damned_institute | Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

Somehow, after their talk in the chapel, Elaine felt simultaneously more accepting of and more irritated by her future husband. On the one hand, seven years had clearly been good to him. He seemed more sincere and thoughtful than he had been before his disappearance, and he had a more mature (dare she say, handsome?) look to him. On the other hand, there were clearly some things that made even time throw up its hands in vain and say, "To hell with this!" Guybrush was still inexorably prone to disastrous accidents if the story about the Pox of LeChuck was anything to go by, and he was so obviously keeping something important from her that any passing dolt in the Institute would have been able to tell. In the end, that eternal underlying sweetness of his that won out, keeping her from punching him again, at least. That was only by a hairs width, though. Her snugglecakes was going to have to stay on his best behaviour if he knew what was good for him.

She left the Mighty Pirate™ alone for the time being when the announcement of the next shift went off. He would want some time to catch up with Morgan next, presumably. As much as the woman's attitude bothered her, she was a friend of Guybrush's, as she had claimed. Elaine could be strict, but she wasn't the kind of shrewish future wife/past fiancé who would keep her man from seeing his friends. Besides, she needed some more time to catch up on the goings-on of the Institute. Patients filled the building to the brim, now, it seemed; there would be a lot to investigate.

After a few quick trips back and forth to the bulletin and a few new leads to follow up on, the governor gave in to her nurse's persistent nagging and headed to the cafeteria for brunch. After the relatively light fare of the day before, Elaine took advantage of the Institute's admittedly scrumptious offerings and loaded up a full, balanced brunchfast of eggs, sausage links, waffles, and vegetable soup. As expected, the selection of drinks did not offer either root beer or grog. Grog she could live without, at least, she thought while making a face. Eugh. For now, she settled for a tall glass of water.

Elaine settled into a seat in the cafeteria and tucked into her meal. Her eyes didn't stay on her food, though, instead gazing around restlessly; she hadn't seen LeChuck so far this morning, and god forbid he wanted to invite himself to brunch with her if he chose now to show up. A certain horribly unpleasant dinner on Mêlée Island came to mind. She was prepared to either move at the first sign of the dread pirate or signal a random stranger to sit with her before he could.

[For Dean]

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It was a long story, but Raine was always happy to educate; sensing that the girl was something of a kindred spirit, she didn't even warn her of that before she started the explanation. "I'm not certain of their origins, but the power of the Summon Spirits was originally what held the two worlds, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, apart. According to legend, Mithos and his three companions stopped the Ancient Kharlan War and restored peace to the world; my group discovered on our journey that he was the one responsible for splitting the worlds into two to begin with, and it was that division that caused mana--the source of magic--to drain from one world into another. The only way to reverse that is for the Chosen, someone of a certain bloodline, to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the world. It's only a temporary solution, needing to be repeated every generation so the waning world doesn't die from lack of mana, and because it requires someone to be marked for early death at birth... when we found out there might be another way, we couldn't let anyone else die.

"Unfortunately, it turned out to be not that simple..." Raine shook her head. She would elaborate if asked, but right now she was explaining about summoning, not their quest to reunite the worlds. "Unfortunately, I don't know as much as I would like about how summoning works. It's bloodline-related, and since Sheena is the first known summoner in four thousand years, so much has been lost. I grew up in Sylvarant, and there it's completely lost. My friend here, Reinforce, might be able to say more; she looked at Sheena's magic with her own, and while she can't copy it, she should understand it better than I do."

The woman was speaking quickly, blasting through the details of her world's history and situation, but Rita somehow managed to follow it. Some details were lost on her, such as the legend about Mithos, but some stuck firmly in her mind.

"So the two worlds share one source of mana?" Rita asked, looking to confirm she was understanding this. "And... what do you mean, the world would 'die' without mana?" This part seemed important, especially considering Rita's plan of converting her world's aer to mana. If there were any problems that could arise in a mana-dependent world, she needed to know all about them.

The mention of the self-sacrifice of individuals from a chosen bloodline also struck a familiar chord with Rita. It sounded just like the Children of the Full Moon... She had to wonder just how many similarities there were between her world and this woman's. Rita knew she was probably barraging her with questions, but this was the first person she'd met who eagerly met her inquiries with prompt, thorough answers. She wanted to take advantage of that while she could.

"And about those 'Chosen'... is there anything distinctive about them?" she asked, cupping her chin in her hand thoughtfully. "I mean, is there any way to identify one, besides following their genealogy?"

"Mana is the source of life; without it, magic doesn't function and crops don't grow." If anything, Raine was enjoying this a little; there really weren't many scholars here, to her knowledge.

"I don't know if this applies to everyone suitable within the Chosen line, but the one I know was born holding a Cruxis Crystal in her hand, so there's no real debate about who the current Chosen is. When the Tower of Salvation appears, it's time for her--or him--to begin the Journey of Regeneration. Over the course of it, they become an angel... which isn't as good or as painless as it might sound. Not only do they gain wings, but strength increases, sight and hearing are enhanced, touch and taste are lost, and they can no longer eat, sleep, or speak." She could make herself talk about this, but at the same time she was doing her best to merely recite the facts, not truly remember. Still, to see all that happen to her student when she knew ascending to heaven meant dying... some lectures weren't so enjoyable to give.

"So the plants in your world need mana to live," Rita summarized, folding her arms across her chest. "But... on Terca Lumireis, plants and animals live just fine without exposure to mana. I wonder if life forms surrounded by an abundance of mana grow to depend on it over time..." Like a sort of evolution. Just as the Entelexia evolved to use mana, perhaps the rest of the world would follow in their own ways.

What Rita and her friends were doing was something that could irrevocably change the world and everything in it. She was aware of that, but it wasn't until she started thinking about it in terms of centuries and millennia that she realized just how great that change may come to be.

It was an exciting prospect, but also a worrying one.

"What, exactly, is a Cruxis Crystal?" she asked after taking a moment to try and absorb what she was being told. People of the past once referred to blastia as 'crystals,' and so she suspected that this 'Cruxis Crystal' may have special properties worth learning about.

It wasn't that Raine minded lecturing on this subject, but she was starting to think that she should perhaps censor a few small facts. Mainly, who was behind most of what she was about to explain. "Cruxis Crystals are an evolved, and therefore stronger, form of Exsphere--I have the latter." She tapped the dull red orb on her left wrist, mounted on what looked like a bracelet; however, it didn't go all the way around her wrist. Honestly, she would have preferred not to call attention to it, but it would probably be brought up sooner or later and it was a good visual aid. "They promote the dormant powers of the body, enhancing the senses and allowing for stronger magic use--or magic use at all, in some cases. Those without elven blood can't use magic without aid."

She hesitated before continuing, but braced herself and said, "As a half-elf, I don't need this to use magic--thankfully, considering that as you can see, it's dormant here--but I don't want to just discard it." When they finally broke out, there might not be time to run back and grab her belongings, so it was just best to keep it with her.

"Unfortunately... the only way to manufacture Exspheres is through bringing about a person's death," she added, a little quietly. "I had no idea when I got this, and now, if I like it or not, I need the enhancements it gives. When the journey back home is over, I intend to have it destroyed." Hopefully, the other scholar would understand.

An orb worn on the body, used for magic... Rita's eyes lit up at the sight of it.

"Can I see it?" she asked with a hopeful look. She knew that if she were the one being asked to part with her blastia for even a second, she would have refused, so she realized it may be too much to ask. Still, her curiosity wouldn't allow her to accept a modest glance without at least asking for a chance to examine the gem.

The other concepts mentioned by the woman were somewhat difficult to believe. Angels... and now elves, too. A day ago, Rita would have scoffed at the very mention of those things, but now she wasn't so sure she could dismiss them. She remained a bit skeptical as she listened, but gave the woman's words honest consideration. Maybe such things really could exist on another planet...

"Those Exspheres... they sound a lot like the blastia we have where I'm from. They're also crystal-like stones that allow humans to use magic... but mine was taken away." She brushed her fingertips against her bare neck, where her bodhi blastia would have normally sat. "I've dedicated most of my life to studying them. Anything I can learn about another world's equivalents and alternatives would be a big help to my research." This stranger seemed a bit scholarly herself, so maybe she would understand.

Raine hesitated; she could remove the Exsphere, but she was afraid to for multiple reasons. She settled on moving her wrist closer to the girl in something of a compromise.

"How are blastia formed?" Enough with the lecturing, she wanted a real back-and-forth, especially now that she was so intrigued at the idea of another world having something so much like what hers did. Maybe she could even get more information about Gels...

While Rita would have preferred to see the bracelet by itself, she could identify with the woman's preference to keep it on herself, and so Rita decided to work with what she had. She leaned forward, holding the extended wrist from below to keep it steady as she examined the gem.

When asked a question, Rita didn't stop to answer, but instead spoke as she continued to look over the orb. "They're made artificially, from apatheia," came her initial answer. The mage then tapped the stone lightly with her finger, the swept her hand over it. It didn't look like she was able to bring up an interface, like she could with blastia, to view information about the gem's composition and function. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to learn much more from it unless she performed a few tests... which probably wouldn't be permitted by the owner.

Lips pressed into a straight line, Rita let go of the woman's arm and fell back into her seat. She then continued her explanation, crossing her arms as she began to get into the less pleasant details. "Actually, they aren't too different from that Exsphere you've got. Apatheia are crystallized aer. They form whenever a being from a particular species dies." That was about as simplistic an explanation as she could come up with. It was difficult, trying to determine what might be understandable to a person from another planet, and what would be unheard of to them.

"So that brings me to my next question. When you said they're manufactured through 'a person's death,' do you mean humans?" It was important that this was clarified. Since the woman claimed to be 'half-elf,' then a 'person' could be human, elf, half-elf, or possibly something else entirely.

"I'm only familiar with humans being used, but since those of the Chosen's line have at least some elven blood, I would assume half-elves can be used in the process as well," Raine replied, keeping as strictly to the facts as possible. She understood the curiosity, but she didn't want to think about it. "I don't know about full elves."

She paused for a moment. "It is interesting what our worlds seem to have in common... do you have Gels at home? I'd like to try manufacturing them here, since our own powers are so limited. I'm a healer, and nothing is more frustrating than being out of magic when someone needs more help than medicine can provide."

"Weird. Humans can't use magic naturally, so why would they be used for..." Rita cut herself off, her mind apparently moving faster than her mouth. She continued in a mumble, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. "...But magic can also be powered by life energy, so..."

Was that the ingredient that Exspheres were crafted with? The life energy of humans? It was a disgusting thought, but Rita was trying to keep a distanced, clinical perspective. Sometimes the facts could be ugly, but that was no reason to look away from them.

The mage perked up once more when asked a question, but this time she gave the woman a slightly confused look. "Gels? Yeah, of course." There was a pause as she realized what was implied by what had been said. "...They seriously don't have them here?" Gels were so common, so ordinary, that it was odd to think that she was currently on a planet that didn't have them.

"Only a very few people have known what I was asking about," Raine said, getting a little excited. "And most of them are from home. Many people are familiar with healing potions in general, but I thought I'd stick to Gels because they're what I know. There's a kitchen somewhere upstairs--I'd have to check a map to remember where exactly, but while it's smaller than the one just through that door," she nodded to it, "the Sun Room is not somewhere you'd want to go at night, and... well, I'd rather avoid the courtyard." Somehow, she managed not to shudder.

"I mostly stay with the clinic, but since the founder of it was 'discharged', I haven't even been sure where to hold it and consequently I've gotten even fewer people than usual coming to me. So if you've got the time, say, tonight or tomorrow..." Her eyes actually sparkled a little at the idea of working with this scholar to make the Gels they needed so badly here. "I'd be very glad for the assistance. If you need to ask for me on the board, I'm Professor Raine Sage."

Rita raised an eyebrow. "You know how to make them?" Since gels weren't part of Rita's fields of study, she'd never really looked into their production. It would probably be a valuable skill to have, considering how useful gels were, but Rita had a hard time finding enthusiasm for something that would essentially be a cooking exercise.

So the woman's name was Raine. The 'professor' part didn't come as a surprise at this point in the conversation. It was clear that the woman not only knew a fair amount, but was also prone to long explanations.

"There are some things I need to check on, so I'm not sure how today will go." For one, she needed to find the man she was with last night and get him to explain what the hell happened. He had to know something. "I guess we'll have to see about tomorrow." She paused to take another bite of her food. "The name's Rita Mordio. I'll be watching the board, too."

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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