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]

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.