damned_institute | Day 51: Breakfast

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Day 51: Breakfast

Yuffie Kisaragi, indomitable bouncing ball of sunshine and unfathomable ebullience, was tired. It'd been a long night full of gibberish and getting nowhere fast.

"Can't I—"

Plucky, who had been busily loading a plate full of French toast and bacon, tittered. "I'm afraid not, Hanna, darling. A chat over a nice, hearty breakfast would do you a world of good, don't you think?"

"Aaaaactually—"

"Come on, let's find you a seat. Plenty to choose from this morning!"

For a long moment, Yuffie seriously considered doing something—anything—to act out. Punch her nurse, rub jam in an orderly's face, climb a wall and hang off the ceiling, jump on a table and parody Loveless… A ruckus like that would definitely jolt her back into gear, right? Sedation aside. And it'd turn Plucky's good day right on its head, which was always a bonus worth shooting for.

But, by the time she'd reached a decision—and it was an epic decision, a really awesome one; everybody'd appreciate the genius, she was sure—she was already alone. Her breakfast tray had been set down neatly by the nurse, who had left with an infuriatingly winsome smile.

"Wow," Yuffie muttered. Shaking her head, she picked a chair at random and threw herself into it. She kicked back, one arm slung across her eyes, to wait. For what, she wasn't totally sure. Some moron to decide that she looked like good company? That was how it usually went.

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Kratos had cast a small glance Raine's way just to make sure that she wouldn't attempt to pull him into the conversation, and was about to congratulate himself on a successful evasion of her attentions when all of a sudden she did pull him into the conversation - literally.

"Mi--" He didn't even have time to properly protest as the (mad) Professor suddenly acquired angelic abilities and dragged him out of his seat and into the chair next to her. There were several things wrong with that scenario, namely the way gender roles had just been reversed, but Kratos found himself disregarding the way Raine had just manhandled him - mostly because she had just announced the one detail about him that he tried to keep as private as possible to a complete stranger.

Time to save face. "I wasn't turned, I did it of my own free will," he said as flatly as possible while yanking his arm out of Raine's grasp. "And" - Kratos gave Raine a potentially lethal glare - "I would hardly call us 'companions'."

If Raine happened to be paying close attention to his expression, she might have noticed a faint tinge of pink on his cheeks.

A clinic? Rita supposed she meant one that was set up by patients. A monster-infested hospital most likely meant lots of people were getting injured. It was actually a bit surprising that Rita herself wasn't among them, after how miserably her first two nights had gone.

The mage watched in surprise when Raine suddenly stood from her seat and yanked the red-haired stranger over to sit with them. Watching quietly, she stared in bewilderment at the woman's strange behavior (all that just to introduce her to a friend?) but the moment she mentioned a 'Cruxis Crystal,' Rita's gaze shot straight to the man's hands. There, on the left one, was a blue gem. That had to be it.

"So this is an advanced type of Exsphere..." Rita mused, leaning over in the man's direction, trying to get a better look. She paid no attention to the fact that he looked obviously displeased. To her, that only meant she needed to try to get her information faster, before he'd get sick of the treatment and leave.

"Is the longevity of angels also an effect of the crystal?" she asked. Four thousand years sounded ridiculous for a person's lifespan, but knowing how long the Entelexia could live, Rita knew it wasn't an impossible number.

Edited 2010-08-07 07:45 (UTC)

[skipping Raine with permission]

Kratos's first instinct when he sensed Raine's friend moving toward him was to jerk his left hand back out of her reach; the last thing he wanted was for an unknown girl to disturb the Crystal from its setting and accidentally set off some sort of physiological catastrophe. The Crystal appeared to be dormant, true, but one could never be sure.

"I believe Miss Sage could tell you that," he said coldly. He flat-out refused to degrade himself by answering these questions; he was not some specimen to be examined. "If that's all, I have food waiting for me." Kratos stood up to leave.

As it turned out, it took no time at all for the man's patience to run out. Rita wasn't necessarily surprised, but she wasn't ready to let him go just yet. Maybe Raine could answer her questions, but there was one thing she couldn't provide Rita.

"Wait! Just let me get a look at that crystal!"

When Kratos stood, Rita did too, shooting her arm out and grabbing his left wrist. She may have been significantly smaller than him, but Rita's grip was strong. Once she had his wrist in her grasp, she attempted to pull his hand closer so that she could examine it. All she needed was fifteen seconds or so to make a few observations. That wasn't too much to ask!

Kratos had assumed that once he made it clear that he would not be answering any inane questions about himself, the two would back off. As usual, it seemed he had underestimated the researcher spirit; in fact, he had hardly expected Rita to grab his wrist with particular ferocity.

Unfortunately, as a certain Lloyd Irving knew, Kratos reacted poorly to abrupt physical contact, and this time, unlike before with Raine, he was fully on guard - as well as angry. With no sword on hand, he turned to the next best alternative: Raine's fork. Pushing the movement range of his right arm to its limits (he still had that garish brace strapped to it, unfortunately), he managed to grab the utensil and swing it up so that it was pointed at Rita's neck, just below her chin.

Even as his arm protested the sudden movement, the reaction was so natural that not even Kratos fully realized what he was doing. "Please release my hand." For emphasis, he dug the fork in a little deeper.

"Now, now, none of that, Mr. Clarke." It was often amazing how quickly the staff could move when it was needed, but this time the nurse halted a short distance behind the red-haired man rather than intervening directly. Whatever Paige had done to upset him had clearly done an excellent job of it, and when he was making such threats it was best not to agitate him further.

But speaking of the young woman, the nurse turned a brief frown on her and shook her head. "And you, Paige, it's not nice to be grabbing people without their permission, mm? Just let Mr. Clarke go and we'll all go back to enjoying our lovely breakfasts, how does that sound?" And behind her the usual brace of orderlies reinforced her polite suggestion with the hint that they'd be more than willing to intervene, should it be needed.

Rita was expecting an angry reaction. What she wasn't expecting was a fork in her throat.

When she felt the prongs dig at the skin of her neck, Rita's eyes widened in surprise, and for a brief second, one could see fear written plainly on her face. But that look soon shifted into the cold, determined look of a researcher who couldn't let an opportunity for discovery slip by. For several seconds, she stood with her eyes locked on Kratos', refusing to back up or let go.

For a moment, she considered snapping the offending utensil in two and giving the man a punch in the teeth, but she restrained herself. As insulting as it was to be threatened like this, a reaction like that wasn't going to help her get his cooperation. Besides that, she could see the orderlies preparing to act, and the last thing she needed right now was a sedative. The nurse who addressed her only received a brief, half-second glance out of the corner of Rita's eye. She kept her focus mainly on Kratos.

Finally, she relented, and released her grip on the man's hand, allowing her own hand to fall to her side. She still didn't back away from the man or his would-be weapon, however. Rita had too much pride for that.

"Happy now?" she asked him dryly.

Edited 2010-08-09 03:19 (UTC)

Raine had known Kratos had to be stressed out, but she never would have expected him to react that badly. She put a hand up to cast Photon if need be (assuming she could), but the staff stepped in before she got the chance; to avoid being seen as part of the problem, she took a step back and lowered her hand.

"We were only asking a few simple questions," she informed the angel, frowning severely. Students of hers facing that look usually got detention or worse.

When he'd seen Rita refuse to give way, Kratos's eyes had narrowed. If she would not unhand him, he would have no qualms in erasing her as a threat. Never mind that the fork was blunted; he would find a way.

The nurse's voice acted as a wake-up call, reminding him of what awaited him if he crossed the proverbial line. As soon as she had finished admonishing them both, Kratos blinked and seemed to shake something out of his system. He opened his hand and let the fork drop back onto Raine's plate before lowering his arm stiffly back to his side. "Very well."

He sat back down woodenly in the chair next to Raine. "We're fine," he said, glancing back at the nurse and orderlies waiting expectantly behind them. Then, he turned to Raine.

"And they were so important that they required me to be on exhibition?" Kratos snapped, still trying to keep his tone as even as possible. Even so, his expression matched Raine's for cold, controlled anger.

The nurse waited a moment longer after the two patients backed down again, not entirely convinced by the man's insistence that they were fine. When it seemed that they had calmed down, though, and nobody planned to start using their utensils in new and creative ways, she offered the group a bright, cheery smile and nodded. "All right, everyone! Enjoy your breakfast, and do please try to get along? Okay!"

And with that she bustled off again with her escort in tow, though they didn't go too far away. Just in case, they'd be keeping an eye on the trio for the rest of the shift, should intervention be needed again.

When Kratos lowered the fork, Rita finally backed away, sitting back down in her seat. It looked like if they could all agree on one thing, it was that getting sedated wasn't a good idea right now.

"Great," Rita grumbled. "Now we're being monitored." The nurse had gone far enough that she wasn't going to be able to overhear their conversation, but she was probably going to jump in again if any of them raised their voices or made violent gestures. The extra attention was more of an annoyance than a hindrance, really.

For a short while, Rita occupied herself with her food, mostly to placate the staff who watched them like vultures. It wasn't long before her eyes wandered back over to Kratos, shooting him a sideways glance that looked none too pleased. "Was that reaction really necessary?" she finally asked.

"I was hardly asking for any kind of demonstration," Raine shot back. "Just answering some questions; we're trying to find out what similarities there are, if any, between Cruxis Crystals and blastia cores." No, it wasn't likely anything they learned would be useful here, but they needed to learn what they could while they were still in the same place.

Really, did he think she wished she had access to him and M-U tools? She'd been a little abrupt, but she didn't have a scalpel in hand or anything.

Kratos raised an eyebrow at Rita. "I haven't removed my Cruxis Crystal since it was first implanted. I have no idea what the results would be were it to be accidentally removed or damaged." He sighed. "That was also partly out of...reflex." A small glare indicated that he wasn't about to share how that habit had developed.

Eager for a change in subject, Kratos turned again to Raine. "Is that so." He frowned. "If that's your intent, I don't see why simply moving nearer to me over there" - he pointed to his forlorn tray still waiting for him - "would have worked as well."

Rita wasn't entirely satisfied with the response, having been the one with a fork jabbed at her throat, but she didn't care to continue arguing. She'd voiced her grievances, he'd made his excuses, and it was time to move on to more productive talks.

"The crystal is embedded directly into the skin? Is there nothing like an external device or a formula that controls it?" Rita asked, her gaze once again falling to the man's hands. Regardless of whether or not Kratos wanted to cooperate, she wasn't about to walk away from this conversation without learning something new and potentially useful.

So he wouldn't use it as an excuse to leave, Raine walked over, grabbed Kratos' tray, and put it in front of him before sitting down.

To get the conversation started, she said, "Normally, yes, there is an external device--they have to be mounted on Key Crests or the mana goes out of control, which makes the person wearing it mutate into an uncontrolled monster. Fortunately, it doesn't happen right away, and the Key Crest can be added on after the crystal is attached."

Well that was one way to solve a problem. Kratos said nothing as Raine returned to her seat, but did eat a little of the food on the tray. It wasn't warm, having sat around for some time, but at least it wasn't so cold that it was unappetizing.

"Wearing a crystal without a Key Crest actually results in the host's death due to mana exhaustion, although it takes a number of years for the Exsphere - and Cruxis Crystal, by extension - to fully absorb its host's available mana," he amended stonily.

Why was he talking about this? Why was he talking about something that had always made him uneasy? He already knew the answer, though: it was easier to distract himself with facts than sit next to Raine and deal with memories...

"The removal of a Key Crest-less crystal is what precipitates the mutation."

There was a flicker of surprise in Rita's expression at the mention of a mutation. Humans becoming monsters? It was a horrible thought, but Rita knew better than to turn a blind eye to facts just because they were disturbing. She kept a calm, serious look on her face as she listened to Kratos elaborate. She had never imagined a mana-based system could carry so many problems with it, but perhaps that was naive. The changes that were going to take place on Terca Lumireis were severely dramatic and were sure to carry some drawbacks along with the benefits. Rita needed to be prepared for them.

"Effects like those are unheard of with blastia. Without a formula, blastia are simply nonfunctional," Rita explained. "...However, with an improper formula, blastia can go out of control. In some cases, they could release high-density aer into the surrounding area, which can have dramatic effects on the growth of plants, behavior of monsters, and the health of humans."

That wasn't including the effects excessive aer consumption could have on Entelexia, but that was a whole other can of worms. As were the issues of the global aer supply, the Adephagos, and various other problems that had recently come to light. There was really far too much to be said about blastia and aer than could be divulged in a single sitting.

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Day 51: Breakfast

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