I woke up here, and there was Valyn. He said he'd been here for days, even though I had just seen him that morning. And...I don't know. I feel responsible for him, somehow. I need to make sure that he comes back home safe."

Keman sighed. He had no idea why he'd said all that, but it had been cathartic, in a way.

He gave Max a wan smile. "Now it's time for you to tell me about your home."

Max gave a quiet chuckle at that, taking in his story with a curious and intent expression. "That's quite the story," she commented, taking it all in, mulling it all over.

"I think your world is very different from mine, but the people not so much. Maybe they're not so different anywhere people come from. I started a war, too, though not intentionally. There was a group of us that were... different. People are always afraid of what's different, it seems, but we never wanted to harm them, not most of us. We just wanted a place to be safe, a home. And we had to fight for one. I still don't know if we've fully accomplished it - not for good, at least - but I hope we have. I was brought here before I really had time to enjoy it," she admitted, a wistful expression flitting across her face.

Keman smiled, and this time it was genuine. "People really are the same wherever you go. The war in our home started for the very same reason. Those who hold power over others are afraid of change. 'Different' scares people." He sighed. "That sounds very, very familiar. I know exactly how you feel."

"Well, maybe not exactly," she chuckled, nudging his shoulder with her own. "But at least you get the idea. And know that you're not the only Improbably Person here, whatever you may be back home."

She paused, glancing about the room, thinking of the people she'd met so far. "Here, I think we're all different."

"Close enough." Keman shrugged, and now he was grinning. Maybe Max was better at this 'cheering up' thing than she thought. "And I know that I'm not the only Improbable Person here. Just more Improbable than most," he added impishly.

"I think so too, and it intrigues me. According to the board, there are people here without any special abilities at all. Just regular humans. What could the purpose be of bringing in so many different types of people like this?"

"Maybe," she countered with a smirk and a laugh. "There are some pretty Improbable people here."

"I don't know," she answered, turning a bit more serious. "I don't know why any of us have been brought here, unless it's some whack experiment. Maybe to even out the results? I don't know."

Keman laughed. "There are indeed. Some of them make me feel positively normal by comparision!"

Max turned a little more serious, and so did he. The dragon bit his lip, thinking. Why indeed? Max's experiment theory certainly made sense. But what kind of experiment? He had read a few elven treatises on raising and breeding humans--all of which mentioned exposing the product of a successful breeding (or, at least, the ones destined to become gladiators) to danger early on to weed out the ones that were 'unfit'--but he'd been so disgusted with them that he had completely blocked the memory of any specifics. "Or maybe to cripple those of us who do have some ability to defend ourselves by making us protect the ones who can't?"

"Normal is overrated," she informed him with a wink.

"If that were the case, there would be more in need of protection than there are to protect," she commented thoughtfully, puzzling the matter over. "That would wear us thin and wear us down. That doesn't seem to be the case."

Keman grinned. "Highly," he agreed, sagely. This sort of cheerful banter was...well, it was fun. And he didn't have to think. That was an added bonus.

He shrugged and raked a hand through his curly brown hair. "Well, then I'm out of ideas. That was the best one I had."

"It was a good guess," she reassured him with a crooked smile, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "We'll find an answer. They're not perfect. They've got to slip up somewhere and we'll find it. I promise."

Keman responded to the pat on the head just like a puppy...well, just like a puppy responds to a pat on the head. It felt good!

After a few moments, he laughed and gently batted Max's hand away from his hair. "Exactly! The Kin don't take very kindly to being locked up, that's for sure."

"The Kin?" Max inquired, the term unfamiliar to her. She leaned back in her chair in a comfortable slouch, a crooked smile on her face as she popped bites of plain pancake in her mouth. "Is that your people where you come from?"

"Yes, my people." Keman figured he might as well tell Max. She had proved last night that she was very trustworthy, and it wasn't as if it was that much of a secret anymore.

"This isn't my natural form. I can assume whatever shape I wish, because of what I am. I'm a dragon. I mean, I'm pretty much stuck in this two-legger body right now, so this is me too...but I feel most comfortable in my own skin. And I miss my tail."

He grinned. "So that's why I'm Improbable. Because dragons aren't supposed to exist, and yet we do."

Max blinked.

Then blinked again.

"A dragon?" she echoed, dropping her voice for their ears alone. "Are you serious?"

Keman just kept on grinning. "Perfectly serious."

She stared at him for another long moment, looking as if she was still wondering if he was pulling her leg, then burst into a delighted laugh. "Well, that can't be much weirder than elves, I suppose. What's next? A dwarf? A centaur? Do you have a mermaid cousin, by any chance?" she asked with a grin.

"What's a 'mermaid?'" Keman asked, honestly curious. "And I don't really know if I even have cousins, so I guess that's a legitimate question. My sister's a halfblood, though. Well, foster sister, really."

"Half of what?" Max asked, looking curious. If there were elves and dragons where Keman and Valyn came from, there could be half-anythings. That, at least, wasn't so strange to her. She was half-of-a-lot-of-things, too.

"A mermaid is... well, sort of half-human, half-fish. They're as much lore as dragons are where I'm from. They live in the seas, like fish, but from the waist up, they've got human torsos."

"Half elf, half human," Keman recited in a sort of sing-song voice. "Looks human, but has slightly pointed ears, green eyes, and more powerful magic than both. I'm in halfblood form right now," he added proudly, brushing his hair back from his ears. "The Elven Lords are terrified of halfbloods, and have them killed at birth. But some survive, like my sister. Her mother died in childbirth, and my mother raised her."

He frowned, trying to imagine a half human, half fish. "That's...odd." He kind of wanted to try that, when he got his ability to shift back. "How would they breathe? You'd have to add gills on the neck..."

"Why are the elves afraid of them, when they're partially responsible for them being born in the first place?" Max inquired, looking puzzled. "They have to get the 'half-elf' part from somewhere."

"They have them," Max added, then caught herself, looking sheepish for a moment. "I mean, they're supposed to. Some lore says they can breathe air as well as water, but most say that being out of the water would make them suffocate."

Keman didn't answer that question directly. Instead, he chewed on a thumbnail and looked away. "How much did Valyn tell you, about our home?"

He blinked, looking thoughtful. "Hmm, that makes sense. Still seems rather impractical, though."

"To be honest?" Max replied sheepishly, "I think I was in shock over the whole 'elf' thing and didn't absorb much of it. Plus it was my first day. I was still thinking this whole place was some epic joke of some very spiteful karma out there. I remember him telling me that humans were slaves and he was a lord, but not a normal lord, because he's all moral and stuff. Or something. And then he chased off after some tail across the room."

"He blushes very easily, have you noticed?" she added at random, waving her fork around for a moment. "Granted so did you last night. It was very amusing. Is it a common trait in your world? Or am I just lucky?"

Keman smiled gently. "It's understandable. I was too shocked at finding Valyn alive to really pay attention to anything he said, on my first night. Anyway, yes, the humans are slaves in our world. And the elves rule over them. Valyn was right--he's the only elven lord that we know of who realizes that humans are actually people, not livestock, and is opposed to slavery.

"All of the highest lords keep harems of pleasure slaves...and the lower-ranked lords use their overlords' harems. They try to sterilize the concubines, but every so often, one conceives. Or a field hand or house servant is raped, without the benefit of contraceptives. Bearing a halfblood means death for both the mother and the child, so the woman has to rid herself of the child as soon as she is able. A few are rescued by the wild halfbloods living in the forests, but most don't survive." He looked...almost tender, for a moment. "You wonder how a mother can kill her own child, but then you think of how scared she must be..."

Keman cleared his throat. "But I'm getting away from myself. Several hundred years ago, there was a huge war called the Wizard War. Halfbloods and humans with mind mage abilities against the Elven Lords. Remember how I said that halfbloods are more powerful than either race? Well, the Wizards almost had the elves beaten. They almost won the war, but in-fighting among the leadership and a horrible plague--both manufactured by the elves--allowed the elves to take back control. Ever since then, halfbloods have been creatures to be feared. The surviving Wizards have been living in hiding, terrified of being discovered...much like the dragons."

Then Max proved her own point and Keman blushed. "Ah...that's...well..." he stammered, turning pink. "You remind us of someone. You act just like my sister." The dragon laughed nervously, hoping she'd take that as a compliment. Because it was. "But, yes, Valyn does fluster rather easily, doesn't he? He's fun to tease."

Max blinked at all that. "Wow. You guys really had a shitty background where you came from, didn't you? And I thought mine was bad. Although I guess Valyn didn't have it too bad, being an elf, even if he didn't like it that much. Where did the dragons fit into all of that? Or didn't they?"

She grinned at his blush, reaching out to poke his shoulder. "See? I rest my case," she winked, looking very pleased with herself. "You're both rather fun to tease. And your sister, huh? The halfblood your mother raised?"

Day 27: Breakfast

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