Day 54: Lunch

[full_score]

All things considered, last shift had been pretty low key. After this morning's disaster, though, that was perfectly fine by Claude. Some fresh air and a chance to make sure Guy and Okita were all right weren't things to take for granted. It was also good to have a fairly normal, conversation with Guy that didn't slip off into awkward territory

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[razing_phoenix]

Having to see one of those soldiers at every turn that he made left Guy feeling uneasy, but he got the feeling that the men were going to be around for a while -- at least until the end of the day, but possibly even beyond that. It was unsettling to not know what their ultimate goal was, but when he thought about it like that, they didn't exactly know what Landel's ultimate goal was either.

Still, it was probably best to focus on the positive for now, which was that he'd been able to check up on two people who he cared for and make sure that they were all right. Claude could have been better, but at least that tear gas had made him cry, rather than the night before, when it had been other, deeper issues that had caused his eyes to be red.

A quick stop by the bulletin board also showed him that Tear was actually still here with them. That was a pleasant surprise, even if it was clear that the girl had been greatly bothered by what had happened that morning. Then again, who wouldn't be? But it was just like Tear to take charge in that way, and it put a smile on the swordsman's face. He wasn't sure when he'd get to see her again, but there was always the chance that she could come with Anise and himself tonight.

As Guy moved away from the bulletin board and then into the cafeteria, he considered the head doctor's tone and general demeanor based off of the announcement. He'd ended up sounded very much like someone who'd been scolded -- and for good reason. While he couldn't really be blamed for the patients acting out the way they had at breakfast, it was definitely his fault that they'd been pushed to such a point.

Either way, Guy felt no pity for the man. For that moment, he was focused on one thing, which was lunch. How could he not be excited when they were serving fish? And seeing how his breakfast had been interrupted, he was particularly hungry.

It was kind of shocking to see the cafeteria looking so clean when it had been splattered with food not so long ago, and he couldn't help wondering if some magic had been involved. Still, it didn't exactly concern him, and so he just quickly found himself a seat. He noticed Claude sitting nearby and nodded to his friend, but held off on joining him. Guy had made plans to meet with Ilia -- Claude's mother, he reminded himself -- for lunch, and the woman hadn't mentioned wanting Claude there as well. Besides, for all he knew Claude has his own friend to meet.

So Guy happily started to eat his fish as he waited for Ilia to show up.

[For Ilia.]

[avengingfists]

While meeting with Ritsu had definitely been a good thing, that one had left her feeling distinctly more tired than she had felt even that morning. She knew she should have eaten more at breakfast. If only that damn food fight hadn't broken out. Well, that was in the past and lunch was soon to be served. She would feel better once she had some food in her belly.

She posted a quick reply to Claude's note asking about her well-being before heading on into the cafeteria. It was sweet of him to worry about her, but it gave her pause. Perhaps she should ask after everyone again, considering the event that morning. But she thought twice when she considered the state of the institute. This was a sensitive situation and the bulletin was already out in the open. She didn't know if the nurses took note of how frequently they interacted with other patients, but certainly the Head Doctor used it to gauge more about the patient body than he let on. No, it would be best to just speak with the others face to face. She already planned to see Guy and then Anise today. She'd know the outcome of their morning soon enough.

She was led, as usual, to the cafeteria and allowed to get her own food. Surprising. She half expected the institute to respond to this morning's disaster with lock-down time for all meals, at least for today. Seemed she could still keep her lunchtime appointment with Guy then. Grabbing a tray of fried fish, chips and a small salad, Ilia made her way through the crowded room and sat across from the Auldrantian. She made note of his relatively clean and chipper appearance. He definitely looked much, much better than most of the other patients.

"Hey," she said in way of greeting, offering a small smile. "Been keeping out of trouble, I see."

[razing_phoenix]

It didn't take long for Ilia to drop by and take a seat across from him; it was good that most people preferred to sit that way, since having to sit next to a female might not have ended as well for Guy. But despite the many worlds that people came from, sitting across from someone seemed more common. He nodded politely to her as she greeted him, smiling in return.

Her comment had to be about the riot that morning, which he still realized he was lucky to have escaped. It was no surprise that that was still the thing that most people were talking about, though he had to imagine that Ilia had something else she wanted to discuss with him, seeing how she had made that bulletin post before the riot had broken out.

Once again, like with Ronixis, he was going to have to be careful with his words and what he said regarding Claude now that he knew how Ilia was related to him. He'd never gotten close to spilling anything to Ronixis, though, so he didn't imagine it would be a big problem. It was just something he had to keep in mind.

Granted, the resemblance between Ilia and Claude was far more obvious, so that was one thing he needed to watch out for. He had better manners than to stare in the first place, but nonetheless, it was good to be aware of it.

"Doing my best," he acknowledged with a nod as he took a bite of the delicious fish. "How about yourself?" It was hard to tell if Ilia had been exposed to the gas or not now that two shifts had passed since the incident, though Ilia looked to be in decent shape. Maybe she just cleaned up well, though.

[avengingfists]

The fish was okay but she had never been too fond of frying it. Raw or grilled was the way to go! Add a nice light, white wine and it made the perfect meal. Guy ate his with much more enthusiasm. Still, it was hard to complain when she had been forced to miss most of breakfast. At least there was also salad.

"I'm in the military back where I'm from," she explained, taking a small sip of water. "I may not know why these officers are here, but it's never a bright idea to act up even if this happened to be a routine maneuver. I made sure to get out as soon as the food started flying." Jokers and trouble-making civilians would sometimes try to make a scene when Ilia or other Alliance members were off-duty back at some of the few colony spaceports the Calnus had often frequented for supplies. They learned really quick that just because she was a woman soldier and at ease didn't mean she would tolerate their big-talking, bullying attitudes.

"Last night, now, that's a different story." She sighed and shook her head, still a little mystified by the mysterious attacker that had appeared. And she had tried to fight back despite its triple-bladed weapon. That had been truly insane even if she hadn't had a choice. "They always say to pick your battles and not to let your battles pick you, but here things work differently." A wry smile came to her lips. "You wouldn't happen to know any secret safety routes through this place, would you?"

She had said that as a joke, but on the off chance it were true...

[razing_phoenix]

The military, of course. It made sense when that had been the case for Ronixis as well. Ilia was his second-in-command at this point in time, wasn't she? Granted, it wasn't as if Guy could mention any of that. Claude had decided not to tell the woman that her superior officer had been here in the first place, and Guy had to imagine there was a reason for that. It might come back to bite them if she ended up getting visited by the man, but that was something he'd discuss with Claude later if he remembered.

It was good to hear that Ilia had handled the situation the proper way, though; if only the same could have been said for Claude. Guy didn't judge his friend for not getting out, though -- it wasn't like the gassing was something that could have been predicted by even those patients who'd been here the longest.

The fact that Ilia brought up the previous night did take him by surprise, though. It sounded like she hadn't had the easiest of time of it; seeing how she'd been attacked the other night when traveling around with Anise, it was starting to seem like the woman had a case of particularly bad luck.

"I can't say I do," he admitted with a shake of his head. "You've just got to rely on being lucky. Well... except for those rings. Have you heard about them?" Guy wasn't sure if Ilia had been around long enough to have gotten the whole scoop herself, but if she hadn't then he was more than happy to explain. Granted, getting her hands on one wasn't going to be easy, but...

Speaking of which, Luke was the one who'd had their ring, wasn't he? Which meant that it was probably lost now. That really just added salt to the wound, but he kept all of those thoughts to himself.

[avengingfists]

He seemed to take her explanation at face value; he didn't question her any more on the subject. But that train of thought had gotten her thinking about what she herself knew of the man from Auldrant. Not much, really. That's why she had wanted to speak with him to begin with, wasn't it? Their previous meeting had actually gotten way off track when Claude had showed up--not that she minded, since meeting with him had been the plan to begin with, but Ilia was also interested in getting to know more about the world he and Anise were from. Getting to know the people themselves was just as important.

"If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me about your job back on Auldrant? Were you a soldier like Anise, Guy?" She had never heard Guy referred to as a soldier but it was always possible. He and Anise had seemed very familiar with one another, so unless they just happened to be from the same town she couldn't quite fathom how else they might have known one another if not through work. The only thing she was certain of was that they had known one another before coming here, so it wasn't just a chance encounter like how she had found out about Claude.

"That's too bad," Ilia sighed, smiling wryly. There was never any point in getting her hopes up here. This place had taken all the handicaps it could against them, leaving them with only core strength and dumb luck. But the mention of rings caught her attention and she leaned forward a bit, curious. "I actually haven't heard of them. Mind filling me in?"

Back on Roak there had been accessories that helped augment the wearer's power in various ways. Had they found an equivalent here in the institute? Anything that could help would have been appreciated.

[razing_phoenix]

It was odd to suddenly have Ilia come out and ask him about his occupation back home, but Guy supposed that it made sense. Seeing how this woman was Claude's mother, it wasn't such a shock that she shared his curiosity. That brought a smile to his face, though he had to wonder why she'd guessed soldier first. It could have been due to his somewhat formal demeanor -- or maybe she'd met a lot of soldiers here. Claude and Anise both counted, after all.

"Not a soldier, no," he said with a shake of his head after taking another bite of fish. "Actually, for a long time I was a servant in the manor of a well-known noble." And here he went again, spinning the lie -- or rather, not telling the whole truth. It seemed particularly obvious to him after he'd just spilled everything to Claude the day before, but he always had to start things off this way so that he could test the waters. Revealing his true self wasn't something he could do so easily, especially since it was a part of him he'd done his best to bury and move away from.

"Things kind of blew up since then, though. My best friend, who's also that noble's son" -- another lie -- "got caught up in something much bigger, and the two of us ended up going on a journey together to try and stop the world from being... destroyed, basically. Someone we both knew was behind it." Van had been connected to all of them in one way or another, hadn't he? "Anise was part of our group, too." That would hopefully tie all of the loose ends together.

As for the rings, that would hopefully be a bit easier to explain. "Right, about those." He was lucky that he was pretty good at giving clear explanations like this, no thanks to Jade. "A week or so ago, during the nightshift we were forced to deal with the fact that the doors weren't taking us to the right places. Some people even ended up in extremely real recreations of their home worlds." Guy had to assume that that Baticul hadn't been real; he didn't know what to think otherwise. "During the dinner shift following that night, some people suddenly had a ring in their drawer. It turns out that ring can actually be used to warp to places at will, but there's a trick to using it." Which he still wasn't entirely sure of, seeing how he hadn't had the chance to test it himself.

[avengingfists]

Ilia continued to eat methodically even with her attention held rapt by Guy's explanation. She waited until he seemed completely finished before considering how to respond. "For the servant of a noble, you've had a pretty exciting life." She shook her head, a bit stunned by the extent he and his friends' journey had taken them. It was a little ironic, too. "Seems we have something in common. I was also on a similar type of mission before coming here."

His explanation about the rings was a little harder to digest. She wasn't sure she understood what he meant by doors that didn't lead to the right places but it was obviously some type of trick of the institute. Seemed the same could be said about the recreation of the home worlds. "If the return to the home worlds wasn't permanent, then I think we can safely assume it was some type of illusion." Another way the Head Doctor had found to toy with their emotions.

The end result of what that night given them was what seemed important but Ilia was suspicious. "I don't know if I would trust something that was given by the institute, no matter how useful it might seem. What if it's a trap?"

[razing_phoenix]

It was definitely true that his life had been filled with a lot of ups and downs, but Guy had never thought too much of it. Seeing his background and where he'd come from, it was only to be expected that he'd get caught up in things like that. Most of the "exciting" portions of his life had to do with knowing Luke, though having had a connection to Van clearly had played a part in it as well.

Having already known that Ilia had been on a similar mission due to what he'd heard from Claude, Guy still had to act as if it was new information to him so that she didn't make the woman suspicious. "Oh, really? Does it have to do with that planet you and Claude were talking about before?" It would be interesting to get the story directly from her, so he didn't mind hearing about it again.

It was nice to hear Ilia's opinion about the home world thing, seeing how she hadn't been involved and could therefore make an unbiased judgment. He wanted to believe that she was right, and the more time that was put between himself and the actual event, the more he believed that it had all been a hoax -- as real as the whole thing had felt. That and the shadows were proof of just how much Landel knew about all of them.

Ilia was also right in being wary of the rings. Guy sighed and nodded as he finished off another bite of the fish. "I'd considered that too. It doesn't matter much to me either way since the one in my group who had a ring is gone now, but..." It was easier to talk about it clinically when the person he was talking to had never met Luke, and yet a part of him still stung when he brought it up.

[avengingfists]

By Guy's calm way of explaining it had been clear he thought nothing much of his whirlwind life. He seemed to be pretty mellow all around, just an easy-going guy. It helped set Ilia at ease. She hadn't been aware until now but all the military personnel around had set her on edge. Being a soldier herself meant nothing. This was a foreign company and even if they looked generic enough she couldn't afford to take them lightly.

Naturally, she still felt bound to keep her hand in Roak's safety quiet. But seeing as Guy was an uninvolved party and quite unlikely to ever go there on his own she didn't hesitate for long. "Yes, actually." She took another bite of her fish and chewed contemplatively. How much should she tell? "It's still a bit of a sensitive subject for me. Back home we're not supposed to talk much about missions of that kind of magnitude."

She chuckled. The Terrain Alliance would be up to their ears in Preservation Pact violation reports if they ever happened to find this place. "I don't think it will matter if information is swapped while we're incarcerated here, but if anyone ever asks you about Roak it would be best to pretend you don't know. That is, once we've escaped."

Her eyes softened when she heard about the loss of Guy's friend. This place really was unkind to the people of Auldrant. First Tear and now this friend. "I'm sorry to hear that." She reached for her glass but stopped midway, her mind whirling into action. "Unless... Guy, you don't think he might have actually used the ring to return back home, do you?"

[razing_phoenix]

It didn't take long for Guy to notice the woman's hesitation, and he felt bad for treading on ground that was clearly unsteady. Still, Ilia was quick to explain that it wasn't something she felt comfortable talking about, which he had no problem acknowledging. While he wasn't one to do anything with the information, he couldn't blame her for adhering to protocol and being cautious. This was only the second time they'd spoken, after all.

"I won't speak a word," he said with a smile as he shook his head and then took another bite of the succulent fish, crunching on it happily (yet with the best manners possible). "I apologize for asking, I didn't realize." Seeing how he already had some of the details from Claude, it wasn't much of a loss for him anyway.

Her condolences were accepted quietly, but the possibility she offered wasn't one that Guy could even consider. "No, that couldn't be it. It doesn't seem like the ring can work that way, first of all..." While that was going off of Landel's word, he also doubted the man would have given them something that could potentially take them home. It would have been too easy.

But then he lifted his head to look Ilia right in the face. "But more importantly, Luke wouldn't have just left the rest of us here like that. He's not that sort of person." He would have told one of them about his idea to test the ring, at the least. But really, he wouldn't have even considered it if he wasn't sure that he could take all of them with. Guy knew that for certain.