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]

[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."

[zack_fair]

Listening to Kratos theorize was interesting, but Zack also had to wonder how he was making some of his conclusions. Setting his food aside (it had all mainly fallen apart on him now, and he was full), he leaned forward in his seat and watched the redhead with curiosity. "What makes you so sure that this world is devoid of magic, though? Our skills here are weakened, but that could just be something Landel pulled off."

Maybe, if they got past whatever was doing this to them -- making him feel sluggish when normally he would have been able to run faster, hit harder -- they would be back to their full capacity. The chances of that happening were slim, but still...

Though Zack was distracted by Kratos' admittance to taking the enhancements by choice. "Oh, don't worry," he said with a small, slightly cutting smile, "it's the same for me. I signed up for SOLDIER, and getting the mako infused is just part of the job description." It wasn't so bad, if you didn't have a reaction to it, and so Zack had never really regretted that aspect of his involvement with Shin-Ra. It was the things he'd been made to do that were more problematic.

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos frowned. "I've met several people from Earth, and most of them said that they were skeptical of magic or had had no contact with it prior to arriving here. And a few days ago, many patients were somehow 'cured' and assumed their 'real' selves. An acquaintance of mine who hails from my home was one of those, and her 'real' self expressed a strong belief that magic was not possible in this world based on her own experimental failures. All of it is hearsay and therefore an unreliable base upon which to build an argument, true, but right now the consensus seems to point in the direction of a world with little magic."

It did beg the question of why magic continued to work in the confines of the Institute (and how Landel seemed to have some powers of his own), but that wasn't the issue at hand.

And it appeared that both he and Zack had been volunteers for magical enhancements, but that didn't explain why Zack had initially expressed sympathy toward him; in fact, it created a contradiction. Perhaps the young man was under the impression that most enhanced persons had become such by force?

Kratos tilted his head slightly to one side. "I...see."

[zack_fair]

Zack really hadn't expected such a detailed response, but going off of everything that Kratos was saying, it made sense. So Earth wasn't a place where magic was normally used. That was an interesting piece of information, since it meant that bringing people who did have the ability to use magic into this place may have had some sort of point. Were they being experimented on as a way to uncover the method for using magic and other skills so that those methods could be adapted and used on Earth's people?

"That's interesting. I didn't realize that magic was so uncommon on Earth. Thanks for letting me know." But even if Zack would have enjoyed continuing what had turned into a pretty fascinating -- if sobering -- discussion, it seemed that their time was up. The intercom went off and the nurses got on the move.

"And thanks for being so open with me," he added with a smile as he stood from his seat. He considered shaking Kratos' hand again, but decided against it. "Hopefully we can talk again soon." And honestly, Zack wouldn't have minded working with the man, either. It seemed like they had enough in common, even if the redhead also acted like a bit of a stick in the mud. Zack knew how to yank that stick right out, if he was given enough time.

Waving goodbye to the man, Zack moved off to find a nurse.