damned_institute | DAY 23: BREAKFAST

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DAY 23: BREAKFAST

That hadn't felt like an entire night.

And his goddamn head hurt. Pounded, even. Enough that he wondered if he was going to end up playing another round of "Christen the nurse" this morning.

Maybe it was because he'd spent so much time and energy trying to find Nowe. That could be the reason behind both those problems. Just the thought of it made his stomach turn, made him want to fucking choke something.

Still, there was shit to do. He forced himself out of bed to put away his pens and the other leftovers from the adventures that didn't happen last night. He'd have to try to talk to Sora today, to see if they could just do tonight what they were going to do last night... and to see if the kid was doing alright.

...he just wished his head would stop hurting. That was probably the result of just how badly he'd overreached himself the previous morning.

The nurse that showed up to get him was cheerful. He grunted at her, listening to her with only half an ear until she mentioned all the excitement, about someone pretending to be a patient, all that crap that Landel had mentioned.

Renji gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Dr. Landel is a goddamn lying coward, and he's lying about that, too," he said. Whether it was true or not, there was only so much good cheer he could take on a shitty morning. "I hope he chokes on a cock." No matter how much venom he put in that statement, it wasn't enough.

Then he had to listen to a lecture about language and gratitude for the rest of the walk to the cafeteria, so maybe it wasn't worth it after all. She dragged him through the breakfast line, and he ended up with granola and toast and tea and a cinnamon roll, because not even a shitty fucking night could ruin his sweet tooth. Though that thing was looking a little too sweet.

The cafeteria was pretty much empty; he had his run of the place. He sat himself about as far from the doors as he could get, and proceeded to stare at his breakfast.

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"Perhaps." Valyn thought about it. "I know that the ones who are in control can take people who have died and return them to life, and take those mortally wounded and return them to health." He was proof of the second one.

"As for those who can make swords, I know nothing else, I'm afraid. I don't even know who they are, just that they're here." He shook his head. "I'd like to get in touch with them. I doubt their services are free, however."

It was better than nothing.

"I'm sorry I can't give you more information."

Homura nodded slightly at Valyn's words. That meant there were others there like him, those who had died only to find themselves here. Did that mean that the gods weren't responsible? It wasn't entirely impossible; the deities tended to ignore a great deal of what happened in the lower world, a fact Homura had counted on for his own needs before.

Still, it would be to Homura's disadvantage if the gods weren't responsible. He knew how Heaven worked, perhaps better than any of it's citizens.

"Don't be so quick to apologize." Homura's words were pleasant enough, though he too wished Valyn could offer more so far as knowledge went. Still the, man's strength could be of use...along with his eagerness to help. "You can tell me who told you about these people. It is likely they would be able to direct us to them."

"His name was Edgeworth," Valyn explained. "He'd heard of this from someone else - but I've seen talk of blades on the common board. Perhaps a message there would lead to the weaponsmiths?" Edgeworth had also told him to use that board as a means of communication.

"The common board is useful for reaching a large portion of the prisoners here at once. I used it once, to find if any other of my people were here." And luckily, there weren't. He was the only elven lord in the place, and that suited him fine.

The common board would be a better place to start, since Homura knew very few in this place, and Edgeworth was not one of them. "That is a good idea." He would have to see about doing just that.

Homura looked at Valyn curiously, trying to judge whether whatever result he had gotten from the bulliten had been to the man's satisfaction. "And are any here?" If there were, it could be worth Homura's time to find them, especially if they were as willing to help as Valyn seemed to be.

"No." Valyn shook his head. "I'm the only Elven Lord here. And that's for the best." He stressed inflection into his words, wanting it to be clear that he meant it. His people were dangerous and cunning and sadistic. He didn't want to imagine any of them in this place. They'd try and take it for themselves.

"I'll say now that I'm not normal for my kind. I don't take joy in causing pain, I don't consider humans to be animals or property, and I don't indulge in.... perversities for pleasure. All of things which are standard for my people. We Elves think ourselves masters of the universe, and strive for nothing but power and domination."

His voice was calm and even, no hint of emotion on his face or in his tone. It was as though he was describing a piece of furniture.

The amusement Homura got from Valyn's words was painfully obvious, and could only have been made more so had the man actually laughed. Instead he shook his head, not bothering to hide his smile as he replied.

"Elves. Is that what your people call themselves? And they consider themselves like gods." It really was funny, especially given how serious Valyn was about it. The calm, the detachment...as if he expected Homura to be somehow moved by the impact of his words.

"What mortals who seek power do pales in comparison to those who already have such power. The gods are more cruel in their self-serving ways for the fact that they pretend they do what is best for those they rule."

He smirked, relaxed and calm as he met Valyn's gaze. "Your people are nothing compared to the gods who rule the Heavens."

"There are no gods in my world," Valyn said, with a shrug. "The humans think us gods, as we don't age or die or fall ill, and possess powers they don't understand." His calm detachment was nothing to do with the impact of his words, it was simply how he spoke on anything that held any meaning to him.

"Though your gods sound much like my kin." They had enslaved the humans for the humans benefit - that was what they claimed. Humans were stupid and needed to be led, they'd die out without the elves to rule them.

"And yes, my race is known as Elves."

"That is very interesting." Indeed, the description made the gods and the elves sound the same, and it made Homura wonder just what sort of world Valyn was from. It also made Valyn that much more intriguing; just what made him think so differently from his fellows?

Homura did always like a good rebel.

"And you've removed yourself from all that? Allied yourself against your people, and perhaps even fight against their ways." Gods had chakras, while elves had pointed ears; idly, Homura wondered what marked their halfbreeds.

"Why would you that?"

"Do you have the halfblood's gift for mind magic?" Valyn asked, wryly. How had the other man seen through him like that? But he nodded.

"But I did. And I had my reasons. I don't agree with those ways, I don't agree with the oppression and the way humans are bred and killed for nothing." It was disgusting. And despite the fact that the words should have been heated, they weren't. Valyn's calm and mild tone remained the same, his expression unchanging. It was like he wore a mask.

"Mind magic?" Homura grinned, and shook his head. "No. But I do know how rebels act. You were quick to point out how you weren't like the other elves. That either meant you merely watched in disgust, or that you fought. And not only did you tell me of your training, but I saw your skill myself."

It really had been an easy enough conclusion to reach, though Homura had hope Valyn's motives might have proved less predictable. "So you've taken up the sword for what you see as a noble cause? Hmm...I don't think anyone really does such a thing unless they've been personally touched by the oppression they fight." Homura certainly hadn't, nor had the deities who followed him. Shien and Zenon...perhaps the only two he would like to see in this place, and only so they could fight together.

"Are you truly so idealistic?" Homura spoke with interest, and with amusement; his question was less compliment than veiled-insult. He had little respect for someone who would risk his life just for noble causes.

Valyn only shrugged. Perhaps he was idealistic - he knew Shana had thought of him that way - but he wasn't a fool.

"My reasons are mine," was all he said, again. He had spoken of Shadow to Renji, but he had felt he could trust Renji. This man? While he was pleasant enough, Valyn felt no need to trust him or share anything personal with him. Yes, he had been touched by it - he had been cared for, taught and raised mostly by human slaves. They had been his companions, his mentors. And Shadow himself had been...

Well, the only person Valyn had ever loved. It had been for Shadow that he fled, sparked rebellion that turned to war, opposed his father...

But those weren't things to speak upon.

"It doesn't matter much why I see things the way that I do."

Homura arched an eyebrow at the response. If Valyn truly believed that the reasons for action weren't important, then he really was a fool. Yet Homura doubted that was the case.

"There's no need to play at politeness." Homura had lived long enough to not take offense at such minor things. "You don't wish to tell me, correct? You should simply say so, instead of trying to lessen the importance of your reasons."

It was amazing how many people expected Valyn to simply drop two decades of intense conditioning to act the same way that they did.

"It's my way," he said, showing no hint of annoyance. Nothing ever broke the surface, hadn't since he was a small child. No matter how strong he felt something, no sign or hint or tic made it to his face or voice. "But you have hit upon the heart of it."

The conversation had gone on long enough for Homura to understand that Valyn's calm was seemingly unshakable and constant, much like Shien's had been. The presence was almost refreshing in that sense, but closer to bittersweet at best.

"To make yourself appear foolish by claiming what you've decided to give your life to doesn't matter? Your way is certainly an interesting one, in that case." Homura's words weren't spoken with maliciousness, but with honesty; he'd long grown weary of the lessening of self so prevalent in Heaven's court, and Valyn's actions were similar.

There was nothing wrong with not trusting Homura. Homura didn't fully trust Valyn, which is why so little of the conversation had been focused on the demi-god. Homura only wished Valyn to be open about the fact.

"My way is to be polite while remaining private," Valyn said. "And to avoid causing offense." Withholding information was half of what made elven society run. But there were ways to do it, to dismiss it, to belittle it, to avoid, to answer without truly answering... it was a web of words and hidden motives, all intended not to shame or offend. Unless of course one was dealing with a much lower House and Clan.

But it was a game Valyn had played from the cradle.

"That's simply how I was raised, and how my culture is. We're quite political, you could say."

The game Valyn played was one Homura was very familiar with: hiding secrets and plots behind pretty words. Homura had seen it acted out before him, learned it's motions during his time as the Toushin Taishi, and done rather well at it, really. Certainly well enough to threaten Heaven.

It was a game Homura knew, and one that he hated, because before he learned it, he had already lost everything.

"Your culture has many facets you've told me about. Yet you choose to abandon some while holding on to others." Homura eyed Valyn's expression, though he knew it would gain him little. "Could it be you're more like your people than you care to think?"

"If it was within my power to abandon them all, I would." Valyn folded his hands on the table before him. That was all there was to it. His training ran to deep for him to be any other way. No matter how hard he tried, how hard he fought against his conditioning, he couldn't break it.

Homura couldn't help a smirk. "How long have you lived, elf? Your people are close to immortal from what you've told me. Perhaps you'll be surprised to discover just what changes eternity can bring."

But even as he spoke, Homura knew there were things no amount of time could erase. It had been hundreds of years since Rinrei had been taken, and he still loved her, and despised the Heavens who took her from him.

"Long enough." Once more, Valyn shrugged. He was what he was, and he couldn't change that. Ancestors knew he'd tried. And while he as young for one of his kind, he'd seen more and done more than Lords centuries older than him. Change wasn't easy for Elvenkind. Not when you were beaten and manipulated and conditioned to think and act in a certain way.

"But it really doesn't matter if I change or not. My ideals are unchanged, the only difference is in how I address them." And he would never let go of his ideals and his dream. No matter what happened to him.

Homura nodded slowly, smiling to Valyn. "Hold on to your ideals, then." All else aside, that was something Homura could respect: having a dream, however unobtainable, and striving for it with all your might.

For Homura, that was the ultimate goal of life.

"I don't intend to let go of them." Not that Valyn was in any position to do anything about it. He was far from home, with no idea which way the war was going. He didn't even know if Shadow was alright....

"Is there anyone from your world here?" he asked, as it seemed a good place to change the subject. And he was curious if it was common for only one or two people to be taken.

Homura recognized the subject change for what it was, but went with it easily enough. There was little more that would be offered on the topic of Valyn's idealism, and Homura didn't have the interest to pry.

"Four others that I know of." He paused, needing a moment to list the names Valyn might recognize. "Sanzo, Goku, Hakkai, and Kenren." It made Homura smile to think of them. He wondered how each had fared after the previous night. Doubtless they had gone wandering, and had encounters of their own...but his worry was only so strong.

None of them would let themselves be killed so easily.

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DAY 23: BREAKFAST

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