Day 58: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of

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[bodhiandspirit]

It looked like Rita's group made some progress last night, though it was hard to guess at what they'd progressed towards, or how close they were to reaching it.

For now, it was morning, and Rita had some results she wanted to record in her notes. Last night, she'd performed a heraldry spell flawlessly - save for the fatigue that came with any sort of spell she cast at the institute. Rita brought her notebook with her as she went to breakfast.

The repulsive slop she was served was set down at a table and promptly pushed away so that she wouldn't have to smell it. Rather than making any move to eat, Rita occupied herself with making additions and revisions to her research. The world outside of herself and her notes may as well have not existed.

[for Claude]

[full_score]

When Claude woke up the next morning to one of the most obnoxious voices he'd heard in a long time, he felt like he'd just been hit by a truck

[bodhiandspirit]

Rita was busily jotting down notes from memory when she heard a familiar voice addressing her. Without looking up, she recognized it as Claude's voice. "Do what you want," she replied, still distracted.

Moments later, though, she finally glanced upward... finding her eyes drawn to two conspicuous items. The first was the notebook under his arm. While all the journals in the institute looked the same, Leon's had a fair amount of wear along the edges from use, and through using it herself, Rita grew familiar enough with that wear to recognize the book. It looked like Claude finally picked it up from her room.

The second was the lump of bandages around his hand. Though Rita was aware of the possible causes of an injury like that, she had to admit she was curious. "What happened to you?" she asked, staring at the injury.

[full_score]

She seemed busy, but Claude still hoped she'd take the time to talk to him. Carefully maintaining his balance, he slowly lowered the tray onto the table and settled down in the seat across from her. "Thanks." He was glad she agreed to let him sit sooner than later, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could have held onto the tray.

When she pointed to his injury and asked about it, though, Claude glanced down at the bandages. It almost reminded him of the way people had questioned him about the injuries he took after his fight with Sync and his "sleep study", but at least this time he had a better story to go along with it.

"Oh, well, I...had to fight a giant serpent last night," he answered after a brief pause. It had been pretty harrowing, but in the end he'd succeeded in his efforts, and that was what mattered. "Chomped down on my hand while I was finishing it off." Then, he quickly added, "It could have been much worse, though, so I'm glad for that." Even if losing the use of one of his arms was a huge pain, but that

[bodhiandspirit]

A giant serpent? "That's a new one," Rita remarked. There wasn't any enthusiasm in her voice. Rita generally didn't care much about monsters, though she supposed it would do her good to know what was out there. Her hand could easily be the next to be mangled like that.

In any case, there probably wasn't much more to be said on that topic. Or at least, Rita didn't care to prod for more details.

"Looks like you got the notebook," she commented instead, looking back to her own research notes. She was a little curious as to why he was carrying it around with him during the day. Did he plan to read its contents? Though it was Claude who told her a few fundamental details about heraldry, she had some doubts that he'd understand Leon's writings in full.

[full_score]

"You're telling me," Claude muttered. Where did they keep something like that, anyway? Or had they been transported to another world specifically so they had to fight that thing while rescuing Anise at the same time? It was a little unnerving to think their captors had those sorts of capabilities, but it would make sense. A lot of people here had already been transported back to their own homes, after all, although he had to admit it still wasn't clear whether it had been real or a holographic illusion of some kind

[bodhiandspirit]

That was unexpected. Rita looked up from her notes again, her eyebrows raised.

"You? ... What brought this on?" If she remembered right, Claude was the son of a skilled mage and a magic researcher. If he wanted to learn heraldry, he should have had countless opportunities before. Did something change since arriving at the institute...?

Perhaps it was simply the hopelessness of having such limited mobility and ability that pushed people to seek out new power. If that was it, then Rita could certainly relate.

[full_score]

That was a fair enough question, especially considering his background. Claude rubbed the back of his hand with his uninjured hand, unsure of how much he should divulge. "Well, in truth, I wasn't physically capable of casting spells before I came here," he admitted. "I could perform special sword arts by channeling my body's energy, but I just didn't have the propensity for proper heraldry

[bodhiandspirit]

A week ago... before Rita met him, then. Claude was probably keeping quiet about it on purpose. The institute's human experiments weren't something that people seemed very open to talking about, generally. Especially with strangers. She listened as Claude explained his situation, her expression serious, though she didn't betray any specific emotion

[full_score]

At least Rita understood where he was coming from. Claude could imagine why some patients might try to discourage him from using something the Institute did to him against his will, but this wasn't the time to get hung up over something like that. The odds were too stacked against them

[bodhiandspirit]

"Healing?" Rita gave Claude's bandaged hand another glance. "Looks like you could use it." On the bright side, if Claude started learning soon, he'd have something to use for practice. Unlike with superficial wounds, it would allow him to assess the potency of his own abilities. It was helpful to know one's limitations in advance, so there weren't any surprises when a dire situation came about.

"I don't use healing magic, but I've done a lot of research on it," she went on to explain. Chances were that if Claude was bringing all of this to Rita's attention, he could be interested in her help. Couldn't hurt to mention her qualifications.

Rita still couldn't quite guess what the doctors had done to Claude, but if he was so sure he could use healing magic, he had to have something to use as a starting point. If it was heraldry, then perhaps... "I'm guessing you have a crest for that spell of yours?"

[full_score]

Rita had a point. While Claude wasn't so sure they would let him retain enough power to heal an entire broken hand, he had mended a broken finger before. At the very least, he could speed the healing process along a little faster. Even with the institute's accelerated healing, two or three days seemed like an eternity. Waiting that long to properly use his sword again sounded a bit risky. So much could easily change within a single night as it was

[bodhiandspirit]

So they'd placed a crest on Claude's body. It was a process Rita had even considered doing to herself, being desperate for a way to expand her magical abilities, though it was at that time that Claude informed her of simpler alternatives. After hearing him bring it up again now, she felt that she needed to see his crest for herself... but again, that would have to wait

[full_score]

When Rita pointed out the difficulty level of Leon's notes, Claude silently glanced toward the book beside his tray. He almost wanted to resent the implication that he wasn't sharp enough to glean information from what his friend had written (he wasn't stupid, and he understood many of the principles behind heraldry, after all), but he couldn't call himself an expert on magic. He'd never approached the subject as someone who intended to learn how to cast spells of his own, and it hadn't been his focus in school, either

[bodhiandspirit]

Good. Claude was quick to agree to Rita's suggestion of an exchange. Hopefully that wouldn't change once he heard her terms.

"The most valuable thing a scholar can have is knowledge, right? I want to know everything you can tell me about what those doctors did." She wanted to know exactly how a person incapable of magic could be made able to use spells. It would be understandable if Claude didn't fully understand the procedure himself, but there had to be some things he could tell Rita. And in addition to that... "I want to see that crest you mentioned, too."

Rita turned to a blank page in her notebook and tapped the top of the page with her pen, awaiting Claude's answer. If he agreed, she would start writing. If not... well, she would be disappointed, despite the lack of emotion in her expression. Rita really did want to learn as much as possible about heraldry, and about the capabilities of the institute's doctors.

[full_score]

Upon hearing what Rita wanted in return, Claude's expression grew more somber. He knew he should have expected something like that, but the request still made him more anxious than he would have liked to admit. His "sleep study" was a deeply personal thing. Most of the time he didn't even bother sharing it, although he supposed one of the pins on his beret already marked him as one of the doctor's guinea pigs. Regardless, he didn't like going into the ugly details