Nightshift 27: F14

[gald_digger]

Luckily for Anise, the institution's widespread blackout struck seconds after she had completed her little sewing project. The bad news was that her flashlight was--to her knowledge--still lying around on the floor of some laboratory on the second floor. She hadn't thought anything of leaving it at the time, but she now found herself regretting it

Comments

[radiant_howl]

An end to the rather awkward conversation came when Jade entered through the door, followed by Peony, Guy, and... Tear?! He didn't know she was here too! He guessed he just missed her, unless she arrived sometime later than everyone else did. He did sleep through most of the day.

But... if Natalia was here too, they hadn't found her yet. That worried Luke, but he knew Natalia could definitely handle herself in this place. She wouldn't be alone, right? If she was even here...

"Hey, hey, of course I found my way here!" Luke scowled at Jade, though obviously he didn't take his friend's comment to heart. Well, now that everyone was here, they could finally decide what they were going to do. Finally.

"Oh, I do have a question for everyone," Luke started off their conversation. "I know I asked this already, but I just want to know where everyone stands... What's the last thing all of you remember? I still don't know for some of you."

He knew that Jade and Guy were from the future (well, to him it was the future), and that Anise apparently wasn't, but he didn't know exactly what Anise remembered, nor what Peony or Tear remembered.

"The last thing I remember is trying to use a hyperresonance to destroy the miasma from the Tower of Rem. And apparently it worked, but... I don't remember anything after that."

[visualize]

Even though Anise had all offered them a seat, Jade chose to remain standing and took a spot against the wall. It was true that they were one person away from a complete set, but the situation didn't make it too favorable for their little reunion. Of course, taking this all to a whole new perspective, it was only fair that if one Malkuth leader had to suffer the perils of the institute, then one from the Kimlascan side should meet the same fate.

The Colonel wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if that had been on the same mental plane as their kidnappers.

"It's been approximately one year since the events of Eldrant. Van ceases to exist and you, Luke, have yet to return. Your coming of age ceremony is approaching within a month's time, you know." Jade informed after he listened to the redhead's explanation. It was funny that only yesterday had he thought that Luke's story was just a poor excuse for not wanting to return, but he was already above and beyond that.

"I haven't found a reason pertaining to why this came to be, or why Asch is still alive when you yourself confirmed his death a year ago."

[rappigs]

Peony wasn't usually one to 'fall in step' beside someone else, but he figured if Jade was going to stand against the wall, he'd do the same. There would be time to be with all the girls later... if Jade would let him. He was always spoiling Peony's fun, after all. So he crossed his arms in front of him with a satisfied grin, shining his shine-tube at the ceiling so the resulting reflection would light them all a little better.

After Jade had given a report of how 'present day' apparently was, he took on a more serious tone. "For me, I just remember what happened after you all took care of the Professor. Supposedly the next day - which would be.. yesterday, if time hasn't stopped or something like that? You went on to fight Vandesdelca."

Then he shrugged. "I can't see a logical reason why this happened either; it seems kinda arbitrary. It's probably to mess with us, the more that I think about it, but don't let that get you down. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make connections with other worlds in the event that we get back and can contact them somehow, right?"

Never let it be said that Peony didn't know how to be serious, but anyone who knew him well also knew that this mood wouldn't last for long.

[razing_phoenix]

Having already heard all of the different times that everyone was from, Guy was content with sitting back and letting the conversation move in whatever direction it happened to go. He knew that Luke's mind would be put at ease when he saw how everyone seemed to be from varying times and places, so that, at least, was good.

What Guy was more concerned with was what the meeting was actually about. Jade had been vague and a little cryptic on the bulletin board, so he had to wonder if someone had happened. Or maybe he was just trying to organize everything a little better.

At Peony's comment about making connections with other worlds, Guy couldn't help but think that that was aimed at him. He knew that he hadn't come up with anything of interest yet, unless the emperor would be interested to hear about everything Claude had told him, but he was working on it.

[trelesekrayotre]

Needless to say, Tear's trance ended pretty quickly after Anise's greeting. "O-Oh no. I only just arrived. Shortly after I woke up the lights went out." She walked over to one of the desks and sat down in the chair, her hands neatly placed in her lap as she listened in to the last things people recalled. It all seemed a bit scattered to her. The only thing that made much sense was Luke's.

"Luke, you don't remember going to Belkend afterwards?" She turned to him, a little surprised. But after Jade spoke, asking Luke that little question seemed pointless. Though it seemed as if everyone was a bit confused by this, even Jade didn't seem to know the answer for this one. Tear herself had no idea either. But wait-- What was this about Asch's death? And Van ceases to exist? That struck a nerve Tear wouldn't even mention. Although for the good it may be, it still wasn't something she wanted to hear spoken of so thoughtlessly.

At this point it was better to stay quiet and just listen, she figured. Though, this conversation felt strange to hear. Hearing all these different events that had yet to occur for her. It was like she was hearing a Score reading. Or almost a death Score. Even though the Score was no longer read from the time she came from. Hearing about the 'future' from Jade and Peony seemed more than strange.

[gald_digger]

As the others spoke, Anise found herself lowering her gaze to her knees. It was a lot to try and make sense out of. Asch was dead? But she had spoken to him the day before! The dead didn't come back to life. If Luke was the one to confirm it, he must have been mistaken... right?

Realizing it was her turn to speak, she raised her head just enough to be audible, her eyes still somewhere at the floor. "To be honest, I can't really follow what the rest of you have been saying." The Tower of Rem? Eldrant? She knew the names, but no matter how much she searched her memory, there was no recollection of visiting those places. "I don't remember anything after... after my duel with Arietta." So she really was the one farthest behind.

But the Colonel had mentioned something extremely helpful. Luke's coming of age... within a month!? It meant that Anise could now figure out just how much time she was missing, but the answer didn't please her. From the last moment she remembered, a little over two years had passed!

[radiant_howl]

Looking around the room as everyone gave their answers, Luke frowned at how... far away everyone seemed to be. Tear was the one who was closest to his own time, yet even she remembered things that apparently happened in the future (Belkend? It made sense, but he didn't remember even thinking about that place), and poor Anise apparently came from a time behind everyone. Clearly, everyone needed to be caught up.

Jade did a good job of that, summarizing everything into one neat sentence: Luke hadn't come back from whatever he was supposed to do, Van was defeated once and for all, and ... well, Luke didn't know this for sure, but he guessed that they did manage to free Lorelei.

So... everything was supposed to be OK on Auldrant, right? That was one less worry on Luke's mind, at least.

"Yeah, everything you said is true," He nodded at Jade. Unfortunately, even the part about Asch's death and apparent revival was true. "But I don't have any idea what this all means either."

He figured it was a little too soon to just assume that the person in charge of this place was just that powerful.

[visualize]

"There is the possibility that your memories have simply been erased from your minds." Jade started with a slight chuckle. "However, I would've expected for Luke to have grown at least an inch or two since I've last seen him."

In fact, it would appear that the redhead hadn't aged at all, looking just like he had been back when they were still on Eldrant. That was a detail that the Colonel felt he couldn't miss, along with the fact that his fonons were no longer separating for whatever reason. The same could be said for Anise, who he'd seen not too long ago so his memory of her present physique was still fresh in his mind. Either they thought it was a cruel, but highly amusing, idea to shrink her chest, or there was a deeper reason underlying this.

"I've discovered a few things pertaining to the 'patient'/Institute relationship, more over on how they seem to brainwash a select few to stop their allies from proceeding any further with escaping. I'm sure some of you have managed to stumble across a few yourself, but there seems to be a definite time for when this happens." He paused for a moment, readjusting his glasses as he did so.

"Whether or not this coincides with the experimentation that also goes on I'm not sure, but I've been informed that this occurs once every two or three days. I advise a plan that would help keep tabs on everyone here for the remainder of our stay." Jade chuckled then, offering his usual smile and a slight shrug in the process.

"Of course, we could meet up in a designated room every night, but time isn't exactly on our side and there's always a simpler method in doing this." As always, he'd already organized something formidable in his head, but then that would mean he was doing all the work. And why would he ever want to do that when there were five (or four if one didn't think that Luke met the standards) other equally intelligible people in the room with him?

[rappigs]

The emperor listened to Jade's report, realizing well enough that he already knew most of this from the colonel's discussion with him earlier in the evening as the sun had lazily set over the sun room. He'd long since thought of a way to fix the problem of it taking just about forever to meet in one room. So he grinned, taking Jade's lead. "That's why I've got it all figured out, guys - after tonight, every night us boys can all meet in one spot, and you cute girls can too, and then once we've figured out that all of us are here, and not taken or whatever, each group will send an emissary to a meeting point. We'll decide who's going to get the job of emissary on the bulletin, using Abyss codewords."

Peony couldn't see any problems with this idea, besides possibly people getting lost. Which.. eh, it'd probably happen, but they'd just have to be sure not to send Luke, hee hee.

"Anyway, we should probably split up and actually get something done tonight."

Peony paused for a moment, deciding who he'd put together with whom - he had a terrible habit of choosing who his friends would hang out with, though usually his decisions were pretty good. He tended to pick up on people's moods. And he and Jade didn't have much more to discuss at the moment, he was realizing, except possibly how to further embarrass Gailardia - but that common pastime of theirs could be done at any time.

"I think.." He looked around the room, eying Tear, then Anise... and finally walked up to Luke, rather surprisingly considering his history of womanizing - but he'd always had a soft spot in his heart for the replica, even naming one of his precious rappigs after the redhead. "I'll be going with Luke tonight, ha ha ha. We'll go do something awesome." He patted his elected nightshift partner on the back.

"Anise, you'll keep that clod of mine in line, won't you?" It didn't take a genius to figure out who Peony was talking about. "And Gailardia - you should explain what's going on to our Seventh Fonist. Everyone should...uh, look for useful stuff." He nodded.

Thus proceeded the briefing. Hopefully everything would go smoothly from here. How could it not, really, when it was one of Peony's pimp plans?

[razing_phoenix]

As usual, Jade was the one to finally get to the point. He had heard of the brainwashing and experimentation, even if he hadn't been exposed to it firsthand. Guy certainly knew the problems those would present, seeing how he had been the victim of brainwashing in the past. He got the feeling like everyone was aware of that, but maybe he was just being sensitive to the matter.

What if he got picked for it now? He didn't want to go through that again, even if it would likely be somewhat different from the curse slot.

The men and women meeting up and then informing each other of what was going on -- that definitely made a lot of sense, and Guy nodded to Peony in agreement. He and Jade had likely worked it out at some point, and he had to give them credit. Then again, Jade always pulled through.

Being given the task of informing Tear about what was going on didn't bother Guy in the slightest. Giving her the scoop was extremely important, after all, and he knew that Jade wouldn't be up for it. He smiled over at the girl before turning to Jade with a more serious expression.

"That all sounds great, but there's one thing you haven't mentioned." He felt awkward being the one to bring it up, but it was something that needed to be discussed. "How are we going to handle Asch? And isn't Dist here, too? I don't know if Asch is up to working along with us, and I don't know if we should trust him, but... We've got to figure out what we're doing about that either way."

[trelesekrayotre]

Brain washing? That didn't sound too wonderful. Though in a place like this, it was hardly shocking. But on the brighter side, at least not everyone was "brainwashed" at the same time. That would cause several problems as opposed to only one person every so often. Not to say it was good, just could be worse.

Meeting up seemed reasonable as well as the partner plan. Tear didn't mind going around with Guy, she just had to keep her distance. But as for the meeting up idea, that was a bit strange. With only two girls meeting against the four, perhaps five, boys meeting; it seemed a little off. They might as well just find a halfway point. Besides, strength was always in numbers. Though the main priority for now was seeing who else may be here. Surely Princess Natalia could manage on her own but, it probably was for the best they find her as soon as possible, if she was even there.

As Guy brought up the issue of Asch, once again they always seemed to be trying to reach him, Tear remembered her own little problem after first arriving. Her hymns hadn't worked. She couldn't even squeak a tune let alone one of Yulia's hymns. "Can I ask something?" She asked a few moments after Guy had finished. "Is everyone still able to use their artes here?" Her voice was serious as well as concerned. But, if this place could brainwash people then perhaps Tear's inability to use her hymns wasn't just bad luck.

[gald_digger]

Though her mind was still reeling from the realization of just how much she had forgotten, Anise knew there was no use in letting it get her down. There wasn't anything that any of them could do about their lost memories, and right now they needed to focus on what could be done.

Spending the night with the Colonel? She had been hoping to have Guy on one arm and Luke on the other (not literally, of course: she didn't quite have that many free arms to offer at the moment, and Guy would have certainly objected)... but this wasn't a bad setup, either.

With a bit of a bounce in her step, she jumped down from her bed, and retrieved the maps from her desk. She tucked one pair into her sling, and carried the other two to Guy. "Hehe, I'd better give you these before we split up again." Being kind enough not to get too far into his personal space, she handed the papers to him with a little wink--just to be cute.

That being done, she picked up the pipe she had left at the foot of her bed, and went to stand by the Colonel. She wasn't sure if the weapon--if it could even be called that--would do her any good, considering she was in no condition to be doing any bludgeoning in the near future, but it was better than being empty-handed.

She decided to leave the issue of Asch to the others, and instead addressed Tear's question. "I haven't tried using my artes here. The Colonel warned me not to depend on them." She glanced up at the Colonel as though looking for confirmation of this. Anise had taken his advice seriously that night, and when attacked, she relied entirely on her weapon instead of using fonic artes as she normally would. From the sounds of it, that had been the best thing to do: if she had wasted time trying to cast an arte that wouldn't work properly, they might have gotten off far worse than they did.

It was no surprise, of course. The Colonel was always right.

[radiant_howl]

As always, Jade came up with the best ideas. Though it seemed like Peony had a hand in them too, this time. Even now, he could still always count on help from His Majesty. It was a little more than reassuring for Luke.

Although... He had no idea what Peony was thinking when the Malkuth Emperor decided to choose Luke as his partner. Huh?! Not that Luke didn't mind, but he was ... well, he was expecting Peony to go for Tear and Anise, of course!

"Huh?" Luke blinked, thrown off for a moment before recomposing himself. "Oh yeah, we'll get something done!"

Speaking of something... He frowned when Guy mentioned Asch. As much as Asch liked working alone, it was just too dangerous in a place like this. Guy was right; they had to at least try and reach out to him.

"Leave Asch to me. I was traveling with him before, so I'll find him and let him know about our idea. He knows that it's harder to work alone, so I think he might be more willing to help us out," Luke told the group. That involved actually... finding Asch tomorrow, a feat that he hadn't been too successful in as of late, but Luke would do his best. He knew he'd run into the other redhead eventually.

"Oh yeah, what about that?" Luke had heard of people's abilities being weakened, and he also heard that Jade had collapsed after trying to do the contamination effect. He turned his attention to the Colonel, awaiting an answer. Though, it sounded like Tear was having trouble using her Artes too...

[visualize]

Ah yes, sometimes having someone who knew him all too well worked in his favor, nodding at Peony's words when he laid down the groundwork for all of them to follow. Jade certainly had no qualms with being paired up with Anise, the girl was as reliable as she was loud, even if she wasn't in the best condition to fight. No matter, it was a simple hurdle with an even simpler solution and thus undeserving of any more contemplation.

"Indeed I did," The Colonel answered after Anise's comment, letting the subject of Asch die off since Luke volunteered to sacrifice himself for the greater good. "After gathering confirmation from both the bulletin and my own personal experiences, this weakening of artes and other abilities seems to be an evident issue with everyone who was taken here. At the moment I can't provide any more information on the matter other than declining the idea that this is the work of a fon slot seal."

It looked to be the perfect time to finally grace Luke with his 'present', holding his arm out as if preparing to summon his spear. As usual, the contamination effect required more concentration than what he'd originally deemed necessary, eyes narrowing as he mentally willed the atoms to disjoint and reform out of thin air.

With a bright flash the metallic bat appeared in his grasp, a small sigh managing to escape his lips before composing himself. Jade then wasted no time, walking over to the redhead and held out the makeshift weapon for him to take.

"Please do take care of it, Luke. We don't have the luxury of time to get you a new one if you ever break it." He spoke with his usual smile, glancing over at Peony as he did so.

[rappigs]

Peony glanced back over at Jade, matching that little smile. Of course he'd caught that little jab, but he knew that of course nothing had been meant by it. He hadn't explained exactly why the mop had been broken the previous night; he hadn't needed to. Jade knew that Peony wouldn't break anything as special as a gift mop without a darn good reason.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure we all need to get weapons," Peony said, glad Luke wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth too much. After all, he knew the replica was a manly guy, and of course he was going to be able to contain his obvious excitement at his newly elected nightshift partner.

He turned to Tear then. He recalled Cyrille's difficulties with healing his arm the other day. Come to think of it, where was his little dream? He'd have to go pay her a visit tomorrow, somehow~ "Better to spend your time running away, else you'll get a chunk bitten out of your arm and bleed to death if you're not careful. Ha ha ha!" He was making such light of his own situation.

Finally, he looked at Guy. "And - you know what, I haven't seen Saphir. Unless Jade has.. but I think he's probably somewhere around here, hiding in the shadows like a little cockroach, ha ha ha."

[razing_phoenix]

When Anise came over with the maps, Guy took them with a smile, careful to make sure his hand didn't brush against hers. "Thanks a lot, Anise," he said as he folded the pieces of paper and tucked them under his arm. He would look them over later and compare notes with Okita when he got the chance. Having them would make his life a lot easier.

Guy had already been aware of how little artes did in this place, though that wasn't as much of a concern for him as it was for some of the others. A sword still would have been preferable to a bat, but he nonetheless breathed a mental sigh of relief when Jade delivered one to Luke. It was good to know that his friend would be armed now.

He was willing to leave the matter of Asch to Luke - while that could lead to disaster, Guy knew that Luke could handle the God-General better than he could. As for Peony's mention of Dist, Guy was glad to hear that he was making himself scarce. He figured Dist wasn't too much of a threat here since he wouldn't be able to create any amazing fontech machines to fight for him.

"Guess we should all get going then, huh?" Though from the sound of it, he was going to be sticking around here with Tear to explain things.