Day 52: Lunch

[purpletaint]

[from here]It was a race. A fight against patience and a Song's call. Still, the sedation's dredges churned through him. Two close at hand had a potent effect--much like the night that they were left in that town, and the morning after. Rubedo had came then. Came for them like something out of place, and wasn't that so ironic afterwards--when

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[zack_fair]

So that comment probably meant the guy wasn't from Earth, either, right? Zack shook the man's hand, frowning down at the brace -- he could ask about that later. But Kratos was an interesting name; it wasn't one Zack had heard before, but it sounded like it should belong to someone strong and tough. The soldier wasn't sure if the man fit those labels just yet. For the moment, he just seemed gruff and quiet.

Still, Zack could deal with people like that well enough, and so he took another messy bite of his meal as he tried to think of how to answer the man's question. "Me?" Okay, his mouth was still kind of full as he talked, but he swallowed soon enough. "All right." He was alive, and that was about as good as it could get, he reminded himself. "Kind of wish I'd gotten a little further last night, but things happen."

He noticed how the other patient's food was also falling apart, and glanced around to see if there was anyone who seemed to be having more luck. Eventually, he spotted a patient who tilting their head to the side to do it, and that seemed to work better. Too bad his food was already destroyed...

"Anyway, I'm guessing that you aren't from Earth, either?" Zack asked as he returned his attention to his lunch buddy. "Where are you from?" It was a good conversation starter, since it wasn't like they needed to spend all of their time complaining about the institute.

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos nodded slowly as he ate some more of his lunch. The fork was proving to be the most convenient way of eating; he wondered why he hadn't just used it off the bat rather than waste his time picking it up directly. "Indeed they do."

Didn't they all wish the night would last forever? Then obstacles would stay conquered, and narrow escapes would be permanently made. Personally, he was glad that the night had ended when it did; he wasn't sure how his duel would have turned out otherwise. For all he knew, he might have ended up down an arm for good.

"I'm from a world called Tethe'alla." It was much easier to simply choose his country of origin-turned-planet rather than explain the dilemma of the twin worlds--or gods forbid, call Derris-Kharlan home.

[zack_fair]

The name of Kratos' home world was completely new to Zack, but that was no surprise. The fact that they had airships on Gaia now was amazing enough. Space travel still seemed pretty far off, if the failures thus far were any indication. Granted, Zack knew that part of the problem was that Shin-Ra only cared to fund the things they were immediately interested in, but that was a whole other story.

Eventually, his taco turned into such a mess that he deemed the rest of it inedible and moved on to the burrito, which was much easier to handle. All he had to do was hold it in both hands and take a bite, working his way from top to bottom. While it was possible the stuff that was holding it all together might break apart, he was going to be careful so that he didn't repeat what had happened to the taco.

"I'm from Gaia," he replied with a nod. "Guess you probably haven't heard of it, though. So... what's Tethe'alla like?" He'd rather hear about someone else's home than talk about his own, though he was more than happy to explain Gaia if asked. But for now, he'd try to get some casual conversation going, and then he could ask about the man's arm brace when things had lightened up.

[spandexorgtfo]

"No, I haven't." The word didn't sound familiar, but Kratos was sure he'd seen it before somewhere, like on the board. In what context he couldn't remember.

As for his 'home'..."Hm, it's a fairly varied planet: deserts, oceans, forests, mountains, and so forth. There are also cities, towns...typical trappings of any civilization. The entire planet, though, is governed by a central authority located in the capital city." He paused as he tried to find some other meaningful thing to add. "In some ways it is technologically superior to this world, yet I continually find ways in which it is not."

It was a very bland, impersonal description of Tethe'alla, but the truth was that it no longer really was his world. And Kratos's memories of Tethe'alla before the world had been split were hazy at best.

[zack_fair]

As Kratos went on to explain, Zack continued to eat his burrito, though he made sure to keep his eyes on the man to let him know that he was listening. Though as the man went on, it became more and more eerie how similar Tethe'alla was to his own planet. From the landscapes to the fact that there was one big organization that ran it all, it was a little startling.

After he'd finished swallowing his current bite of food, Zack wiped a napkin over his mouth and raised an eyebrow at the man. "Huh. Sounds a lot like where I'm from, actually. A lot of the planet is being run by this company called Shin-Ra, and they've been trashing the planet itself by harvesting its energy. I... used to work for them, but I eventually got out." By getting gunned down, but he didn't really want to share that with a stranger.

He took another bite, moving the food to the side of his mouth so that he could ask one more thing. He nodded to the man's arm brace. "Mind telling me what happened?" If not, then he'd live, but he was curious to know what monster he'd run across.

[spandexorgtfo]

"Really?" Kratos raised an eyebrow. He too was noticing similarities, and the Shin-Ra company in particular was starting to remind him of the way Tethe'alla and Sylvarant had once drained the planet for their magitechnology. "What do they use this energy for?" Hopefully, Exspheres did not yet exist in Gaia.

And he had hoped that Zack would not ask about his arm, but some things were simply too obvious to be ignored. Kratos sighed and put down his fork. "I dislocated my elbow several days ago in a fight with a monster. It was heavily armored, and I overestimated my limits. It's since been fixed, but..." He scowled. "...they insist I need this."

[zack_fair]

It looked like Kratos was similarly curious about how much their planets had in common, and Zack didn't mind badmouthing Shin-Ra a bit now that he was given the chance. It was funny, since a few years ago he would have defended them up and down, figuring that it was his duty to do so after he'd decided to join up with them, but they had lost his loyalty a long time ago.

"They use it for power -- they started off as an electric company -- but they can also convert the energy into items that can then be used to perform magic." Mako had a ton of uses, which was why Shin-Ra was so shameless about sucking the planet dry. Zack could have mentioned how it was also injected into SOLDIERs to increase their battle prowess, but that hit a little too close to home after what had happened to Cloud.

As for the man's story about his arm, it wasn't anything too surprising. An armored monster, huh? It sounded annoying, especially considering how unarmed they were here. "I haven't seen anything like that yet," he admitted. "I saw a pretty nasty creature that was fire-based, but that's probably the worst that I've come across." Other than the Tonberry, but that didn't really count. "I'm glad to hear you're feeling better, though."

[spandexorgtfo]

[is a short backthread okay?]

It was rather eerie how Shin-Ra was using the planet so similarly, but then, the allure of the power of mana was great: massive amounts of energy at what appeared to be no cost at all. But one only had to look at Mithos and the sordid history of Cruxis to see otherwise.

"I see. Yes, in that case, it's all too easy to abuse the planet. My home had a similar crisis long ago; it resulted in a war that consumed the entire world. As a result, most if not all technology relying on the planet is banned." But of course, that just meant an alternative had risen: the potential of the human soul.

The comment about his health drew a dismissive grunt from Kratos. Yes, he was feeling better, but that was beside the point, which was that he couldn't fight properly. "I should hope so; I'm unused to wasting time on recovery."

[zack_fair]

[Sure thing! And sorry for the delay.]

Hearing Kratos' story kind of put things into perspective for Zack, and it was sort of scary to listen to. Mainly because he could see the same thing happening to Gaia. Shin-Ra had already started a war with Wutai; it could have easily progressed into the whole world if things had gone differently. While it seemed like Cloud and the others had done a good job of suppressing Sephiroth, how about Shin-Ra itself? Was it possible that one day things would get so bad that certain things would be banned?

"To be honest, I could see that happening to Gaia, too. It hasn't yet, but..." It could, not that he would ever find out for himself. He didn't know what it felt like once your essence was in the Lifestream, but he doubted that you were aware enough to know what was going on topside.

He tried to draw himself out of that odd train of thought and focus on Kratos' second statement instead. "I know what you mean. Normally I could just pop in a Cure materia and patch myself up in seconds. I don't think it's going to be so easy here." Although Taura had mentioned something over the board. He might have to look into that.

[spandexorgtfo]

"Sometimes, if enough people come to their senses quickly enough, war is avoidable," Kratos said cautiously. It was difficult, though, especially when the prize was nearly unlimited resources. "But...that's a task unto itself."

Mithos had tried, and how had that turned out? Granted, he'd also been up against years' worth of racial prejudice against half-elves, but still: he'd been a powerful swordsman, a boy with the king of Summon Spirits at his beck and call, and still Martel had died because of insatiable human greed.

Kratos nodded as Zack moved on to the other topic at hand, although one word confused him. "'Materia'? What are those?" The other man had mentioned items from his world that were used to perform magic; was that what they were?

[zack_fair]

Shin-Ra was not the sort of company where people came to their sense, at least not in Zack's experience. And the fact that they held so much power meant that they were probably almost impossible to topple. Zack had fallen under their guns, and all he had been trying to do was get Cloud to safety. He'd apparently succeeded at that, at least. Still, he understood that Kratos was only trying to reassure him, in his own way, and so he didn't bother arguing back.

"Oh, Materia is what I mentioned before, where they take the energy from the planet and then let it solidify into something that can be used as an item. They look like small, marble-shaped balls," he said as he cupped his hand to give the other patient a good idea of the shape, "that can be placed into armor or a weapon and then used in battle."

Zack was also hoping that he could use one without a slot. The slots were mainly useful because it was impossible to carry ten at once, but seeing how they only had a few here, just holding it in his fist would probably get the job done. And honestly, the soldier was getting pretty eager to try his Thunder out.

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos nodded; it had been as he'd assumed. "I see. So they're only used in conjunction with armor and weapons...they're never directly applied to a human host?"

Reserving magic for inanimate objects seemed like a more orthodox way to go about things, rather than forcing the alterations upon the users themselves. Having a host did allow for greater output (less parties to go through), but he'd gone through Aionis injections, and he would never wish that experience on anyone else.

[zack_fair]

It was starting to seem more and more like Kratos was digging for a particular piece of information, and so Zack had to wonder if there was yet another possible connection. He was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "No, nothing like that. Although..."

At this point, it seemed like he might as well just tell the man about the mako infusing. Zack didn't have to necessarily connect himself to it, but Kratos also didn't seem like the sort of person who was going to start showering him with pity, so it was probably fine. "What is done is taking the energy in a liquid form and injecting it into people to increase their strength and agility. It can make certain people sick, and it also has a weird effect on the eyes," he explained, while pointing to his own to show the man what he meant.

[spandexorgtfo]

Thank goodness...partially. Kratos casually covered his left hand; he didn't want a repeat of breakfast's incident.

"I should have known..." He sighed. It was almost laughable how similar the situation was. "I'm starting to suspect that all of humanity has some innate, foolish desire to literally take the power of a planet for itself, despite the disastrous consequences."

Zack had been willing to share what was probably a very private aspect of himself; Kratos would return the favor. "We have a similar process where I'm from. Normally, magical ability is reserved for those of a specific bloodline, but there is a material that, when injected, allows normal humans to acquire those powers. I've undergone that process, although, as you can see, it had far less immediately noticeable effects," he said, likewise pointing to his own eyes.

[zack_fair]

So they were both victims of their own governments. While Zack was lucky in that he hadn't suffered much from the mako in his veins, he wasn't sure the same could be said about the Jenova cells. Of course, Cloud was the one who had really gotten the short end of the stick through all of it, and yet he was also the one who had survived in the end. Through Zack's efforts, but still. The point was that being part of Shin-Ra could easily be a death sentence.

Kratos had said there were no effects that weren't immediately noticeable, but how about otherwise? It didn't seem like the sort of thing that Zack could ask when they'd only just met, though, even if they did have so much in common.

"If that's the case, I wonder what they've been up to here on Earth." What Landel was doing -- was that just the tip of the iceberg, or was he doing all of this in secrecy? It was hard to be sure, but for all Zack knew, this could be government funded. He wouldn't be surprised, honestly. "But yeah, I'm sorry to hear that you were put through that." It wouldn't have been so bad for Zack if Hojo hadn't gotten his hands on him.

[spandexorgtfo]

Well...Kratos couldn't honestly say he'd been a victim. The court had appealed to his sense of loyalty and status ("Do you understand what sort of morale boost you could give our men, Sir Aurion?"), but it hadn't taken him much personal debate at all to agree to being pumped full of Aionis. They had a war to win, and he was willing to do anything that would increase their chances of victory.

"It's difficult to say. This world is mostly devoid of magic, so it seems unlikely that they would concentrate on drawing magical power from Earth, or else I'm sure they would have found a way by now, given the level of technology. It's interesting, though, that Landel has chosen to draw in so many people from other worlds who do have magic." That again was leading to unpleasant ideas about human-powered energy sources.

He shook his head. "I should have probably added that the procedure was voluntary. And while the experience was certainly painful, the effects have far outstripped the costs--at least, for me."