Day 48: Sun Room [Second Shift]

[perfectrecord]

Hmph. While this Rude was the proverbial "man of few words," von Karma found more potential use from him than a number of the other patients he had met put together. He would still ask Franziska about the man... as well as the other people he had learned that she had been spending time around. Many of them were utter fools, especially that

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[clockmongler]

Well, that had been an embarrassing night. To spend all his time losing track of his location and missing an important date? He could very well defend himself by reminding those interested that a maze by definition was something meant to confuse and disorient those inside it by creating cut-and-paste walls of unmemorable architecture and therefore he was not at fault for being easily mislead in this institute, but...

Ah well. You couldn't very much win them all. As long as his unfortunate traveling time was not mistaken as an attempt to temporize, it was fine. He would make up for this loss later.

But this morning the weather was woesome outside and while Luxord did not particularly mind one way or the other, it seemed Nursey insisted he stay inside lest he catch something. This was also taken in stride and with a polite smile to the woman as they made their way to the Sun Room. Soon, he found himself eying a familiar set of spikes. Instinct declared it to be Roxas, but Fate insisted it were someone else.

The Keybearer...

"Good morning, Sora," he greeted, making his way over to visit with his hands placed behind his back. No need to call him Roxas if the latter was not present. "How has the game been treating you?"

[scintillatingly]

Just as Sora had been losing his concentration and feeling himself slip off into a doze, he heard his name being spoken and perked up from his armchair. It took his eyes a second or two to clear, but after that the blond man standing before him was unmistakable.

So he was about to be bothered again. Great. Sora shook a hand through his still-wet hair and fought back a sigh. "Morning," he returned, but his tone wasn't exactly high up on the friendly scale.

"You should know by now that this is no game," he pointed out. "You've been here long enough." In fact, Luxord and Xigbar were the ones who'd stuck around for the longest, other than him. That wasn't exactly an encouraging realization to be making, but there it was nonetheless. Leave it to this particular Nobody to act like everything was a game, though. That had even come down to life or death, in the past.

[clockmongler]

...So the keybearer "knew" of his presence as well. It was curious and fascinating to hear so many testimonies of his earlier escapades when X himself could recall no such things. It was as if someone had cleared the table of his earlier hand when his attention was elsewhere, yet the rest of the players had already counted his cards.

That was also a very telling statement. He had "been here long enough"? For what length of time? Doing what, exactly? According to the mysterious Spider-Man, no good. And Sora's tone drowned in inveterate dismay as it was, he was certain he would receive the same play from him as well.

It was all very, very unfortunate. As much as he was not a hero, Luxord also put no stock or interest in being much of a villain either - he just could not bring himself to care. All this pointed aggression sent his way was entirely uncalled for.

"To continue with that discernment will only leave you lacking," the Gambler offered, hands gone to gesticulate out invisible concepts as he spoke. "Life is but a game and I suggest you smile and enjoy your luck - you've yet to lose."

[scintillatingly]

It was easy for a Nobody to think of life as a game, maybe. With no emotions to get in the way, everything could just been seen as a puzzle or the moving of chess pieces. Still, Sora was as far from unemotional as a person could get, and so he couldn't see it Luxord's way, not even when the man was giving him what might be seen as a compliment.

Maybe he hadn't lost yet, but this place was definitely giving him a run for his money. He'd say that he was at a draw with the institute at the moment, but that just wasn't good enough! Not for the Keyblade Master. Not when he had a home to get back to and friends to save.

"So you think I'll come out on top this time too?" Sora asked with a tilt of his head. He doubted that Luxord was actually giving him a vote of confidence, but he was curious either way.

Something seemed different about Luxord today, though. Maybe he was in a good mood (whatever that meant for a Nobody), since he wasn't getting nasty or making mean comments so far. It had to be some kind of record. Sora watched the man carefully, trying to see if he was just putting up a mask as another part of his "game." This was way too confusing!