Day 39 - Breakfast

[overdoingit]

Ah, that was right. He should roll up-- Huh

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[razing_phoenix]

Even though Asch might have tried, Guy still took note of the emphasis and frowned for a moment before responding. He wasn't even sure why Asch's particular brand of attitude got to him so much, when he was usually so tolerant of things like that, but he wasn't going to dwell on that right now.

"The same way everyone else did. I just woke up here without warning. I went to sleep one night and then here I was." He wasn't sure if the God-General had been wondering if he had died as well, but in case he was, he had just gone ahead and cleared that up.

Unfortunately, there were all sorts of other confusing details that he still felt obligated to let Asch know about. "Also, chances are that we're from different time periods," he explained. "I know that sounds impossible, but I've seen enough of examples of it that there's no point in denying it."

He was doing his best to avoid mentioning Asch's death, just because it didn't seem like something that he should bring up like it was nothing, but maybe eventually he would be able to explain (again) that Asch had been dead for about a year in his time period. Not that it really mattered now, since the God-General was back in one way or another, but it might get confusing in the future.

[razing_phoenix]

It was just like Asch to come out with it all of a sudden, and while Guy knew it had to be harder for the God-General than he was letting on, he was glad that Asch had put it on the table so they weren't stepping around it any more.

"Well, yeah, but... to give you an idea, for me a year has passed since your death, but Anise only remembers up to her duel with Arietta," he explained. He wasn't sure how close Asch had been to Arietta, but he hoped that he didn't stir up any feelings by mentioning the girl. He had just needed to give an example.

Now, the question was whether or not he mentioned that Luke had also been here at one point. Guy got the feeling that if he did it wouldn't end well, and yet he also wasn't sure if it was a good idea to withhold that information from Asch.

In the end, he decided not to do it. It wasn't like Asch cared about Luke, so Guy wasn't going to bother with mentioning it. Even if Luke was back now, his memories of this place would also be gone, and so there wouldn't be anything for the two redheads to discuss as far as that went.

[razing_phoenix]

Despite that, Guy noticed the similarity in Asch's voice. It came out only rarely, but whenever it did, it was hard for him to ignore. It made him pause for a moment before answering, since he felt a twinge in his chest as he found himself once again hoping that Luke was back. Even if he didn't necessarily want his friend to be stuck in this terrible place, having him here was better than not knowing where he was or what was being done to him. Part of Guy knew that Luke could take care of himself, but he hadn't seen his friend for a year, and then when he'd finally run into him again, it had been in this place and Luke had been missing a good deal of memories.

And then he'd had to lose him all over again.

But this was Asch he was dealing with now. Eventually, Guy glanced up, hoping that the God-General would just ignore that pause. "I'm not really sure. I'd think they must have some extremely advanced technology, and at this point I'm working on the assumption that finding that technology and figuring out how it works is our key back home."

Of course, it was a different matter for Asch, wasn't it? For all of the people who had died before coming here, there was that question about what would happen to them if they tried to go "back." And the options weren't too encouraging. Guy had to admit he didn't envy Asch. Having to tackle that question wasn't something he'd wish on anyone.

[razing_phoenix]

While Asch hadn't actually said anything, Guy could still sense it: that "here we go again" feeling that even his close friends assumed whenever the world "fontech" or "technology" came out of his mouth. (Well, Claude was the exception to that, but he was a much newer friend.) But it wasn't like he'd gotten over-excited or started to ramble on, so he couldn't be faulted too much.

Either way, Asch had already moved on to ask about something else, and so Guy let the whole thing drop, even though he would have been more than glad to talk about it further.

"Well, our abilities are weakened here, but you probably already figured that out," he started. Placing a hand to his chin, he ran through all of the information he'd gathered during his time here, wondering what it was most essential for Asch to know.

"Oh, regularly patients will be taken during the night and either experimented on or brainwashed. When it comes to experiments, all sorts of different things could be done, but it's never good." He could have mentioned that it had happened to Luke, but once again, Guy chose to keep that to himself. "As for the brainwashing, it makes that patient turn on all the other patients and attack them." Which wasn't something he ever wanted to go through, but he'd lucked out so far.

[razing_phoenix]

Asch had run into a Special Counseling patient his first night? That was pretty rough, but it looked like the redhead had made it out okay somehow. He hadn't been on his own, had he? "What happened?" Guy asked.

"But yeah, it happens every night, either one or the other," he confirmed, as much as he hated to be the bearer of bad news. He wasn't sure that the brainwashing was as bad as the disappearances, though. Even though it had to be a traumatizing experience (and Guy knew that from experience, though the Curse Slot worked a little differently), at least the victims of it were here and accounted for when it was all said and done.

"No one knows what the real point of this place is, but the head doctor has a pretty sick sense of humor," Guy explained. He'd heard about the files before, of course, though he'd never made an effort to get his hands on his own, mainly because he didn't think they'd be all that helpful.

[razing_phoenix]

Growing flowers? Well, that didn't sound too dangerous, which probably explained why Asch hadn't gotten hurt. (Then again, Guy got the feeling there was more to it than Asch was letting on.) Though even more interesting than that was that the woman they had met had been willing to barter. Guy hadn't heard of that before, but he had to admit he hadn't ever considered trying it. Usually he wasn't in a group big enough where that sort of thing would work.

In response to the God-General's question, Guy sighed and shrugged. "It's possible to get over the wall, but it's not like you can get that far in one night, especially when there are monsters around. And once morning comes, everyone's always transported back into their beds." Asch must have experienced that already, though.

Before their conversation could continue, the intercom came on and the nurses started to mill around. Guy wasn't really sure what to say to Asch now ("I'll see you later" didn't really fit, did it?), and so all he did was get up from his seat and nod to the redhead. He was sure they'd be running into each other in one way or another.