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]

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.